Rent-on-Net: Our small e-business

The situation grows worse every year as new students and faculty arrive at the beginning of each semester. For more than six years no adequate solution has been suggested.

It is not easy to find a place that is close to the university, shopping centers and health clubs, and also provides all the necessary day-to-day amenities. This is what inspired our business idea for Rent-on-Net.

In simple terms, Rent-on-Net is an easy, viable way to search for villas, houses, flats, and rooms for rent. We check out the condition of the property, as well as the area, and decide whether it is a suitable opportunity or not. Then, we take a photo of the place and post it on the website at www.way4rent.com.

Earlier on, a survey was conducted at SQU at random of 25 students and staff. They were asked what they would prefer to rent the most: villas, houses, apartments or rooms. As shown in the figure below, 75 percent answered they would prefer to rent a house.

One of the rules for a business to succeed is that it must be unique. Accordingly, we not only provide rentable properties, we also provide furnishings, bathroom utilities, cooking gas, electricians, plumbers and information on restaurants and groceries. The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Using the website is also very easy. All the customer does is subscribe to the service, submit their specifications, and we take care of the rest. Our aim is that Rent-on-Net is the only party the customers ever has to deal with during their renting process.

Implementing the idea of Rent-on-Net was not an easy process, but in then end, all of the obstacles we faced, we beat. For instance, many suppliers were unwilling to participate in this business because it looked more like a classroom project than a viable business.

We gathered enough information and photos to convince them otherwise. In the end, I am proud to say Rent-on-Net joined the competition at Zayed University and finished in the top ten.