By Salwa Samir Amr Ibrahim, a graphic designer, was busy finishing his apartment, relying on craftsmen from his neighbourhood. One day, the ceramics craftsman broke a pipe in the bathroom and he covered it up by laying a tile over it. A few days later, Ibrahim discovered that the bathroom floor was uneven, with one tile higher than the others. "I tried to reach to the craftsman to confront him with the damage he had caused, but to no avail. So,I had to bring another fixer and spend more money correcting his mistake," Ibrahim said. "Because of my bad experience, I thought of launching a mobile app to connect the best handymen to the people who need them, so they don't have to go through the bad experience I went through," Ibrahim, the founder of Fixawy, told the Egyptian Mail. Founded in 2016, Fixawy is a platform that facilitates the search for home service handymen in Egypt. Fixawy provides clients with the names of experienced handymen in their vicinity, who can do jobs involving electrical work, plastering, plumbing, carpentry, air conditioning, satellite dishes, solar power, painting and tiling. "This app helps clients find the best handymen and helps good fixers find more job opportunities," Ibrahim said. He pointed out that Fixawy does not accept just any craftsman; applicants must go through a one-on-one interview, guarantee quality assurance and safety, provide a copy of their ID and of course, have no criminal record. "Once they have downloaded the app on their mobile phones," Ibrahim added, "the clients are free to choose the best handyman according to his profile, having read other clients' reviews about him and his work." The clients post details of the job they need done and a few minutes later, the profiles of the relevant fixers appear. They then choose a fixer and the date they want him to come. "We now have 200 craftsmen working in Greater Cairo and Alexandria and the service will be extended to other governorates in the near future," Ibrahim said. Fixawy has a pricing system that accommodates both clients and fixers."After the job is done the system sends a message with the cost according to the time spent and the fixer's skill. The client receives a bill on both his email and app account," Ibrahim explained. "This system," he added, "prevents any exhausting price negotiation that may happen after every job between the fixer and the client." In 2016, Fixawy won second place in the RiseUp Summit Microsoft Egypt competition. The app is available for IOS and Android phone operating systems. Mohamed Bayoumi, is one of the electricians working on the platform. He told the Mail that before he joined the platform, he suffered a lot from the way some clients cancelled appointments saying that they had found another fixer, without giving a convincing reason for the change."This affected my income badly," said Bayoumi, a father of three. But, he added, he had not faced such bad behaviour since he joined the app a year ago."There is a commitment by both the fixer and the client to respect appointments.There are also no quarrels with the client regarding cost, and we are both satisfied," he added. Bayoumi has encouraged his colleagues to join the application, as it is in some ways the same as a regular job, for day-workers. "Last summer, I received over 200 orders, Alhamdulillah. In the winter, there is less demand." Bayoumi said that the secret behind working on this platform is the craftsman's reputation. "When I work hard at my job without causing problems, the client will post a positive review about me which will later be seen by other clients, so they will trust me and choose me to fix their electrical problems," Bayoumi said, with a smile.
