In-house, before 30Plays. As Chief Operating Officer from 2022 to 2026, I helped take eZhire from single-digit millions to more than $40m in annualised revenue, across the UAE and into Saudi Arabia.
eZhire is a Dubai-based, app-first car rental platform with no deposits, operating in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
I joined as Chief Operating Officer in May 2022, when the business was generating single-digit millions in annualised revenue with fewer than 100 people. My executive remit covered Sales, the General Managers, Operations, Customer Service, Compliance, HR and Business Intelligence.
The task was to build the structure, rhythm and channels that would let a fast-growing Dubai business scale across the UAE and into a second country.
I organised customer-facing work into dedicated functions: salespeople focused on conversion, customer service focused on support, and payments, refunds and reviews handled by their own owners.
I introduced and evolved incentives across sales and customer service, tied to whatever the company most needed that quarter, whether conversion, volume or service outcomes.
Alongside performance marketing, I built organic presence through search, social and AI assistant discovery, aiming for eZhire to be the trusted name in the region and to lower the cost of acquiring each customer over time.
I worked systematically on reviews, customer feedback, direct customer conversations, feature improvements and operational processes, so that service became a reason customers came back.
Within my first quarter I implemented OKRs across the organisation, alongside KPI frameworks, SLAs and BI reporting, and launched dispatch centres.
Annualised revenue grew from single-digit millions to more than $40m, through step changes at roughly $15m, $30m and $40m. Headcount grew from under 100 to more than 400. The business expanded across the UAE, including Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, and opened Saudi Arabia.
Growth also changed character: it moved from being led by new-customer acquisition to being led by customers coming back.
What it shows: the quality of growth matters as much as the rate. Retention and customer experience are what let acquisition spend compound.