Two Emirati friends, two full-time jobs and a delivery app that won two awards: Meet the founders of Boom

Dubai: “Don’t miss out on opportunities that are like a miracle. You live in a country that provides you with so much, so you must leave a useful impact on society.” With this message and others, two young Emirati women, Maryam Mohammed Al Marri and Mariam Khalifa Al Nuaimi, address their generation, expressing their pride in their application, which won two important awards. The two friends’ experience reflects an inspiring model of women’s success in the technology, entrepreneurship and startup sector. In a scene that embodies the ability of the nation’s daughters to create technological solutions that keep pace with the requirements of the digital economy and its smart transformations, Mariam Al Marri and Mariam Al Nuaimi succeeded in launching Boom, which redefines the concept of delivery services by combining a forward-looking vision with the quality of user experience, after the two partners succeeded in presenting a smart and innovative platform that attracted attention, and won the honour of ‘App of the Year 2025’ and ‘Most Impactful App’ in the Create Apps Championship organised by the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy. Innovative solution This enables businesses to reach customers in remote areas, reduce operating costs, and connect with their clients quickly and efficiently. Picture credit: Supplied At the beginning of their interview, Mariam Al Marri and Mariam Al Nuaimi emphasised that the launch of the Boom app was not just a passing investment idea or a simulation of existing projects, but was born from real suffering and a personal experience in the labour market. Mariam Al Nuaimi, a future forecasting analyst at Abu Dhabi Police, said: “The story of the app began when I personally faced an obstacle to starting my home-based project. After completing all the preparations and obtaining the commercial license, I was unable to solve the delivery crisis and the lack of flexible options that serve business owners. From here, the idea of Boom crystallised into a smart platform that connects business owners, merchants, and female merchants with delivery representatives located near them on one easy-to-use platform that ensures smooth and flexible work.” That practical problem caught the eye of technical expert Mariam Al Marri, who works as a monitoring specialist in the Ministry of Education. She said: “The partnership between us started from a true friendship. When Mariam Al Nuaimi shared her idea with me, I picked it up with practical experience, as I had just finished a course in user experience (UX) and obtained certificates in artificial intelligence. I found that the idea was technically feasible to build, and thus, the personal problem turned into a joint project between two friends and graduates of quality management and strategy from the Higher Colleges of Technology.” She added: “We did not rely solely on what we studied, but we were acquiring daily skills from experts in the fields of marketing, design and technology. The biggest challenge was building an integrated platform that was technically strong and simple for the user at the same time, while balancing this work with our full-time jobs.” Market challenges The founders of Boom said that the road was difficult and not paved with roses, in light of the strong competition in the logistics sector. They added: “Attracting representatives was the biggest challenge for us in practice. Building a reliable network takes time, and the competition in the delivery sector is crowded. But we did not enter to compete with large companies with the same model, but rather we focused on the gap that we saw. Since the labour market and competition are open and transparent and serve small shops and individuals, with flexibility in time and price, our dealing with each challenge is in itself a golden opportunity to build a new solution.” How the app works The app's founders emphasised Boom’s integrated operational mechanism, serving diverse segments of society. It operates on three platforms: the first allows individuals seeking additional income to register as delivery drivers and receive orders according to their preferred times and locations; the second is for customers who can submit various types of orders, such as urgent, 24-hour, or round-trip requests; and the third serves business owners with single or bulk order options, allowing them to set their own delivery prices. This enables them to reach customers in remote areas, reduce operating costs, and connect with their clients quickly and efficiently. Regarding building trust and security, the two partners said: “Since the platform was founded in 2025, building customer trust has been the first pillar of our experience. Therefore, we have put in place a secure framework for the freelance system through an approved registration system for the app, in cooperation with the Emirates ID fingerprint, and we have provided a direct tracking system for each stage. Boom has adopted transparency as