:: The King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) on Monday announced that Mathaqi has been accepted as an incubated project, which has already created employment opportunities for Saudi women to earn an average monthly income of SR4,000 ($1,067),

Mathaqi is a smartphone application specialized in home-cooked meals for online ordering and delivery, which aims to support productive families and create additional channels to improve the income of such families.

Nawaf Al-Sahhaf, the CEO of Badir Program for Technology Incubators, which is one of KACST’s projects, said that the Mathaqi App uses modern technology to reinforce the role of productive families in the economic sector and promote the products in a way that benefits and improves the financial status of the family and the community, by marketing and preparing home-cooked meals which are delivered right to the client’s door.

Since its establishment earlier this year, this project created more than 80 new job opportunities for women, recognizing that the monthly average income of one productive family reached around SR4,000, he noted.

Al-Sahhaf said emerging technology companies incubated by the Badir program have increased by 24 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017 to 157 startups, compared with 127 companies during the first nine months of this year.

Around 40 percent of these 157 incubated companies have generated SR25 million in revenue and created 961 jobs.

He said that today BADIR is focusing on expanding its innovation and entrepreneurial hubs across the Kingdom to create 600 startups and 3,600 jobs by 2020. It is also creating a soft-landing program to diversify its startup portfolio and increase capabilities among local startups, as it has been seen that foreign residents are essential elements in the ecosystem.

The Mathaqi app is culinary platform giving chefs and home-based “foodprenuers” the opportunity to market their meals. It helps women create a sustainable livelihood for themselves, in the convenience of their homes, while ensuring they are equipped with the right tools to deliver quality, safe and tasty food.

The online menu “is a perfect blend of authentic food with authentic recipes, with a wide variety of cuisines and the expertise of carefully selected home chefs. All chefs are trained in food safety processes and they prepare food in limited quantities.

According to recent research, consumer food services in the Kingdom are estimated at SR26 billion, with the delivery/take away sector estimated at SR6 billion. Online food delivery services are projected to touch SR820 million by 2020.