Entrepreneurs

6 Six inspiring Entrepreneurs of Pakistan

Published

5 years ago

June 29, 2019

There is a common saying “Success begets success”. The successful walk the success, and sometimes the best way to make your dreams a reality is by following in the footsteps of those who have already amassed a great deal of success. By following successful people in our lives, we give ourselves a role model to look up to, someone who can inspire us to strive harder in our efforts to attain success. This is especially true for entrepreneurs, as those who aspire to use their talent and skills for bringing new forms of innovation to the world and benefit the lives of others, will gain a lot of motivation from other successful entrepreneurs. By following other entrepreneurs, they can get to learn about many of the challenges which entrepreneurs face during their career, and learn to accept that determination and firm dedication to their life goals will ultimately reap success for them.

Several influential Pakistani entrepreneurs have made huge contributions in the world of innovation, by staying true to their dreams and working with diligence. Some brilliant success stories of Pakistani entrepreneurs are described as follows:

Table of Contents

Success Stories of Young Pakistani Entrepreneurs

1- Zia Imran

Zia Imran is an entrepreneur, inventor and a motivational speaker in Pakistan. He is currently involved in a project, building home automation and energy saving devices based on IoT technologies. He is also working as part of the SPRING Accelerator team in Pakistan. Zia is the CEO of Vahzay (Pvt) Limited, a software company based in Lahore, which focuses on producing software, IT products, and services. He is also a founding member of Plan 9, one of the largest tech incubators in Pakistan. What makes Zia stands out among other Pakistani entrepreneurs is that he has over fifteen years’ experience of working at Silicon Valley, in product development and program management at several companies, including Oracle and Altera (now Intel).

2- Monis Rahman

Monis Rahman is a Pakistani venture capitalist. He is the founder & CEO of Naseeb Networks, Inc., a business-centered social network, which basically serves the purpose of online job recruitment. In 2006, he started Rozee.pk, a company aimed to promote job opportunities in Pakistan.

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Monis is also the co-founder of eDaycare.com, and was responsible for the development of the technology behind the startup. He has also founded and run various companies, ranging from Internet startups to chip design consultancies. He has also raised venture capital for two Internet startups in Silicon Valley. Monis Rahman started his career at Intel Corporation, where he served as a key member of Intel’s microprocessor design team. Monis has also served as the Director of KASHF Microfinance Bank Limited. He has gained a lot of fame and recognition, by being featured in various newspapers and magazines, including New York Times, CNN, InfoWorld, The Chicago Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Spider. Monis also holds several patents for his innovative work in Pakistan.

3- Ali Rehan

Ali Rehan is the Co-founder of Eyedeus Labs and Ingrain. Ali graduated from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). He is also the CEO of Groopic Inc., and led a team of five to build, release, and market the Groopic App, a mobile application which enables people to take group pictures and include the photographer as well. Groopic has gained great reviews from TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Cult of Mac and CNN. Ali is the Co-founder of Ingrain, a native advertising platform that allows the user to place automatic and individually targeted online videos in real time. The video publisher can monetize the content without compromising the user experience. Ingrain has made significant technology breakthroughs in solving hardware related problems in Pakistan, particularly in Position Tracking & 3D Scene Understanding problems. Team Eyedeus, led by Ali Rehan, were also shortlisted for the Google Blackbox Connect entrepreneurship accelerator in 2013.

4- Maria Umar

Maria Umar is the founder of Women’s Digital League (WDL), an online platform that provides work opportunities and digital training for Pakistani women. The turning point in her career was the Project Artemis/Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Program, when she was mentored and coached by top business professors and motivational speakers from the Silicon Valley. Maria was nominated as a Thought Leader by Ashoka Changemakers. During her time working in an online digital outsourcing sphere, under her leadership, WDL also won the Early Stage Award in the Changemakers “Women Powering Work” competition. Maria has been featured as an innovative leader by the local and international media, including Mashable, Forbes, Virgin, Ashoka, and Dawn. She is also actively striving to encourage girls to opt for STEM at an early age, through the Technovation Challenge.

