Osama Natto spends his time training young leaders in the skill of entrepreneurship and spearheads some of the most innovative companies based on the social enterprise model. Raised in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, Natto believes this business model not only transforms lives but also contributes to communities at large. We got a chance to speak to Natto about the social entrepreneur scene in Saudi Arabia.
Elan: You are passionate about entrepreneurship, how did that happen?
Osama Natto: Well, I am passionate about entrepreneurship in general, and have been starting businesses and helping others start their own business for the last eight years or so.
One experience about three years ago gave me a new area of focus. I noticed that one of my acquaintances, Mohammad Al-Bakri, had put up a Facebook Page asking people to help distribute food during Ramadan. I said to myself that if Mohammad Al-Bakri, the heir of a multibillion-dollar family business, is taking time off from his family while fasting and distributing thousands of meals, then how come I am not doing that?
I contacted him and said, “I am available every day for three hours, and I am yours until the end of Ramadan.” So, he gave me my assignment, which was to pick up the bread that needed to be distributed from a bakery. I would pick up the loaves around 4 in the afternoon and drop them off at the assembly center so that all of the different food items we were using, including bread and canned foods, could be packed in one place before the delivery cars distributed it.
It was a very simple job, but took three hours after which I would drive back home in time to break the fast, before sunset.
I did that for about 25 days. During the last five days, I joined the distribution team, which meant going to the assembly centers, picking up the food and distributing it directly to economically-disadvantaged people. They used this food to break their fast.
This was one of the first entrepreneurial projects that really got to me. Everybody was surprised that I was doing this but I said, “If I do not take 2 to 3 hours out of my time to help people who need it, then everything else that I’m doing does not mean anything. I need to make time for this.”
Elan: You have recently gotten involved in Trochet, so tell us about it.
ON: Trochet comes from a combination of two words: trash and crochet. The project involves using trash to create crochet items and then sell them. The idea for Trochet came from a friend of mine named Diana Rayyan, a very active, creative young lady with a lot of energy. Her idea was to convert garbage from the streets into new, usable products.
Plastic is heavily used in the Middle East, especially in Saudi Arabia, which is not a biodegradable product. Saudis use plastic bags everywhere, from pharmacies to supermarkets.
Trochet provides a solution to get these bags picked up off of the street. In Saudi Arabia, we have a lot of African ladies that wander the streets collecting garbage who are generally undocumented immigrants or people who came and overstayed their visas.
So, Diana asked these women to also collect plastic bags for us. Diana showed them the kind of plastic bags we wanted and told them how much we would pay for each kilogram.
After our team weighs the plastic bags, we transport them into the holding area, which is actually the basement of one of the co-founders of Trochet. There the bags are first sorted by color, then cleaned and dried by the cleaning team. The next team then cuts the plastic bags, turns them into plastic threads, and rolls them into balls, as is done with wool. The design team designs all of the different accessories that will be made from the plastic threads and finally, the crocheting team actually makes these items.
More importantly, the entire supply chain helps economically-disadvantaged people. The ladies that collect plastic bags, the man who loads, drives, and unloads Trochet’s mini-truck, the cleaning and crocheting teams are all made up of economically-disadvantaged people. Our team helps provide jobs for people who would otherwise be begging or depending on welfare.
I first got involved with this project as an advisory member. Soon I became a member of the advisory board and eventually a partial owner. Trochet is a non-profit organization, but it is still a brand that could spread regionally and globally.
Elan: Why do you believe that the entrepreneurship is so important for the community? How did it help?
ON: Well, we cannot wait for years for government organizations and charities to act. Government and charity organizations, with all of the bureaucracy and red tape they deal with, are actually helping, but they cannot help everyone. So, I believe entrepreneurship provides a way for people to take initiative and help their communities.
Entrepreneurship gives people a chance to take charge. Business-based entrepreneurship creates more jobs, brings new knowledge to the market, and produces new business stars from our own region. And social entrepreneurship helps communities without relying on slow-moving government or charity organizations.
Elan: You are currently training young entrepreneurs. What are some lessons you teach?
ON: Well, the most important lesson I teach entrepreneurs is how to avoid getting stuck. Getting stuck is what happens when your business can’t grow past a certain point. This happened to me in my earlier businesses, and I have seen it happen to many other people as well. The problem is that, if you do not think far enough into the future and do not pick a scalable business model, your business will not be able to grow past a set point no matter what you do.
That is why I help people find the real gold behind any potential business model. I do this by offering entrepreneurs tips, workshops, training programs, and seminars that cover this issue. If we find that the business model is not scalable and does not have the potential to make much money, then we work on it, improve, and refine it together.
Every business model has a certain maximum mileage: it can run to a certain point and then stops. If someone tells me that their personal objective is to become a multi-millionaire or multi-billionaire, then they need to select a business model that will let them reach that level.
Elan: What is the one great lesson that you learned from your previous ventures?
ON: The most important lesson I learned was how to select, examine, and validate a business model early on. This lesson cost me millions of dollars and four years of my life. I made it my mission to convey this message to others and help them avoid falling into the same trap I did.
Elan: What would be your dream goal for your efforts with training entrepreneurs?
ON: My dream is to help as many people as possible decide whether or not they are entrepreneurs. Because if they are, they need to move fast and start early to give themselves more time to make mistakes. The older someone gets, the more expensive their mistakes become. It is never too late to start an entrepreneurial career, and some people can start at 50, 60, or 70, but those who begin early get a head start.
Another goal is to launch global brands from Saudi Arabia. Every time I ask people to name 10 Saudi brands, they get stuck at seven. We do not have true brands in Saudi Arabia, just fancy logos on products and services that we export out of the country. I want to see the next Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs come out of Saudi Arabia. I want to see the Saudi Apple or McDonalds.
Why not? We have almost everything we need. The only thing we are missing is dreamers. That is why the most important thing I am doing at the moment is reminding people how to dream, and helping them realize their dreams.
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