Author: manager

Pakistan’s First Electric Car

“As a nation, we don’t have much time. We have wasted so much time already. Now is the answer for everything in Pakistan, we have to do it now. I want to see a change in Pakistan in my lifetime”, says Dr Khurshid Qureshi as he speaks about the need to invest in large-scale innovation projects in Pakistan. 

Dr Khurshid Qureshi is the Founder and Chairman of DICE Foundation, a US-based volunteer-run organization focused on leveraging the experience of expatriate Pakistanis to help drive innovation back home.  DICE is building Pakistan’s National Innovation Basket, an array of mega-projects – the highlight of which is to produce an indigenous electric car from the country.

VCast sat down with Dr. Qureshi to talk about DICE’s work in bridging gaps in industry and academia, and what the electric car project can do for Pakistan.

One of Dr Khurshid’s motivations is to see Pakistan as a fully developed country in his lifetime which he works on achieving through his work at DICE.

DICE operates by focusing on finding people with passion, energy and time who can invest their brain power towards making Pakistan a technologically advanced country. On its vision for developing Pakistan’s first electric car, DICE recognizes the talent that Pakistanis have and the skills they have acquired while working in car manufacturing companies in the US, and they are bringing together their expertise of building subsystems of cars to create an electric car for the country – the intellectual property of which is going to be owned by Pakistanis. For Dr Khurshid, Pakistan making its own electric car will pave the way for further strides in innovation across industries for the country. 

For a country to indigenize technology, people who have expertise in specific areas need to be mobilized and brought together. This can be applied to all industries such as textile, agriculture and medicine. In order to bridge innovation gaps in our ecosystem, Dr Qureshi believes what’s needed is aligning and promoting collaboration across various ministries and departments in the interest of Pakistan.

“You begin with the ends, and not with the means. All these ministries, these industries are the means. We need to begin with the end product in mind, [or the end goal] which is to bring prosperity to Pakistan”, says Dr Khurshid, as he talks about the gaps in the present-day innovation systems of the country. Pakistan’s interest needs to be prioritized over personal gains. Dr Qureshi believes for innovation to come forth, and for Pakistan to develop its own electric car all the stakeholders need to be aligned, with all the related ministries and departments working together in sync to provide the means to reach that end goal.

For people working towards a similar vision, Dr Khurshid’s advice for those looking to work in Pakistan is to have a well-defined goal, a vision and then set your ego aside, otherwise you’re very likely to get tangled up in the day-to-day frustrations that come with working in the country. “Because of open access to the internet, to Youtube, and Google, our kids are becoming very smart. They have knowledge and data in their hands, and many of them also know how to use it”. Dr Khurshid believes there is massive potential in the Pakistani youth, and when asked what drives his optimism for the country, he is extremely hopeful that they are going to be the greatest strength for Pakistan going forward.

In Conversation with Khawaja Iqbal Hassan

“You can’t accomplish everything by force … you’ve got to cajole people into action and motivate people, you can’t beat them into action,” says Khawaja Iqbal Hassan talking about how an over-reliance on law enforcement can be detrimental to national growth.

The senior corporate leader started his career with Citibank, moved back to Pakistan in 1994 to set up a stockbroking and investment banking company, Global Securities Limited, and later went on to establish NIB Bank in 2003 – which in a short span of four years rose to become Pakistan’s 10th largest bank in terms of asset size through acquisitions.

Currently, he sits on the board of corporate giants such as Engro and ICI Pakistan Limited, as well as the Karachi Grammar School, LRBT, and The Cardiovascular Foundation, and has previously served on the board of the State Bank of Pakistan. The senior leader has been awarded the Sitara-i-Imtiaz by the Government of Pakistan for his meritorious contribution and dedication to national interests.

In his conversation with VCast Online, Khawaja Iqbal Hassan talks about the early days of his career, founding an investment bank in Pakistan, setting parameters for public-private enterprise, and what he considers his greatest satisfaction.

