Tina Mashaalahi has many loves: art, technology, and classical music being three of them. But long before she can purchase a ticket to an exhibition, or conference, or concert, she, like everybody else, must click through a handful of websites, view a batch of ratings, consult different people—you get the gist. Researching events is tedious, taking up precious moments of her leisure time.
A family friend, Mehdi Nayebi—also somebody with a solid network in London and lots of experience organizing events—was in total agreement, unable to fathom why the process was so frustrating. That was back in 2012.
“We faced this problem,” recalls Mashaalahi. “There’s nothing really out there where you could just go to one place, find all these things happening, and have access to it kind of like a concierge for events. There’s nothing really out there that can understand what you’re into, and based on your location.”
After doing some research, she and Nayebi confirmed that there was definitely a gap in the market. Then, they took that realization one step further and decided: “We can disrupt the events industry.”
Without any previous programming experience, the co-founders did all they could to put their plan into action. For six months they took intensive programming classes on weekends to understand how exactly to structure this venture.
“We’ve never had any mentors or incubators,” reveals Mashaalahi. “We have to do it all on our own. But it’s actually better for us because it makes our skin much thicker, and you learn a lot more that way.”
Soon after, the WeWork Moorgate members founded KweekWeek: a website and app, compatible for iOS and Android, that people can use to book and host events, no matter where in the world they are located.
Mashaalahi has done something right: she’s a finalist for multiple awards in 2015: Entrepreneur of the Year from the First Women Awards and Startup Founder of the Year from FDM Everywoman in Technology Awards. Even more recently, she was shortlisted for the LondonlovesExcellence Awards’ “Young Entrepreneur” category.
“‘Kweek’ stands for ‘quick,’ and ‘week’ stands for your week,” 30-year-old Mashaalahi explains. “Your week goes by quickly. And we help you with organizing your calendar with events you would like to go to.”
With 10 assorted categories spanning nightlife, art and culture, networking, health and wellbeing, and sports, KweekWeek satisfies all kinds of extracurricular cravings for all kinds of people: techies, foodies, party animals, concertgoers—the list goes on.
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to pilot a plane, book a one-hour flying lesson. If you want to round up some friends for a group macaron baking class, you can do that. If you’re a yoga enthusiast who happens to be looking for love, try “Yoga Dating” (seriously, that exists).
You can add an event from any country and currency, catapulting the KweekWeek co-founders—self-proclaimed “workaholics and perfectionists”—that much closer to their ambitious goal of global domination.
“We’ve had a couple of events in Russia” Mashaalahi says. “We’ve got loads of events in Turkey. We’ve got some events in Spain, France, a few in the U.S. We’re in a phrase where we want to expand, so it’s nice to see that organically, people are adding their own events in different parts in the world.”
Because KweekWeek is location-based, travel plans only add to the excitement.
“So if you’re located in London,” says Mashaalahi, “it will suggest you stuff that’s happening in London. But if you fly to Istanbul, and you fire up the app, then it will suggest you things that are happening in Istanbul and Turkey.”
According to Mashaalahi, there are rival businesses, but they only contain one KweekWeek-like component or two.
“A couple places out there, they’re either listing websites or they’re transactional tool platforms,” says Mashaalahi. “Or they’re just apps that have curated events that are enforced on users to book for their tickets or their daily deal. But there’s nothing really out there that has this complete event marketplace approach that we do along with the whole social side of it.”
When Mashaalahi isn’t busy with her own company, she works with OUTBOX Incubator, mentoring young women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
“I tend to recommend they ask themselves a few questions,” says Mashaalahi. “Am I passionate about what I do? Am I one of the world’s best at what I do? Will the market compensate me well enough for what I’m doing?”
She speaks about the importance of being adaptable, and relentless about achieving success, and never giving up.
“You also need great support around you,” she adds. “People that empathize and understand you, because launching a startup is very consuming mentally, emotionally, and physically.”
Mashaalahi remembers what she had to go through when she was younger. “I didn’t have anyone to really help me or guide me through the way,” she says. “And I feel like I have to give that back. I think it’s important to be able to pass this on as much as you can while you’re developing yourself and improving.”
Photo credit: Oscar May