Careem: Base Camp or Mountain Peak? Designing an OS for Scaling

This case focuses on designing a fast growing organization. It is part of a two-case set that is taught together to cover the scaling journey.
Careem, a Dubai-based ride-hailing service aimed to ‘simplify and improve the lives of people, and build an awesome company that inspired.’ Launched in 2012, the company experienced rapid growth of 20-30 percent per month and increased operations to 90 cities across 13 countries in the Middle East. The co-founders laid emphasis on building a company driven by its values and created a culture that was consensus-driven and empowering for everyone. Over the years, Careem raised $500 million from regional and global investors, and its valuation hit $1 billion, making it the first unicorn from the region. By January 2018, it was on track to meet its target of creating one million jobs by year-end. Rapid growth resulted in several operational and organizational tensions that led the founders to create processes and re-emphasize its culture. The three co-founders changed their priorities, and Mudassir Sheikha assumed role of the CEO. The scaling crisis manifested itself in the organizational structure – a lack of clarity in roles of local markets (mountain peaks) and headquarters (base camp) in Dubai became evident. Careem had differentiated itself from Uber with a local strategy, but needed to leverage benefits of scale, share best practices across markets, and exhibit a consistent brand. Thus, they created the first iteration of an Operating System (OS) to translate Careem’s mission into behaviors of 3,800 people. Sheikha wondered what the CEO’s role ought to be. Should he increase his involvement in operational issues or focus on the long-term vision for Careem?