In 2011, Karim Abraham started an e-commerce company. It was exciting – at first.
“I started it with a few friends, and we were doing well,” Abraham said. “But over the course of three years the business model changed quite a bit, and near the end we were selling inexpensive, low-quality goods to people. I kind of equate it to almost dollar-store-quality stuff.”
Abraham found his heart was no longer in the business. His father is the longtime owner of Quality Program Services, an energy monitoring business. He suggested that Abraham consider bringing his e-commerce skills to the growing field of energy efficiency.
Abraham and his sister, Yasmin Abraham, initially started Kambo Green Solutions as an e-commerce website selling energy efficiency products such as LED light bulbs. But they soon found that customers needed a larger suite of services, so the business pivoted away from a marketplace focus to being a provider of services like energy monitoring.
The environmental and business benefits of energy efficiency struck a chord with Abraham. He also found the business meshed well with his interest in new technologies.
“The more I learned about it, the more I really liked it,” he said. “You’re doing more with less, so that concept really stuck with me.
“There’s also a lot of really cool technology in the energy efficiency world in terms of building controls and real-time energy monitoring.”
Because there are plenty of people in Vancouver who are also passionate about energy efficiency and sustainability, Abraham has found it’s been easier to hire well-qualified staff. The company now has eight employees and was recently funded by Empresario Capital Partners, a venture capital fund.
“When I was selling cheap, dollar-store products, I wasn’t proud of it, and I wasn’t able to put everything into it,” Abraham said. “But now, doing something that has a positive effect on the environment and business at the same time, it’s really easy for me to get behind [it].”
On developing your product | “It’s really about understanding your customers and trying to figure out what they need, because we thought we knew what they needed in terms of product. But once we started talking to them more and telling them about specific products, we realized it was all that after-sales service – how do I actually install it, how do I program the thermostat or what specific products should I be choosing – it was that whole extra piece was missing. That really came from talking to the customers and understanding their needs.”
Has a work or life challenge taught you a key career lesson? Contact Jen St. Denis at [email protected]