Khawaja Iqbal Hassan is a firm believer that in Pakistan, the law enforcement is largely ineffective, but at times when it is put into action, it is immensely strict. He is of the opinion that it’s because of the fear that it instills that those in positions of power, be it in the government, the business community, or the civil service, hesitate with their decision making.

“We have developed a mantra that everyone is a thief. But everyone is not a thief. Everyone in any part of the world will cut corners if you let them. That’s human nature.” He believes that the only way to move forward is to remove this ‘fear factor’ from the country’s managerial proceedings, and to allow people the liberty to make decisions, while working within the country’s legal framework, for the industries to thrive and the country to flourish.

Talking about the state of public-private partnerships in Pakistan, he highlights how the function of ministries has evolved globally, whereby the policy framework development is under their control alongside the regulators, but the sector is open for private sector companies to invest. This is not how the role of the government and ministries is perceived in Pakistan, where we take them to be the owners and managers of these assets. He is of the opinion that for more public-private partnerships to be established, the ministries in Pakistan have to follow the global model, to encourage private sector companies to come and invest in the country by making conditions favourable for them.

When asked what he would like to see more of in Pakistan, he expressed his desire for more collaboration amongst the youth. “I would like to see the younger generation be more accommodative of each other, be more respectful towards each other and work together as much as they can”. The current generation is growing up in a more connected world, a world where there’s more active communication around human rights and respect for life and nature – and he is hopeful that such conversations will soon start taking up shape in Pakistan. 

“I think Pakistanis in general are not laid back, lazy people, they are ambitious people. They can get over ambitious at times in terms of cutting corners, which has become somewhat of a DNA fault now, but overall people want to do well, and they want to progress.” As a firm believer in honest and consistent hard work as a key principle for success, he is hopeful that if we continue to work together with passion to build things on the right foundations then we’ll be able to bring about the change we wish to see for a prosperous, positive Pakistan.

Watch the full conversation with Khawaja Iqbal to hear his views on the future of banking in the country, the need for public-private partnerships, and what he would like to see more of in Pakistan.

At the cutting edge of Blockchain in Pakistan

“Our curiosity fades away through our school, college, and university systems. This is not just an issue in Pakistan, it is a global problem”, says Abdul Sami Khawaja, the co-founder of Xord.

Xord is a trailblazing startup that is introducing blockchain technology to Pakistan by developing  products and applications for decentralising conventional systems in the world. Abdul Sami Khawaja and Shakeib Shaida started Xord to build a culture of trust and transparency, both of which are values that are imperative to the Blockchain technology they employ.

Xord’s co-founders, alums of Karachi University UBIT, Abdul Sami Khawaja, Salman Khan and Shakeib Shaida, are young tech entrepreneurs who are rethinking conventional systems in place in Pakistan to redefine businesses and industry processes. And one way they are challenging the traditional systems, is by promoting a culture of supporting transparency across their organizational structure.

“We’ve made our revenues public – anyone in our organization can ask us, if the company’s revenue is increasing, why are we not paying them more?” says Abdul Sami Khawaja as he highlights the organizational structure they’ve built at Xord, that supports trust and openness within not just the core team, but everybody who’s part of the organization – something he feels is, for the most part, lacking in the industry.

Since its inception, Xord has grown into an enterprise of over 150 young individuals where no team member is over the age of 26, and in a short span of two years, it has generated a revenue of over $30 million through its products and services under Blockchain for clients all over the world.

While blockchain technology is most commonly known for being the backbone of  Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency systems through its network that builds a secure and decentralized database without having the need for a trusted 3rd party for maintenance of records, the team at Xord realized that there is potential in the technology to be used for a lot more operations. Personal data stored on traditional centralized systems is very easily-corrupted and presents challenges for verification, and Xord aims to make all such systems in finance, asset management, and digital identity not only secure but also efficient and easier to use. They are committed to creating decentralized systems with blockchain technology to improve and simplify every-day processes across industries. 

The use of blockchain technology is new to Pakistan, and so is the way Xord hopes to continue expanding and growing in this field, both of which being unconventional require a creative mindset that supports curiosity and an out-of-the-box thinking for critical thinking and problem solving in the future to bring about meaningful change.

