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Living in Malaysia, Noor Neelofa Mohd Noor (Neelofa) is a well-liked movie star that you simply’ve most likely heard of. She’s an actress, TV host, industrial mannequin, and an entrepreneur.
Arguably probably the most notable firm beneath her belt is Naelofar, an area modest-wear model that’s gone worldwide. But one in all her different, newer companies, is TheNoor—a life-style Muslim app created along with her co-founders, Mohd Izzairi Yamin (Izzairi) and Ahmad Tajuddin Idris (Tajuddin).
It has been going worldwide, with areas in Turkey, Indonesia, and shortly, Saudi Arabia. The model has not too long ago opened its Series A fundraising for US$2.5 million too, in keeping with Izzairi.
Not to say that it’s additionally well-liked amongst native customers, rating Number 28 within the Lifestyle class of the Apple App Store on the time of writing.
But listed here are seven different fascinating enjoyable information that you simply most likely didn’t know concerning the model, based mostly on what they shared on the latest Entrepreneurs Summit IV hosted by NEXEA.
1. The thought began after witnessing an embarrassing second in a mosque
Just a few years in the past, Izzairi was ready for the subsequent prayer time in a mosque. He seen an aged man sitting in entrance of him doing the identical, whereas opening up a Muslim app.
It was then that an intrusive advert popped up that includes a bikini-clad lady, the type that might not go away for about 10 seconds. “He was quite ashamed,” Izzairi relayed. “He hid his phone, but I was behind him so I saw everything.”
This left Izzairi questioning, “Why is this happening to this elderly man?” Then he realised that it was most likely a results of not subscribing to the app.
The subscription charge for that app is round RM5 a month, which can not look like a lot. But for some people, that cash might be higher spent elsewhere.
That’s when it hit him—he wanted to create a premium Muslim app that’s given out free of charge. So, he first roped in Tajuddin to kick issues off.
2. The co-founders needed to wait half a 12 months for an appointment with Neelofa
Fast ahead to a couple months later in 2019, Izzairi had an issue with person acquisition. He introduced this as much as Tajuddin, who occurred to be a detailed good friend of Neelofa.
Tajuddin advised Izzairi, “Let’s form a team and propose this to her.” That’s precisely what they did, and the remainder is historical past.
But Izzairi overtly shared that the interval between this concept forming and truly assembly her to pitch the app was an extended one. With Neelofa’s busy schedule as a celeb and businesswoman, they needed to wait in line for about half a 12 months, and the pandemic didn’t assist.
It was solely in May 2020 that they lastly proposed TheNoor to her. And thankfully for everybody concerned, the wait was value it as a result of Neelofa was keen to affix.
3. TheNoor acquired 160,000 downloads on its first day
When Izzairi and Tajuddin met Neelofa, they introduced the imaginative and prescient and mission of TheNoor. This included what they had been planning on doing and what they’re constructing.
“She got interested and excited. She said, ‘Yes, I’m in it and let’s do this’,” Izzairi recalled. “‘We’re doing something good, something different than what’s already on the shelf’. When she said that, I was really happy.”
So all of them set to work and the app was efficiently launched in January 2021. According to Izzairi, it was fairly successful on the primary day itself, garnering 160,000 downloads on the Apple App Store.
At the identical time, they had been the primary app for not less than seven days and had been within the Top 10 of classes for about three and a half months, Izzairi shared.
4. A prince of Saudi Arabia helps TheNoor increase to Madinah
Izzairi mentioned that whereas they had been planning for growth, Khailee Ng from 500 Global launched him to Prince Saud bin Khalid Al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia, who can also be the deputy governor of Madinah.
And it was this introduction that accelerated TheNoor’s growth plans into Saudi Arabia.
Khailee made the decision and advised the prince about Izzairi and TheNoor, and the prince invited Izzairi to his home in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to debate it additional.
“I told him about the expansion plan and what we’re going to do in Saudi, and what’s the bigger plan and vision for this app,” Izzairi mentioned. “The prince listened for one and a half hours. He was impressed and happy with the progress we’ve made.”
The prince then assisted in connecting them with native enterprise companions in Madinah, and even supplied to pay for TheNoor’s workplace in Saudi Arabia.
5. Partnering with Neelofa wasn’t simply due to her movie star standing
Very early on throughout the speak, Izzairi credited a big a part of TheNoor’s success to Neelofa. Yes, she’s a businesswoman and has a considerable amount of public affect. But Izzairi defined that greater than that, she was their proper product-market match.
Neelofa has a robust presence within the native market, and it’s not merely on account of her movie star standing. For a variety of years now, he shared that Neelofa has been actively embracing and selling her Islamic religion to her followers.
Therefore, partnering along with her was extra impactful in comparison with onboarding somebody well-known who didn’t have a robust connection to their beliefs.
Had they achieved the choice as an alternative, “In terms of growth and direction, it would not be working as it is right now,” Izzairi confided. This can also be as a result of Neelofa contributes concepts, like what the model ought to do and the way they need to penetrate the market, and isn’t only a spokesperson.
6. TheNoor is a lot greater than an app to examine prayer instances
“I wanted to create something that could positively impact Muslim lives around the world,” Neelofa acknowledged.
Sharing this mission, the workforce behind TheNoor discovered methods to offer extra tangible advantages to customers. This contains developing with strategic and distinctive partnerships with different manufacturers.
For instance, TheNoor workforce reached out to Zurich Malaysia, an insurance coverage and takaful options supplier, to provide you with its personal private accident protection (known as Nurani Takaful). At RM12 a 12 months, candidates of the takaful plan acquire a most protection of RM15,000.
“This is something that Zurich has specially crafted for TheNoor,” Izzairi shared. Besides that, customers can simply carry out zakat and donations to partnering NGOs from internationally. There are additionally providers to assist with worldwide cash transfers, will writing, and even an ecommerce platform.
7. But its aim continues to be to reinforce the Muslim expertise via innovation
Nonetheless, TheNoor stays steadfast in its aim of being an app to ease the each day lives of Muslims. This is what the model has recognized to be the core of TheNoor.
“People don’t buy TheNoor just to pay takaful or zakat. That’s not the main intention of users when they download the app,” Izzairi reiterated.
Hence, they’ve invested money and time into the extra religious points of the app as properly. Which is why the app provides options like a digital Quran, each day hadiths and prayers, Islamic lectures, and a Qibla locator.
Under TheNoorTV Collections, customers may be taught Arabic and enhance their Islamic information via recorded talks.
Izzairi shared that they’ve even constructed an AI checker to detect and proper a person’s recitations of the Quranic verses. “Right now, we’re in the process of building other AI features in the app.” He teased that the subsequent AI function is the hadith part, which can most likely be realised by Q1 subsequent 12 months.
- Read articles we’ve written about Malaysian startups right here.
Featured Image Credit: Neelofa / Vulcan Post
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