How many times have you shrugged your shoulders on your random ideas that seem great but impractical, and later on heard about someone who made a fortune out of them?
That is the thing about entrepreneurs… They fix the loopholes in the most impractical ideas and make them work. They step out of what’s considered the norm and tread on the crooked path with a make-believe attitude.
In this post, we have shed light over some Pakistani serial entrepreneurs and technopreneurs who have survived the pressure and walked out as true gems in the business matrix. Let’s read along:
Create value for customers – Monis Rahman, Rozee.Pk:
Disappointed by a newspaper’s job section, Monis facilitated the job-seeking population of Pakistan—accustomed to scanning the listed position almost daily—by creating an online recruitment platform, Rozee.pk.
This is how he puts it all together:
“When I moved back to Pakistan, I needed to hire for my new company and was shocked to learn that most people were still posting job ads in newspapers, which lasted one day at considerable cost. And that they collected, sorted and filtered paper CVs. Not wanting to succumb to this, I started ROZEE.PK to digitize the job search.”
Monis is a passionate entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and businessperson, who has made his way to the sixth position among the Ten Big Hitting Asian Businessmen under 50.
Speaking about entrepreneurship, Monis says, “an entrepreneur’s job is not to do something cool. It’s to create value for your customers. So, ALWAYS validate your model, do market research before investing.”
Start small, start right now – Faiza Yousuf, WITPK:
When was the last time you saw a girl install windows on the laptop, let alone coding?
The time has changed. Pakistan, now, has women like Faiza Yousuf who are thriving in the tech industry. Faiza is a renowned technologist and a professor with an innovative mindset that believes in the feminine potential to cope with the booming technology. Being a proud owner of WomenInTechPK (WITPK) and CodeGirls (a coding boot camp), Faiza has been serving the tech industry for almost a decade now.
Sharing her story, she says:
“I started WomenInTechPK (WITPK) community to help my students find role models and connect with fellow women in tech who can guide and mentor them. The idea of CodeGirls (a coding boot camp) is to equip young girls and women with coding and some essential business skills which can help them in starting or advancing their careers.”
Faiza believes that “entrepreneurship does not necessarily need a technical or a big idea but it needs a problem-solving idea which can make lives easier. Start small, start right now, and stick to your values!”
Take the risks – Zaheer Dodhia, LogoDesign.Net:
When the future of Tech sector in Pakistan seemed bleak and trivial, people like Zaheer Dodhia stepped forward and laid the groundwork for software houses. From borrowing money to buying a computer in the late 90s to running a well-established design agency, Zaheer has acquired 16+ years of invaluable experience.
His vision has encouraged him to lead companies like Right Solution, Typicity and Instabill. Zaheer held onto the notion of taking risks and overcoming the challenges. Despite myriads of obstacles, he established LogoDesign.Net – a logo maker that delivers graphic solutions to the masses.
“When I came up with the idea of LogoDesign.net, there weren’t many companies offering graphic design solutions. I realized that if SMBs had to grow, they had to strengthen their identities as brands. I felt that my company might be the bridge to connect Pakistani small businesses and the branding solutions revolving around design.”
Zaheer is adamant that entrepreneurship holds a bright future in Pakistan.
“You need to keep up your pace with whatever the tech domain has to offer. Work smart to set your stance and take the risk that threatens you of your success. “
Trust yourself and your instincts – Quratul-Ann Malik, HerDomain:
You might have heard the success stories of big ventures that started from a 10x10 space; Quratul-Ann’s story is no different.
Quratul-Ann and Meher, the two co-founders of herDomain, met each other at the University of Pennsylvania and started a program that enabled low-income Americans to pitch for high paying tech jobs via technical training. This was the genesis of herDomain, which later on extended to Pakistani boundaries to encourage Pakistani women on the tech front.
With her full-time job being the CEO of herDomain, Quratul-Ann learned her way through a number of things:
“The main piece of advice for any entrepreneur (which is often easier said than done) is to think through the idea rigorously from multiple angles but ultimately trust yourself and your instincts.”
Learn. Unlearn. Relearn – Faisal Khan, Payment Consultant:
Faisal Khan is a seasoned Banking and Payment Consultant as well as the founder of Faisal Khan & Company – a consultancy firm specialized in cross-border money transmission. He’s an evangelist for the digital currency, the interest for which led him to co-host a podcast, Around the Coin. He teamed up with two other co-hosts, Mike Townsend and Brian Roemmele, switched on the microphones, and started a podcast that became favorite among people interested in electronic currency.
“Focus on your niche. You cannot be a jack-of-all-trades. You have to hone in your skills to a particular niche/micro-niche. Day in and day out, you need to put the effort in. Non-stop! That is the differentiator. Last but not least; learn. Unlearn. Relearn. You need to reeducate yourself periodically.”
Summing It Up:
The spirit to thrive in an open world has never been an easy road to take (and it will never be), but with the willingness to break through the clutter and harmonizing with your passion is what makes success hustle for you.
The lesson here is to learn from the experiences of those already thriving in their respective niches and then contribute to society as potential leaders.
