UAE's first community app 'Mama ME' launched for mums and mums to be

Dentist turned tech entrepreneur Sumayya Sarwar - who gave birth to her first born in backseat of Uber - is founder of UAE's first community app 'Mama ME' for mums and mums to be, available free on the app store for women across the emirates.

The app connects UAE women with like-minded parents, offers a safe space to connect, clusters users by geographical location, age of children.

Sumayya, 32, is a self-taught tech entrepreneur juggling her duties as a dentist and young Mother while turning her efforts to app development.

Sarwar said: "Managing my day job as a dentist and role as a first time mother spurred me to create a platform where like-minded and expectant mothers in the same boat as me could connect, share their experiences and form a community.We are so fortunate here in the UAE, which is one of the world's most child-friendly places to live, but I felt as though my friends were leading a very different life to me as a new mum with a young baby. This spurred me to do some market research, brainstorm ideas for a community app and create a focus group with whom I could test out my ideas."

Understanding the challenges a new mother faces like sleep deprivation coupled with feelings of overwhelming isolation, the founder of Mama ME app decided to create a safe and secure community app for mums and pregnant women so they can connect, talk and be there for one another. As UAE residents are being urged to #StayHome, Sumayya launched the app earlier than expected, in order to open up the community as mothers or expectant mothers were indoors while self-isolating during the Coronavirus outbreak.

Mama ME app features include a robust verification process of each user, in order to keep the community secure and to allow women to share information safely. UAE community Mum's can connect based on their neighbourhood and chat with other users about a range of topics such as breastfeeding, post-natal depression, disturbed sleep and teething. The Mama ME team are working on rolling out more features to make this a useful platform for Mums and provide them with the reassuring presence of a community through their phone.

"While UAE residents are urged to #StayHome during this Coronavirus crisis, Mama ME app is running a series of free interactive expert Q&As on Instagram Live and I'm so excited to be able to engage online with experts ranging from midwives, child psychologists and counsellors," added Sarwar. - business@khaleejtimes.com