Cisco Entrepreneur Institute

Keenwash: A Jordanian waterless carwash franchise enabled by the Entrepreneur Institute

The company, Keenwash, planned to deliver a fairly simple service: a waterless car wash and wax. For Jordan, one of the most water-deprived countries in the world, this idea seems imaginative and yet, it also has the transformational power that all good businesses need. For while a dirty car wouldn’t seem to be an insurmountable challenge, in Jordan, washing one can be. On average, washing a car at home consumes roughly 400 liters of precious water, while conventional car washes consume around half that much.

While Keenwash clearly had an intriguing solution to a widespread problem—wasting valuable water on dirty cars—this alone did not equate to a successful business. For founders Nader and Hassan Atmeh, finding a model that would be scalable, manageable, and profitable was the challenge. The two founders had extensive backgrounds in science, but neither had the business savvy to build a business that would allow them to leverage the benefits of their innovation.

Jordan’s Keenwash founders were amongst the few lucky entrepreneurs to participate in the first training courses organized by the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute in Jordan, held at the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship. They participated in coursework that included collaboration, access to resources, and mentoring that helped them understand how their business could succeed.

Results:

• Signed up two new franchisors in Saudi Arabia and Yemen
• More partners in pipeline
• Treated 2,800 in the first five months
• End of year forecast after franchising: 28,000 cars

“Entrepreneurship education was very traditional for us before we joined the first Cisco Entrepreneur Institute course, Starting a Business. Technologies used helped us to better learn, understand, and apply,” stated Hassan Atmeh, COO, Keenwash.

The founders learned how to develop a business plan that would help them reach their goals, and gain valuable skills on how to run their business effectively.

KeenWash Case Study

Cisco partners with Leamos to Extend Literacy Education to Women in Mexico

December 2009 marked the launch of an exciting new partnership between the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute, Leamos and the Pro Mazahua Foundation to offer a virtual learning literacy workshop to nineteen indigenous Mazahua women of Mexico State.

“The pilot is significant because of the projected results of the partnership.  Nineteen Mazahuas women will both learn to read and write, and receive computer training.  This is an important step towards reducing the digital divide in Mexico”, said Gelly Calpe, Territory Institute Manager for Mexico. 

Jose Luis, the workshop facilitator, has worked closely with community members to pave the way for the successful implementation of the workshop.  In addition to planning and instructing the women in the literacy workshop, Jose had to convince the women’s husbands to allow them to participate in the Leamos pilot.  Within the Mazahua community literacy and education is traditionally considered unnecessary for women.  Jose worked with the men to show the value of their wives’ participation in the workshop.

The women, who all received complete scholarships to participate in the workshop, are dedicated to the completing the three month workshop.  In some cases must walk over an hour to reach the center where the workshop is offered.  If the pilot is a success, the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute, the Pro Mazahua Foundation and Leamos hope to bring the workshop to two additional communities that have expressed interest in the workshop.