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5- Zafar Khan

Zafar Khan is the CEO and Founder of Sofizar, a Lahore based Internet marketing company, which sells products directly to consumers in North America, over search engines and through Facebook marketing. Sofizar makes more than ten million dollars per year in revenue. Zafar is also the CEO of Engro Digital, a chemical and processing plant, where sensory data interacts with machine learning based analytics to give real-time recommendations and alerts. Zafar was also the co-founder of PrimeDTV, an ATSC reference design company, based in Shanghai and Anaheim. He has been on the Central Executive Committee of P@SHA, and is a Past Vice Chairman. Zafar has managed to bootstrap his company into a multi-million dollar venture. He is currently working on leading his organization to tackle more verticals, and maintaining their growth rate.

6- Farhan Masood

Farhan Masood is a brilliant and innovative entrepreneur, who has won several international awards for his contributions toward innovation. These awards include The Asia Pacific ICT Awards and the MIT Enterprise Forum BAP 2012 Competition. Farhan is the CEO of SoloInsight Inc. (USA) and SoloTech Labs (Pakistan), which aims to provide innovative solutions, which are custom designed according to the needs of the company’s clients. He has a great level of expertise in perimeter security, and he is always willing to share his knowledge by delivering keynote speeches at various university and college seminars. He is also the founder of Go Green Pakistan, a campaign aimed at promoting the spirit of patriotism in Pakistan and connecting patriots all over the country.

Courtesy: NaumanKhan.com

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Economy

Sania Approves Cognitive API Architecture For Ehsaas’ One Window Socioeconomic Registry

Published

3 years ago

June 6, 2021

Press Release

Islamabad: The Cognitive API architecture for Ehsaas’ National Socio-Economic Registry 2021 is one of the six main pillars of ‘One Window Ehsaas’. With the survey, which is building the registry currently 90.5% complete nationwide, Ehsaas is firming up its plans to open data sharing and data access services for all executing agencies under Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD).

Data sharing will be done through the Cognitive API Architecture approach. The deployment of Ehsaas API architecture for data sharing will allow executing agencies to access data from the unified registry in real-time to validate beneficiary information. This will empower them to ascertain eligibility of potential beneficiaries. The benefits which each family and individual is receiving from each organization will be visible to all agencies across all Ehsaas programs.

There will be two-way data sharing; agencies with whom data will be shared will also be required to update the registry with their own information, hence the registry will become more robust over time. A final presentation was made to Dr. Sania Nishtar who closely oversaw this process. She praised the technical team working on Ehsaas Cognitive API Architecture approach and congratulated them. Later, this service will be extended to provinces and other government agencies implementing Ehsaas programs as well.

The API architecture for data sharing will facilitate adoption of the Ehsaas One Window targeting Policy. The objective of this policy is to make targeting predictable, evidence based, transparent and effective in the Ehsaas ecosystem. Under the same architecture, the Utility Stores Corporation has also been linked with the Ehsaas database, which will underpin execution of a commodity subsidies program. This approach is being adopted for the first time and will usher in transparency. Previously, there was no way of one government agency knowing what support an individual or a family was getting from another government agency.

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Some families with connections and influence were getting multiple benefits and other more deserving ones were getting none. Now, with the data integration, Ehsaas agencies will be able to see what benefits an individual or the households is getting. But more importantly, it will also reflect their entitlement in terms of various Ehsaas programmes and initiatives, because the data sharing is pegged with the Ehsaas One Window targeting Policy.

The integrated registry and the cognitive API Architecture for the registry is one pillar of the One Window Ehsaas, which will be launched this week. It has six main components: one-stop-shop centers; an integrated digital interface facing the office; a digital information and services platform; a mobile app; an integrated database comprising of cognitive API architecture; and the standardized beneficiary targeting policy.

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Digital

Karachi-based digital bookkeeping startup, CreditBook raises $1.5 million in seed funding

Published

4 years ago

May 6, 2021

Press Release

The Karachi-based digital bookkeeping startup CreditBook, which is trying to ensure that tracking of transactions goes digital, has announced that it has raised US$1.5 million in seed funding from international and local investors.

Key investors included Pakistan’s BitRate Venture Capital, VentureSouq from the United Arab Emirates, US-based Better Tomorrow Ventures, Ratio Ventures, Quiet Capital, Toy Ventures, and i2i Ventures.

