How Sharjah’s Ajada Brought Its First Hardware Product to Market

Ajada built its first product around a task that comes after burning bakhoor. The Sohail incense burner has a sliding mechanism that moves ash into an internal chamber. That action is central to the way the Sharjah company presents the product. A customer can understand the purpose of the mechanism before considering the metal body, wooden lid or accessories in the set. For a small hardware business, the clarity of that promise matters. The company has to make the action work consistently, show people how to use it and deliver a set that contains what they expect. Ajada’s Sohail product listing

Abdulilah Saad, Ajada’s founder, grew up in Sharjah and studied architecture at the American University of Sharjah. The Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival’s 2026 programme identifies him as the founder who brought the burner to market and lists him for a workshop on taking hardware from idea to market. Ajada describes Sohail as its first product. The public material documents the product and its launch, and leaves the team’s internal production and sales figures private. For another UAE product builder, the case gives a concrete way to think through a release. Work backward from the action the customer is buying and identify what you need to verify before promising it. Saad’s festival biography and workshop listing Ajada’s account of its origins

Turn the design idea into an action a buyer can recognise

Ajada describes an approach that starts with familiar objects and the rituals people already practise. On the Sohail listing, the company explains how the slide moves ash out of sight into a chamber. It presents the burner and its accessories together as a set. This makes the launch proposition easier to describe. A prospective customer can see which part of the existing routine Ajada wanted to change and what they would receive in the box. Ajada’s design rationale The Sohail listing and set contents

A founder can test that kind of promise before polishing a product page. Ask someone who understands the category to describe their usual sequence without showing them the design first. Find out which steps they want to keep and where they have to stop or improvise. Then show them a demonstration or an appropriate unpowered sample and ask them to explain what the product changes. If they understand the action only after the founder gives a detailed explanation, see whether the object, instructions or demonstration can make it clearer.

Record different kinds of feedback separately. One person may like the look of the object and miss how a feature works. Another may immediately understand the feature but decide they would rarely need it. A third may recognise the problem and want to know how the object is cleaned or maintained. Those responses point to different work before release. Better instructions could help the first person. The second suggests a question about who the product is for. The third gives the founder a support question to answer before anyone buys.

Set acceptance criteria before the first production batch

A product with a moving component gives the founder something specific to inspect. The demonstrator may work smoothly when the person who designed it operates it. The first batch will need to behave consistently across many units, including ones assembled on different days. Ask the production team which characteristics of the prototype control that movement and which dimensions or materials may vary. Then agree how a finished item will be checked and what happens to units that fail. A written record is especially useful when the change that improves appearance also changes how a part fits or moves.

The Chicago Athenaeum’s design entry credits Seymourpowell for the design of Sohail and lists Ajada in Sharjah. The credit is useful context for a founder assessing what it takes to launch a physical product. The founder’s role and the design team’s contribution can both matter, and the people involved need a common definition of what the production item should do. A design award records recognition of the product. Batch acceptance calls for evidence about the units that will actually ship. The Chicago Athenaeum’s Sohail design entry

For a product that uses heat, plan the technical review separately from a demonstration of the moving feature. Use competent review to determine what evaluation, instructions and warnings the product requires. Keep design versions and results together so the team can tell which version an evaluation applies to. A later change to a component or material may affect an earlier assumption. Give somebody responsibility for checking that before the revised units are approved. The showroom, studio and production bench each show a different part of the product’s readiness.

Prepare the box and the support process together

Ajada’s listing describes a ritual set that includes the burner, incense, charcoal, a lighter and tweezers. That offer requires the company to assemble several things into a single order. Packaging needs to hold them in place and make the parts easy to identify. The product page and the packing instructions need to refer to the same contents. If one item is missing or damaged, the company should know how to trace the batch and decide what the customer needs next. Ajada’s set description

A founder preparing a similar UAE release could ask someone unfamiliar with the product to open a sample shipment and explain what they think each part is for. Have a second person check the box against the order and report anything ambiguous. Inspect a package after it has travelled through the intended delivery process. The test can reveal problems with the way a loose part is secured or the order in which the customer encounters the instructions. It can also tell the team which support questions to anticipate before putting more stock on sale.

Then run a practice support case. Imagine a customer receives the main item intact but says an accessory is missing. Can the team see what was supposed to be packed, identify the order and send the appropriate replacement? If the answer requires the founder to search through messages and call the supplier, the company can change the recordkeeping before launch. Give customer support the same names for components that appear on the packing list. A precise description helps the team resolve the first case and notice when several customers report the same issue.

Use launch feedback to decide what should change

Saad’s festival listing shows that hardware development was also a subject he brought to a Sharjah founder audience. The festival’s separate interview with designer Amal Al Beiti addresses another part of putting work in front of people. She discusses accepting criticism and learning from it. For a hardware team, the operating task is to make that feedback specific enough to act on. Ask what the person tried, what happened and whether the same thing happens with another unit. Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival’s workshop listing for Saad

In a separate Instagram reel from the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival, designer Amal Al Beiti discusses responding to feedback on creative work.

At launch, separate problems in the object from problems in the way people encounter it. If customers ask the same question before buying, the page may be leaving out information. If several buyers struggle with an action even after reading the instructions, inspect the unit and compare it with the approved design. If they understand and can use it but rarely do, ask whether the problem the product solves occurs often enough for them. The answers can tell the team whether to revise its explanation, investigate the batch or reconsider which customers it is trying to reach.

Avoid treating a stock label as a complete picture of demand. A listing can say a product is out of stock without showing how many units were offered, why orders closed or what buyers did after receiving it. To understand your own launch, record how many units were offered, how many orders were accepted and fulfilled, and what happened afterward. Compare feedback by batch and by how the customer found the product. If one retailer or demonstration explains most of the orders, ask what happens when the product has to make sense to someone who sees it without a salesperson present.

Know which decision the first release is meant to support

A small launch can test whether the offer makes sense, whether the company can fulfil it and what kinds of problems emerge after delivery. Decide which evidence you need most. A founder who has never sent the set through the delivery process may learn more from ten complete shipments than from a larger audience that cannot yet place orders. A team that can fulfil reliably but is uncertain about price or positioning may need to reach customers outside the founder’s immediate network. Keep those tests separate enough that you can tell what changed.

Put aside time and stock for the work that follows delivery. Someone should be able to review reported issues and compare the units involved with the records from production. If a repeated problem can be addressed with better instructions, see whether the next group of customers can use those instructions without help. If it requires a product change, decide what to do with the stock already made and how the revised version will be identified. Treat that decision as part of the cost of launching a product with physical inventory.

Before ordering a second batch, put the feedback in front of the people who can resolve it. The designer can explain the intended action. The production team can say what it can repeat reliably. The person who handled customer questions can show where explanations fell short. Ask each person which change they would make first and what it would cost. Where opinions differ, choose a check that can distinguish between them. A repeatable fault merits a different response from a preference expressed by one buyer. Agree which result will justify the new order before paying for it.

One decision belongs in the launch budget from the start. Work out which parts of the set you can replace individually if a customer reports a problem. If replacing a small part means opening another complete box, the apparent cost of the repair may understate the inventory it takes out of sale. Ask the supplier how you would obtain spares, how they would be identified and whether they fit every production version you intend to ship. That answer can affect the size of the first order and the time the support team can promise for a replacement.

Ajada’s first product gives a hardware founder a concrete place to start. Identify the action customers are buying, check that the production version can perform it and follow the product through packing, delivery and first use. The launch becomes easier to assess when each of those steps leaves evidence the next production decision can use.