Sarwa, a financial technology platform for investment and personal finance in the Middle East, achieved its first-ever profit milestone in the first quarter of 2024 with a net profit margin of 33 per cent, driven by a quarter-on-quarter revenue growth of 124 per cent.
Sarwa, co-founded in 2017 by CEO Mark Chahwan, Jad Sayegh and Nadine Mezher, is on a mission to help ‘everyone put their money to work’ through a one-stop app that offers hands-off auto-investing.
In this week’s Behind the Idea, Chahwan discusses Sarwa’s journey, highlighting its challenges, significant achievements as well as future goals.
Mark Chahwan, CEO and co-founder, Sarwa
Tell us more about your company and its offering
Sarwa is a UAE-based pioneering investment platform that simplifies investing for everyone. Our offering includes a user-friendly platform that provides access to diversified investment portfolios of stocks and ETFs, high-yield savings, crypto, and wealth management services.By leveraging technology, Sarwa aims to make investing accessible, transparent, and affordable for all.
What problem was your company set up to solve?
Sarwa was established to tackle the complexities and high barriers of traditional investing. Many people find investing daunting due to its perceived complexity, high fees, and lack of accessible advice. Our goal is to democratise investing by offering an easy-to-use platform with personalised guidance, empowering individuals to grow their wealth confidently.
Since launch, how has your company evolved?
Since our launch, Sarwa has evolved significantly. We started as a small team with a vision to democratise investing in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Today, we serve thousands of clients, have expanded our offerings to include various financial products, and continuously enhance our platform with advanced technology and customer feedback to better serve our growing user base.
What has been the biggest challenge or most ‘tricky moment’ to overcome?
One of our biggest challenges was building trust in a market where digital financial services were still new. Educating potential users about the safety, reliability, and benefits of our platform required significant effort. We overcame this by focusing on transparency, top-tier backers and partners such as Mubadala and Saxobank, and providing exceptional customer support.
What are your biggest achievements or ‘proudest moment’ so far?
Our proudest moment was reaching the milestone of AED10,000,000,000 in cumulative trading volume. This achievement not only validated our mission and efforts but also demonstrated the trust our clients place in us. It was a testament to our team’s hard work and dedication to building wealth.
How would you describe the culture of your company?
Sarwa’s culture is about ownership, trust and innovation. We foster an environment where every team member is encouraged to contribute ideas, challenge the status quo, and prioritise the needs of our clients. Our diverse team continuously strives to improve our services.
What’s in store for the future?
The future for Sarwa includes expanding our product offerings, enhancing our technology, and reaching more customers across the MENA region and beyond. We aim to introduce new features that provide even more value to our clients and continue our mission of making investing simple and accessible for everyone.
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