Established in June 2020 by Hasib Malik, Iman Jamall, and Hisham Adamjee, CreditBook strives to help microentrepreneurs digitalize and track their transactions.

CreditBook aims to utilize the funding to scale its user base and diversify its product offerings. As indicated by the startup, its registered client base grew 5x in the last six months to reach 500,000.

“Before the launch in June 2020, we had planned to use a mix of digital marketing and offline acquisition. But with lockdown restrictions, we pivoted to a purely digital strategy. We were surprised when we saw thousands of users come onto the platform in the first month with less than $1,000 in total spend,” Malik told Tech in Asia. Via TechinAsia

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Digital

Pakistan Moves Closer to Train One Million Youth with Digital Skills

Published

4 years ago

February 8, 2021

Press Release

Enabling people to bring at least an additional US$1 billion each year into the Pakistani economy through E-Commerce skills by 2025.

Pakistan Moves Closer to Train One Million Youth with 100+ eCommerce and Digital Skills

Karachi, Pakistan, February 05, 2021 ………Pakistan has a large labour force that stands among the top 10 largest labour forces in the world, and it’s growing day by day. To create adequate employment opportunities for them is a huge challenge. On the other hand, employers frequently keep saying that they are unable to find workers with the appropriate skills necessary for their businesses. This obviously shows that there is a mismatch between the demand and supply of skills.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) has shown that skills development can play a major role in the alleviation of poverty, when carefully planned and implemented in the context of the available and emerging employment and income-generation opportunities. This multiplies many folds when the skills are acquired in the digital spheres. It not only widens the work opportunities but also opens up avenues for entrepreneurial ventures as well.

Extreme Commerce, Pakistan’s largest and renowned E-Commerce capacity building platform has excelled in its mission of making Pakistan a hub of entrepreneurial opportunities. Under the guidance of Sunny Ali, thousands of aspiring individuals from Pakistan have successfully initiated global e-commerce businesses.

Extreme Commerce, Pakistan’s largest e-commerce skill development and the entrepreneurial platform has achieved yet another milestone with the expansion of 100+ skills training courses through the “Video Boot Camp (VBC).” The Video Boot Camp includes virtual sessions and videos encompassing around 100 essential e-commerce and digital skills required to excel in the spheres of online businesses. The Video Boot Camp training program is specifically tailored to facilitate the budding entrepreneurs and businessmen and freelancers.

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According to Ali, “E-commerce has skyrocketed after the pandemic and is estimated to grow to a whopping $4.3 trillion within this year.” He further adds, “There is a huge potential for growth in eCommerce both domestic and international, and that is why Extreme Commerce has pledged to enable people to bring at least an additional $1 billion each year into the Pakistani economy through E-Commerce skills by 2025.”

The Video Boot Camp includes over a 100 plus income generating E-Commerce skills (income streams) which an entrepreneur needs to skyrocket their businesses. Some skills offered through the VBC include: Selling through Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) model, Virtual Assistant and FBA Freelancing, online store management of international and local E-Commerce marketplaces, bookkeeping account management services, digital and social media marketing, content writing and graphic designing, 3D designing & modelling, data science and analytics and more.

This initiative of Extreme Commerce will be immensely fruitful in helping their trainees become leading entrepreneurs of the country. Ali, contented with his vision states, “At Extreme Commerce, we offer a multitude of digital skills that are categorized into 100+ courses/income streams under the umbrella of Video Boot Camp (VBC 2021). These skills are pivotal to reducing unemployment and enhancing the capital of our country.” Sharing his focus and goals, he adds, “Skills that actually help you succeed as an online freelancer and even in the real-life environment plus increase your income thereby, are our prime focus right now.”

Earlier, Extreme Commerce and Mishal Pakistan, the Country Partner Institute of the World Economic Forum had signed a partnership to mainstream e-commerce in Pakistan, this includes capacity building initiatives for the media and industry players, including trainings, seminars and workshops.

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The government of Pakistan has estimated digital skills global industry, often referred to as online outsourcing, is expected to generate gross service revenue between $15 billion and $25 billion in 2021.

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