HUNDREDHANDS is not a marketplace, a directory or a jobs board. It is a place where small business owners can hire AI employees.
That is the idea behind HUNDREDHANDS, a Dubai startup founded by Ferhat Kacmaz, a founder whose background spans operations, sales and logistics. The company uses AI agents that can email, read spreadsheets, write proposals and follow instructions, doing the jobs that eat into a founder’s day.
Small teams, big workloads
HUNDREDHANDS grew out of the problems Kacmaz saw again and again while working with small businesses. Founders spent hours every day on email, administration and coordination, while larger companies hired staff for the same work.
“A small business owner in Dubai is doing ten jobs at once. We want to give them a team of ten, without having to hire ten people,” Kacmaz says.
The company builds AI employees that work from the apps owners already use. Each employee can be configured for a task, such as monitoring emails, generating quotes and following up on unpaid invoices, and it works around the clock.
An AI employee on WhatsApp
HUNDREDHANDS puts AI employees inside WhatsApp, so owners manage them like members of staff.
“Most small business owners in the region live on WhatsApp. We did not want them to learn a new dashboard or download another app. They can send a voice note or a text message, and the AI employee replies and gets the job done,” Kacmaz says.
The team built a management dashboard, but it is a backup option, not the core product. The main interaction stays on WhatsApp.
A lean team, backed by AI
HUNDREDHANDS is deliberately lean. Kacmaz describes the company as a 10-person operation in a country where competitors often employ hundreds. The team runs on the same AI tools it sells.
“We are a small team. We practise what we preach. Our team uses AI employees for our own operations, so we understand the product from the inside,” he says.
What comes next
HUNDREDHANDS is preparing new tools for small businesses, including ways to connect AI employees to accounts software. The company also expects to raise a seed round in the coming months.
“AI is changing fast. In five years, most small businesses will have AI employees working alongside their human staff,” Kacmaz says. “We want HUNDREDHANDS to be the company that makes that possible for everyone, not just the big businesses.”