“We’re working on something so new … that if we start hiring very experienced people, they won’t be the right fit for our company.”

The team at Xord believes that anyone has the capacity to learn new skills, and therefore their primary focus during their recruitment processes, is to look for individuals who exhibit inherent curiosity and willingness to learn and adapt. They firmly believe that one has to look outside of the current system to understand the system and challenge it, and at Xord, they train people with the skills to do so. The leadership at Xord does not believe in maintaining the traditional employee-employer relationship; instead, they cultivate a relationship based on trust, openness and honest communication. 

Watch our full conversation with the founders of Xord as they talk about their journey of starting up, the promise of blockchain technology, the importance of curiosity, and their vision of building an honest world.

To Create a World-Class Apparel Brand from Pakistan

“For a startup to thrive … a lot has been said about passion being the driving force. I personally, find the passion argument to be really overrated. I think the biggest prerequisite for a startup is the startup mindset that whatever problem comes to me, I am going to solve it”, says Syed Obaidullah, talking about his apparel business, The Jacket Maker – which is emerging as a major disruptor in the global leather outerwear industry.

Since its inception in 2016, The Jacket Maker has recorded sales in over 90 countries and 5000 cities across the globe, for its core product – affordable, high-quality bespoke leather jackets. With an impressive $3 million earned in revenue last year, they’re setting a new target to reach $50 million in the next five years.

The brand sets itself apart from others in the e-commerce apparel industry by creating the perfect fusion of the age-old craft of bespoke tailoring combined with the efficiency and ease of e-commerce which has led to The Jacket Maker gaining traction in global markets. With its ‘Made to fit’ and bespoke tailoring models, by using technology with digital illustrations alongside an in-depth design and delivery process, Jacket Maker ensures customers get the perfect fit for their choice – quality that’s reflected by the brand’s less than 2% return rate on custom products.  

The brand is disrupting bespoke tailoring in the apparel industry through its meticulous attention to detail at every step of the manufacturing process. 

For Obaidullah, there is no greater satisfaction than seeing people wear the jackets that his brand has made and seeing his work getting recognition and appreciation from his customers. The Jacket Maker has been recognized as a brand revolutionizing the leather outerwear industry, for its creative illustrations and custom apparel options by Forbes, Business Insider, GQ, Men’s Health, New York Post amongst other prominent publications. 

Syed Obaidullah started the business along with three of his school friends and all of them recognized Pakistan’s exceptional capability when it comes to leather products. Obaidullah’s previous experience in digital marketing and e-commerce with Daraz, and a realization of a gap in the industry for high-quality, affordable leather jackets helped finalize his decision to start The Jacket Maker.

“You need method and madness both”, says Syed Obaidullah as he reasons what it takes to successfully build and run a startup.  According to him, passion is not as much of a driving force as it is made out to be but having persistence and grit is what is equally important when it comes to making a startup a success.

Hear our conversation with Obaid to hear more about the brand’s processes, the challenges of running a global ecommerce retail business, his experience of creating a global brand from Pakistan, and the lessons from his entrepreneurial journey.

Digital transformation at scale

“Our rule as a startup was that if ten people are doing something then we shouldn’t be the 11th. We’re going to do something that will be unique”, says Khurram Kalimi, the COO and Co-founder of the digital transformation startup, VinnCorp.  

Khurram Gulistan, and Khurram Kalimi, the Co-founders of VinnCorp, started as batch-mates from the National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (FAST), a Pakistani University, and have more than ten years’ worth of experience working in some of the biggest global tech companies the likes of Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce and VMware.

For Gulistan and Kalimi, a comfortable job has never been the goal. They have always aspired to be unique and to bring something new to the table. VinnCorp was founded on this very vision as it started off as the first political campaign management system in Pakistan. VinnCorp works towards building products that help solve challenges in modern-day politics and commerce.

VinnCorp has worked and produced a diverse set of operating systems. SOCOL, VinnCorp’s political campaign solution is a first-of-its-kind voter relationship management system, which was highly publicized in digital and print media. SOCOL also brought the firm the ITCN Tech Prize in 2019.

