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A group of tech wizards have set their sights on bringing cool and quirky gadgets to the kingdom, with a website and quick home delivery service aimed at eliminating the frustrations prevalent with international ordering. MYLE (an anagram of Make Your Life Easy) was established last year by Jaison Antony, a former Bahrain Defence Force IT programmer.
He has always had a keen interest in the latest technology, particularly puzzles and other fun games and finally decided to set up his own company after a trip to Hong Kong opened his eyes to the industry.
Jaison, a native Indian who has been in Bahrain for 13 years, said: “While travelling and browsing through social media, I came across so many interesting products. However, when I returned home, I found that similar items were not easily available here. We have to order online through Amazon, eBay and such, but that comes with its own issues.
“As many locals will know, ordering something from abroad often comes with long delivery periods (that’s if it even comes at all), poor quality or in a damaged state, basic if zero after-sales service, no proper contact information and often complicated return/exchange policies.
“All of this made us realise the space for a business opportunity and thus our MYLE online store was born.” MYLE started with the philosophy of only buying products from the manufacturer, in order to provide lower pricing than its competitors, even before international delivery is considered.
The company’s portfolio continues to expand, with products from a wide range of categories such as Smart WiFi, Bluetooth devices, mobile accessories, toys, games, puzzles, kitchen implements, gifts, and stationery.
Jaison explained: “MYLE’s motto is ‘to provide quality in an affordable range’. We are extremely careful in taking measures to ensure the quality of products that we present to our customers, which includes factory visits at the procurement stage to confirm the raw material and process quality.
“Our team makes sure that everything we sell goes through appropriate sampling tests to confirm uality consistency and durability. This means we can also offer a warranty on all our products.”
In total, the MYLE team consits of six, of which Jaison, as the manager, is the only full-time employee. Three of his co-workers are his cousins, whilst the other two are close friends, and they bonded together over a mutual admiration of technology.
Apart from just operating as a seller, the group like to indulge in their hobby too. As keen puzzlers, they host teaching classes for the Rubik’s Cube, Sudoku, jigsaws and other puzzle gadgets that they sell.
Jaison said: “We take pride in engaging others in these brain-challenging activities as it develops competency skills, increases focus and concentration, improves memory, sharpens brain power, boosts mind alertness and intellectual reasoning. “Currently we have our weekends open for training sessions on solving the Rubik’s Cube, which has seen a great response from school children and parents alike. We do personal oneto-one training and special sessions for speed cubing. The classes are free and the great response motivates us to do more.”
As for the future, Jaison and the team are looking to improve their services, starting with providing better and cheaper 3D printing solutions in Bahrain and boosting programming skills in the kingdom by hosting more workshops and even stocking programmable gadgets.
Other ideas in the pipeline include forming a club for puzzle lovers, national competitions for Cubing, and DIY activity camps. Watch this space!
