I grew up with immigrant parents from whom I learned to be honest, hardworking and caring toward others. My family’s core value is to be the best we can possibly be while helping others achieve the same along the way, which has inspired me throughout my life and is a huge part of why I started Muftar. This is how we’re empowering small businesses to survive and thrive.
The pandemic amplified how antiquated the technology is in the transportation and logistics industries. As most businesses have undergone a digital transformation, many in the transport industry still rely heavily on load-specific paperwork that needs to be signed and scanned at different stages of a trucker’s journey. This makes it difficult to know exactly where a shipment is and you typically have to wait until it arrives at its next stop and can be scanned into the system for an update.
Even through transportation management software exists, there are many different options available, and most don’t communicate with one another since they aren’t running on one network. This presents a major challenge if the parties involved in a shipment-delivery transaction aren’t using the same network which happens more often than not. At Muftar, we’ve made it our mission to offer a platform through which parties in the industry – carriers, shippers, brokers and truck drivers – can streamline their daily workloads and handle more tasks with far less overhead.
Small businesses power the economy
There were 33.2 million small businesses in the U.S. in 2022, representing 99.9% of all American businesses. These businesses provide local communities with places to eat, shop, be entertained and more. By investing in these businesses, they in turn reinvest in their local communities by offering places of employment and the economic cycle of buying and selling continues. Empowering small businesses is the key to the success of this ecosystem.
There are an estimated 1.2 million trucking companies in the U.S., 90% of which operate six or fewer trucks. These small businesses also play an important role in our economy but, unlike businesses we can directly patronize, the movement of goods is what keeps truckers on the road and allows them to pay their bills. The more we consume as a society, the more loads are available to be transported from a warehouse or port and, ultimately, end up on store shelves, then in our homes.
There are a lot of moving parts behind the scenes to ensure grocery stores are stocked with your favorite items or to receive an order once you click the checkout button in an online shopping cart. A more efficient supply chain means goods can move faster and truck drivers can complete their deliveries in less time, allowing them to spend more time at home with their families. And a more efficient supply chain cannot be realized without digitization. Empowering small businesses is the key to the success of this ecosystem.
Bringing transportation technology into the 21st century
My father became a truck driver in 2012 and started his business with a single truck. I joined the family business in 2017 and immediately after starting, I was shocked to see how disconnected the industry was. As someone who’s passionate about technology, I knew there was an easier way to manage and track loads, monitor and pay invoices and accomplish other tasks trucking companies perform day-to-day in addition to carrying goods.
The first thing I did was deep dive on the workflow for efficiencies, which allowed me to begin semi-automating a lot of our daily tasks. Today, the family business has grown to include more than 28 trucks and is thriving on the tech I developed. In building this technology, I also realized how wonderful it would be if I could make it available to the rest of the industry. Trucking businesses, especially small ones, will be able to successfully handle a heavier workload for less overhead.
With a focus on paperless processing and cost-savings, Muftar aims to unite the transport industry while improving growth opportunities for trucking firms and ensuring the accuracy and efficiency of deliveries. Instead of physically carrying paperwork from place to place, important documents can be scanned, instantly digitized and stored, ensuring all information and be accessed and managed in one place. Our platform connects everyone via one network, allowing visibility into the system at all steps along the shipping and delivery process and optimizing the movement of inbound and outbound goods.
Empowering small businesses
I see many in the transport industry with the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality, which holds us back because it disqualifies the idea of improvement. I know first-hand how challenging it is to operate a trucking business and there are many factors contributing to why smaller ones are forced to shutter. There is plenty we can do to improve, and it starts with giving the industry the tools to help all succeed and keep our economy trucking along – empowering small businesses to survive and thrive.
