Carnegie Mellon grads launch Qatar gardening app
Three graduates of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), a Qatar Foundation partner university, have joined forces to create an app for gardeners in Qatar.
Tamim Al-Asfar, Mohamed Hamdi, and Julian Sam created Greenit to make choosing, buying and caring for plants in Qatar more smooth. Hamdi said, “You can buy plants, flowers, pots, everything related to gardening. It’s unique because in Qatar, there’s not one place where you can buy what you need, have it delivered, and also learn everything you need to know to care for the plants.”
All three Greenit team members graduated in CMU-Q’s Class of 2019. Tamim and Hamdi have degrees in business administration, while Julian has a degree in computer science.
Julian noted: “Even the engineers we hired were CMU-Q students. It’s pretty cool because I think a lot of people try to outsource the work, but we did it in-house, and put all our love and all our passion into it. And I think it shows.”
Michael Trick, dean of CMU-Q, said: “At Carnegie Mellon, we encourage students to work in multidisciplinary teams, which is exactly what Hamdi, Tamim and Julian have done with their app. I am so pleased to see them work together to build something that will make Qatar a greener place.”
Tamim noted that Greenit was inspired in part by Qatar’s vision to make the country a greener place. “Qatar has the goal of planting one million trees before World Cup 2022, and ten million trees by 2030. People in Qatar are really starting to understand the importance of making our spaces greener, and I think our company can really make a difference in that area.”
Residents in Qatar can now order plants online through Greenit, have them delivered, and learn about the best way to care for their garden. The app includes a machine learning element that will identify plants through photos, and then source the plant from nurseries around Qatar, and the team is continuously adding more features.
Greenit is available through the App Store and Google Play.