Watch our full conversation with Khurram Gulistan and Khurram Kalimi to learn more about their work with VinnCorp as they talk about the inception of their business, their range of products and services, and their insights on Pakistan’s software industry.

VinnCorp’s flagship product, Brand Equity, has experienced success and recognition right from its inception where it was selected in Startup Istanbul amongst the top 100 companies of the world. The product is a cutting-edge, highly innovative, monitoring tool that uses machine learning to keep track of social media interactions.

Scan2Order is an e-commerce based QR scanning product that went live in California, San Francisco and New York. While it is functional in the States, VinnCorp continues to provide support and maintenance from across the globe in Pakistan. 

VinnCorp’s goal has always been to create a bigger impact. Gulistan and Kalimi have challenges they’ve identified in the Bay Area and Pakistan, and are working towards creating communication links so that these challenges and problems can be solved through their technology to build systems for clients which have the potential to be multi-billion-dollar businesses on their own. They realize their responsibility and are actively working towards changing the world to be a better place.

Code School: Preparing Children for the Future

“It is not difficult to understand the bounds in which computers can solve problems and it is really important to know what those bounds are because software today is beating all traditional, non-software forms of problem-solving”, says Asad Rehman, the Co-founder of Code School, as he explains the importance of software-driven solutions in a world run by technology. “You don’t even need to write good software these days – any software, even the worst software will outperform the best non-software solutions that exist.”

Code School is an initiative started by siblings, Asad and Sadaf Rehman with the primary aim to give children an early exposure to programming, technology and coding through a fun and interactive learning experience. The teachers at Code School include expert tutors from around the world who help the students develop essential skills on resilience, critical thinking, and problem-solving – which the founders believe will be critical for them to move forward and become active contributors to society, and the future workforce. 

Asad and Sadaf have meticulously worked to structure the curriculum at Code School so that it can be easily integrated into already-existing systems of schooling in Pakistan. They have brought together what is traditionally an after-school program for children into a textbook for early-age introduction in programming. The curriculum can be used at elementary schools and junior-level schools so that children can have programming knowledge right from the beginning – which they believe, can help develop intuition in them and facilitate them in their choices later on in life, even in non-technical fields. 

“Our kids are going to graduate into a world where 65% of the jobs haven’t even been invented as yet”, says Sadaf Rehman on the need to solve for the conundrum of the future of work by instilling in children the skills that will be useful for them in the future in which many of the fields we know of now won’t exist.

Both Asad and Sadaf believe that our traditional schools are not doing enough and that fundamentals of computer science should be introduced to every child from an early age. One of the things that people need to realize is that coding and programming are not only for people who plan to work in a technical field, instead, it is very open-ended and offers a wide array of possibilities that will immensely help people across various disciplines and will also allow them to adapt to the ever-changing world. 

“Today’s children are 21st century learners, being taught by teachers from the 20th century in classrooms that were designed in the 19th century. So we are are not preparing our children for a tech-centric world but for Industrial Revolution jobs from 300 years ago that don’t exist and will not exist”, says Sadaf Rehman as she acknowledges the changing demands for education and learning that need to be updated to accommodate the skills that will be required for children to excel in the new world they will inhabit.

Watch our full conversation with Asad and Sadaf Rehman as they talk about the importance of learning coding, the problems they identify in Pakistan’s present-day education system, and what they believe is needed to improve coding literacy in the country.

Enabling direct-ordering for restaurants and retailers via Blink Co.

“From what I’ve seen, any successful business is helping people in one way or another, it’s definitely adding value somewhere – or it can never become a successful business”, says Syed Sair Ali, CEO and Co-founder of Blink Co. Technologies.

Syed Sair Ali, along with Syed Hyder Abbas, the CTO and the Co-founder of Blink Co. started Eat Mubarak in 2018 as a restaurant directory, discovery and delivery platform. Since then, they have pivoted to Blink, a quick commerce solution for restaurant owners to build their own online ordering systems and apps.

