Careem - an exceptional example of a socially responsible company
Careem has launched in 2012 by two ex McKinsey consultants. At first, it was a website-based car booking company, mostly for corporate use (their first client was McKinsey).
Subsequently, company has bought several other service apps, like home delivery service company, enwani, and food ordering platform RoundMenu, and has evolved into a everything-app.
But one important direction of the development of Careem is social work. They were one of the main drivers of social change and equal women rights in Saudi, and they launched a
campaign, which went viral.
They have done a lot of things in a lot of markets they're in, from India to Gaza. You can read more about it
here,
here and
here.
But what really got me interested in the company is their strategy of referring to the taxi drivers as "captains" instead of "drivers", and as "partners" instead of "employees".
This strategy effectively addresses the problem of social divide, and ultimately dehumanization of migrant workers in UAE and in region in general. Discrimination is everywhere: from malls to restaurants to some universities (not to point fingers, but I've been to only one university in uae).
All of this social impact combined would easily sway me towards Careem from any of its competitors (Talabat, Deliveroo, Noon). And this is why social impact is beneficial to both society and to the company itself. In brainrot terms, social impact rizz gives infinite aura.
In Uzbekistan, Payme is an example of a company that has started to work in this direction. Problem - culture is not being preserved and being sold for cheap for ads. Solution -
mosaicvertising. Possibly, another example is TBC bank and their redesign of
metro diagrams.
What other problems in the Uzbek society could be addressed by companies?