Today we have selected Hadi Sheikh to take his interview. He is the CEO of Weeweb.
First of all, how are you and your team doing in these COVID-19 times?
Well, initially, just like everyone else, I panicked because of how the situation kept getting worse every day and how a lot of people succumbed their lives to this deadly disease. Not only was it overwhelming, but I was devastated to see how this disease was affecting the lives of people on a global scale. There was a lot of uncertainty, and no one had any idea when this would stop.
Tell us about you, your career, how you founded or joined this company?
I founded Pro IT City back in 2017. At PRO IT CITY, we aimed to provide Digital Marketing Solutions to small and medium-sized businesses, including websites, SEO, Google Adwords, SMM, SEM, etcetera. We provide a premium website that costs around £500 – £1000 (depending upon the size and quality of the website). I made a lot of happy customers and kept expanding.
Later on, as I observed that small businesses are being neglected in the UK and cannot make good profits due to lack of on-line presence, I came up with another project, “WeeWeb.” I founded WeeWeb in 2019 and targeted small businesses while providing them with an extremely cost-effective method. As it was the pandemic’s start, I, along with my team, decided to do something extra for the small business owners. I aimed to contribute something to the community as the businesses were collapsing and people could not manage their day-to-day expenses. Small businesses couldn’t afford to make an online presence during these circumstances as the websites would cost a ton of money!
Therefore, I started offering Pay Monthly Websites at just £19/per month and an E-Commerce Website at just £29/ per month. It was a special discount offer for the small businesses to make an online presence to generate good profits out of their businesses which would help them survive better during this crucial time. We saw a drastic hike in the online selling and purchasing of goods/services during the pandemic.
How does your company innovate?
We stay updated with the latest trends, and we pay very close attention to the needs of the people. Take it this way – why would anyone want to earn money? To buy the luxuries they could never have or for everyday survival? I found the latter to be more appropriate and realistic. The services that we are providing are vital for day-to-day survival. As the whole world is digitizing its businesses, it has become a basic necessity for anyone. Otherwise, the business can’t survive long enough. So, we keep on improvising as the times continue to evolve.
How the Coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?
I don’t think Covid had any negative impact on my business because, as I’ve mentioned earlier, there was a huge spike in the online purchasing and selling of goods/services. The services I’m providing are the necessities for any business to survive and earn.
Did you have to make difficult choices and the lessons learned?
Well, that reminds me of a few “bad clients” that I came across who would get the work done and won’t clear the invoices on time, and I would have to shut down their websites. It did incur me a great loss at times, but then again, that’s just the part of any business, or life, in general. I learned that no matter what, you must always stay positive and spread positive vibes.
Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?
I would consider Wix and Shopify to be my main competitors as my business model is pretty much similar and the prices. These are DIY platforms, and it provides the liberty to the people to manage everything by themselves, but on the other hand, I’m offering more. I am offering similar services to the people, but they won’t have to go through the hassle of handling the websites or e-stores themselves. I’m offering managed solutions, and my team will be managing each and everything. It’s like providing a better version of DIY to the people where they have the liberty to do whatever they want and won’t even have to manage anything themselves because our team would be doing that.
- Spokesperson: Hadi Sheikh
- Company: Weeweb
- Website link: http://www.weeweb.co.uk/
- Website link: https://proitcity.co.uk/