Blink can be a game-changer for restaurant businesses as it allows them to build their own online ordering systems, without having to depend on a third-party aggregator to manage deliveries. Additionally, since the technology for online ordering and management under Blink is fully customisable, restaurants can get their own fully functional, branded websites and apps, powered by the Blink Co. technology without having to directly work with any software house to construct a website or app for them – both of which can be extremely time and capital intensive.

Blink is not only making online ordering and delivery easier and accessible for restaurants but is also initiating a conversation around the evolution of e-commerce in Pakistan into quick commerce, which would mean that not only restaurants, but any brick and mortar business that wants to sell online, will be able to use their services and their technology portal to reach its consumers with far more efficiency than could be otherwise made possible with the older e-commerce solutions.

Quick commerce enablement will mean more entrepreneurs and small-scale businesses including restaurants and retail outlets will be able to meet the growing customer demands for instant deliveries, by optimizing the time for order fulfillment providing efficiency and ease.

Sair and Hyder’s vision for Blink is about the question of how they can convert all brick and mortar businesses into quick commerce powerhouses with the focus on making things easier and more efficient for people – both for customers and vendors. There are not many businesses that consider the vendor’s position but Blink positions itself differently, in that it places merchants and vendors ease first. By forgoing a 30% to 35% profit commission from vendors, a model that most other aggregators work along, Blink has instead established its business model on helping merchants, whereby it provides its tech portal for restaurants and other retailers to manage their own deliveries as part of its engagement suite, alongside its analytics and marketing tools to help businesses reach, retain and connect with their customers with ease.

In addition, Blink also provides clients with a last-mile logistics solution, to allow restaurants and retail stores to make use of its fleet of riders to manage and ensure efficient deliveries as part of its end-to-end online ordering experience.

While many Pakistani businesses have made a successful transition to e-commerce, Sair and Hyder realise that the next step for businesses is quick commerce where orders can be delivered in the matter of hours and minutes instead of days. They believe that faster order fulfilment would translate into higher customer satisfaction and that will in turn result in more business and hyper-growth for these businesses.

Watch our full conversation with Blink Co. founders, Syed Sair Ali and Syed Hyder Abbas to find out how they set up Blink and their views on how they are disrupting traditional means of going digital in the present-day Pakistani quick commerce landscape.

BlueEX: Taking E-commerce logistics public

“Trust and loyalty are currencies in Pakistan, which are invaluable, you can’t buy those and only time develops those”, says Ali Aamer Baxamoosa, the Executive Director of UNSL (BlueEX). 

Ali Aamer Baxamoosa, along with Imran Baxamoosa, the Founder of BlueEX established what is a fully integrated e-commerce logistics provider with a streak of creative innovation. With a dedicated Cash-on-Delivery (COD) network across the country, it is also the first logistics company to offer Cash-on-Delivery services.

Ali and Imran started the company from the ground-up and have transformed BlueEX from an airline cargo service provider to a technology-driven enterprise that is now preparing for the next big step in its eventful journey by going public.

BlueEX is a company of many firsts and is also the first Pakistani company to apply for listing at the Pakistan Stock Exchange Limited in the logistics technology segment.  

BlueEX’s internal model is one that believes improving conditions for its stakeholders, its workers and its customers will lead to larger change through consistent improvement. They operate on the plan that soon, the very people who have helped BlueEX get on the stage that it is at today, will be able to invest in their own supply chains in the near future. 

“In fact, having someone else have another point of view is actually what makes us excel because we see a 360 degree view of a problem”, says Imran Buxamoosa, as he describes the unique approach BlueEX has to professional relationships within the company. Approaches like this are extremely rare in corporate settings but BlueEX greatly values the trust and loyalty of all of its stakeholders and holds the firm belief that this is something that cannot be taken for granted. The company has nurtured its internal relations in a way that enables it to function as one big family, where the values prioritise a balance whereby they supplement and complement each other to promote a multi-faceted and positive organisational culture. 

