Tausif Ahmad is the Chief Operating Officer of HungryNaki. A passionate foodie and Gunner by heart, this person is known in the company as a “jack of all trades.”
Tell us a bit about HungryNaki. How did it all start and where is the venture now?
Well, previously I used to work in a German-based company right here in Bangladesh named “Rebate Networks.” Eventually, the inner-calling of venturing into unchartered territory got me to start something of my own. I was always passionate about food, but believe it or not – we initially started off with fashion. Later, the other co-founder and I decided to switch to the food industry for good. We Bangladeshis had always been suffering from immense traffic jams and that led us to realise the immense potential of an online food delivery platform. With 4 delivery staff and serving 30 restaurants, HungryNaki finally began its journey on 1st October of 2013. Currently we are proudly serving over 750 restaurants in the three major cities of Bangladesh – Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong, backed with an incredible team of 75 members.
What are the changes and shifts that you have witnessed in the e-commerce industry of Bangladesh?
The e-commerce industry of Bangladesh is extremely dynamic. What is 5 years in reality is around 20 years in the e-commerce hemisphere. The revolution started around the early 2013s. Clickbd.com was the first website to pioneer the local e-commerce scenario. And then other sites eventually followed.
The perception of the consumers shifted dramatically as well. There used to be no online transactions before; customers physically met with the buyer where the exchange used to take place. Also, there has been a tremendous increase in the usage of credit and debit cards. And people have finally grown a sense of trust and comfort in ordering food online and the response is ever-growing.
If I go deeper into consumer research, you’ll be amazed to know that a significant portion of our customers belong to the 30-40 year old corporates. Even people aged 50 years or more are now comfortable enough with smartphone applications. That’s how far the Bangladeshi e-commerce industry has come.
What do you think about web security and its impact on your business?
Since we are operating in the e-commerce sector, we constantly need to deal with the information of our customers – some of which are very confidential. People need to give us their contact information, email addresses and even their residential addresses; it can spell disaster for them if such information ends up in the wrong hands. But our team at HungryNaki has been handling the aforementioned information with utmost care, ensuring different layers of security on our database. The technology that we use is quite unbreakable.
Tell us about the other types of online thefts.
Technology has become an integral part of our lives. And so are the dangers of it. We at HungryNaki also face several types of problems. People illegally order food from others’ cellphones. Sometimes people manage to get access to others’ accounts and request fake orders and our delivery people have to go through a lot of ordeal because of this.
And how do you plan to eradicate these problems?
We at HungryNaki are extremely aware about the amount of sensitive data that we have to deal with. Even if there is a slight chance of a breach in our customers’ privacy, we immediately call our customers and warn them beforehand. Our latest breakthrough is that we have come up with a “Phone verification process.” Since there are people trying to forge others numbers and illegally order through their cell phones, they need to verify first before they can log in and order food.
How did the food industry revolutionise in Bangladesh?
The food industry had been through a massive boom in the last few years. Restaurants have been opening up like never before. The biggest franchises have moved from all the crowded locations to the most remote locations of the city. Another new entrant into the food market is the outbreak of food carts. It is amazing to see these little carts cater to the needs of people from every locality. Even a few years back, we used to fantasise about the street carts in the streets of New York and Brooklyn and now this has become a reality in Bangladesh.
Changes have come up in people’s tastes as well. People now readily embrace cuisines that surpass the boundaries of our country. Restaurants specialising in Turkish, Mexican and even Japanese cuisine are opening up. And the response is massive. Burger has become a staple food for today’s generation. What was once consumed as an occasional evening snack only has now become a part of our everyday meal.
People are now more open to eating out. Hangouts have become something very common. Weekends are not the only time to visit restaurants or fast food shops anymore.
Where do you see HungryNaki in the nearby future?
Considering the fact that HungryNaki is a completely home-grown company, we would like to become the poster-child of e-commerce in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, there are not much stories in the e-commerce industry where the companies have massively operated in the global scenario.
Our expansion plans will initially start with successful operations in other districts of Bangladesh. This would hopefully lead to a sustainable business model that we would be using to migrate into other countries of the South-Asian continent, e.g. Malaysia, Singapore, Bangkok etc.
What are your views regarding the future of web security?
To be honest, technology in Bangladesh has already come a long way. Protecting consumer data is indeed a difficult job, but with the adept use of a perfect combination of technologies and relevant knowledge, I believe we can protect any amount of data. Threats and malwares won’t disappear within a day, and so won’t the chances of “holding the door” against it.
Article was reprinted under special arrangement from www.developers-haat.com |