‘Viable business ideas in e-commerce sector’

Manama : A team of researchers, based on a study on e-commerce opportunities in the Kingdom, has identified numerous investment opportunities in various sectors in Bahrain.

The Ernst and Young (EY) research team on behalf of the  Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani identified attractive business ideas in areas including education, health care, insurance, gaming and recruitment that could be turned into startups by anyone interested. 

Although around nine opportunities were identified, the opportunities in healthcare and education were key ones, Suleiman Ajjawi, EY Director, Financial Advisory Services, told DT News. 

“The opportunities in educational sector and healthcare are the key opportunities because they affect our daily lives,” he said.

An online fee payment service, to allow parents to pay their children’s school fees online was considered to be the most prominent opportunity in the Kingdom. 

“It is extremely inconvenient for parents to take the time out of their busy lives  to go to their kid’s schools to pay their fees. What we are recommending here is to create an online platform where the parents can pay through credit cards, paypal or any other cash transfer media,” he said.

Ajjawi also recommended creating an online platform which allows students to connect with private tutors. 

“At the beginning of every academic year, parents struggle to find private tutors for their kids. A smartphone application which connects teachers to students, would solve this problem in Bahrain and the gulf as a whole,” he stated.

The study also identified two opportunities in the healthcare sector; an online booking service for medical centres and hospitals, as well as a ‘virtual fitness coach’.

“Online appointment improves efficiency and productivity in healthcare businesses. It allows patients to search, select and schedule an appointment with an appropriate doctor. This compliments the doctors’ practice with a tangible increase in their patient’s overall satisfaction,” he said.

According to him, through ‘Virtual fitness coach’, users can get fitness guidance on their phone and gadgets.

“The service will consist of an integrated system that will connect to the users, mobile gadgets, smartphone and fitness trackers. The system will store and track information about how-much calories the individual consumes on a daily basis,” he commented.

EY also recommended an online recruitment platform catering to students who wants to find internship positions. “An intelligent online recruitment, internship service provides assistance for companies to post internships or job opportunities and hire freshers for internship offering part time and full-time job opportunities. This website aims to help students and fresh graduates become better professionals to dynamically build their career-oriented capabilities.” EY said in its report.