Their vision is not limited to their direct stakeholders but also towards Pakistan as a whole. BlueEX plans to connect Pakistan’s domestic economy with international stakeholders and customers. This will be a way for Pakistani products to make their way into the international markets on a very large scale. By using new technologies and partnerships, BlueEX is bringing Pakistan’s economy to its next stage. 

Watch our full conversation with Ali and Imran Buxamoosa to learn more about their unique outlook on technology, business, economy and their vision for the future of BlueEX.

Bykea: Pakistan’s first successful startup

“Three years ago, when I used to tell people that I work for Bykea, they would be like, what’s that?” says Rafiq Malik, Chief Operating Officer of Bykea. “Now I don’t have to tell anyone what Bykea is.”

Bykea is an all-in-one application for transportation, logistics and cash on delivery services, based around a network of motorcycle-borne service providers – who negotiate the congested landscape of Pakistan’s metropolitan cities with ease.

It is arguably Pakistan’s first successful homegrown startup; having commenced operations in November 2016 and now having almost 40,000 people earning through the app every month. 

Bykea’s business model leverages the two most common assets in urban societies – a motorcycle and a smartphone – and turns them into sustainable sources of income. Increasing smartphone ownership, and the favourable economics of motorcycle transportation ensures that becoming a Bykea partner is one of the easiest routes to employment for working class individuals in a highly competitive job-market.

Especially for people who have lost their jobs, Abdul Mannan, Chief Information Officer at Bykea, believes that their business represents a perfectly good alternative.

“If you have lost your means of earning a living, you now have a backup,” he says, talking to VCast about the socioeconomic impact of Bykea. “Technically, there is now a huge opportunity available and more importantly, this opportunity has been created within the country. It hasn’t been imported from outside.”

The app, which has been developed completely locally, is centred around the user experience being made as easy as it can be. Malik Ahmad Waheed, Head of Product at Bykea, explains: “The product we’ve made is such that if you don’t want to type, you don’t have to type. All you have to do is tap and you can go wherever you want to. If you want to do any transaction, you can do it without typing.”

Watch our full conversation with the team at Bykea to gain more insight into the unique value proposition of the business, the problems they try to solve, and what keeps them all going.

Shazday Fruits: Bringing respect back into agriculture

“Giglit Baltistan is the world’s sixth largest apricot producer… no Pakistani knows this.”

Pakistan is an agrarian economy with produce as diverse as its geographical landscape. In the country’s north, nestled between some of the tallest mountains of the world, are the valleys of Gilgit Baltistan, with small family-owned orchards producing some 600,000 tonnes of apricots every year.

Despite being blessed with such an abundance of produce, Pakistan has been unable to convert it into any meaningful revenue – both for the farmers, and the national exchequer – resulting in this opportunity going to waste, along with the fruit.

Shazday Fruits, founded by Ovais Zuberi, Suleman Anwar, and Asif Mehdi, has set out to change that.

“There are people who cannot afford a proper meal twice a day but have 50-60 apricot trees on their land… they just don’t know how to capitalize on this,” says Asif, who is himself a resident of Skardu.

The key to Shazday’s business model is empowering farmers and farming families, by training them in agricultural best practices, providing them with access to markets, and ensuring an equitable distribution of revenue.

Also integral to their vision is embracing diversity across the entire value chain, with a great focus on conserving the environment and providing equal opportunities for women. In fact, Shazday’s factory is managed by local women, who also comprise 50% of the workforce.

Currently, Shazday’s product portfolio includes a variety of organic products such as cherries, apricots, fruit preserves, dried fruits, nuts, and specialty grains – all with a strong emphasis on provenance. 

“We need to show not only Pakistanis, but the entire world that we are in a place that probably cannot be duplicated. You’ve got five of the tallest mountains in the world. The stuff that grows there, apricots for instance, probably originated in that region.” 

Based on their success in Skardu, the company is setting its eyes on a rapid expansion in the near future, with a larger goal being an IPO a few years down the line.

Watch our full conversation with Shazday Fruits to find out more about the work they’re doing, the importance of sustainability for their business, and what keeps the team going.