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The story of Café Flo

“Be good to people, because when you are good to people, people are good to you.” says, Florence Villiers, owner of Café Flo – one of the most popular eateries for Karachi’s urban elite.

Florence has had an extraordinary life. Growing up in a conservative family in France, she admits to being a misfit to tradition, and eventually making her own way out into the world – the highlights of which include hitchhiking across several continents, being jailed in a Pakistani prison, travelling to Karachi without a train ticket, and making the city her new home to raise a family in. All before launching a highly successful French restaurant.

We sat down with Florence to talk about her journey to Pakistan as a hitchhiker (01:00); how she met the son of Noor Jehan (who would later become her husband) (03:00), settling down in Lahore and Karachi (05:52), staying in Pakistan, (06:47) establishing Café Flo (09:23), and helping her son out with Xander’s (10:58) .

Villiers recalls how a role in a Morven Gold advertisement connected her with Akbar Rizvi, the son of Madam Noor Jehan – the pair eventually fell in love, married and moved to Lahore.

After returning to Karachi, Florence started teaching French at an American School, and took her first steps as an entrepreneur by initially running a friend’s boutique, and subsequently creating her own.

Florence asserts that it was the familial nature of Pakistan’s society that compelled her to stay in the country following her divorce in 1988. “I decided to stay because I had two [children], and I [felt] it was better to raise kids in Pakistan.”

Villiers found the inspiration for Café Flo while she was visiting her parents in the South of France. It was her children’s love for French Crêpe during their visit that motivated her to start a crêperie in Karachi, which turned into a full-blown restaurant because of the feedback she received.

Florence attributes much of her success to the staff that has been working at Café Flo for years. As a firm advocate of kindness and support in the workplace, she asserts that respect is critical for ensuring employee satisfaction, which also reduces turnover, a critical factor in the restaurant industry.

The legacy of restaurateurship at Florence Villiers’ household is now being carried forward by her son, Sikander Rizvi who started Xander’s in Karachi after studying hotel management in Europe (but mostly because of his mother’s gentle ‘persuasion’).

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The stigma of mental illnesses

“I am not able to see my own mistakes in interpersonal relationships, and then I always blame [the other person],” says Dr. Haroon Ahmed, talking about psychological self-defense mechanisms and emphasizing the importance of seeking help from medical professionals for the challenges we face in our mental health.

Dr. Haroon Ahmed is the President of the Pakistan Association For Mental Health (PAMH) who has been seeing patients since 1994 at his own practice in Clifton, Karachi.

Watch our conversation with him to hear his views on the incidence of mental health disorders (00:36); how therapy works (02:59), self-medication and the risk of drug dependence (03:46); and the importance of empathy in helping children cope with inherited mental health conditions (04:33).

“Our concept of mental illness is divided into two parts, either the person is thought to be possessed; or they are deemed as insane.”

Dr. Ahmed says that a person’s genetic construct in many cases plays a role in their likelihood of experiencing depression, but with an empathetic upbringing and familial support, children lean to cope with these genetic weaknesses.

Dr. Ahmed talks about the importance of verbalization in organizing a patient’s thoughts; consequently helping them understand and take responsibility for their own interpersonal shortcomings.

While there are a range of antidepressants people take for anxiety related disorders, Dr. Ahmed is concerned about the dangers of drug dependency that develop from patients’ self-medication, which leads to them seeking stronger doses, and consequently developing severe complications.

This interview is part of the VCast #MentalHappiness project, an initiative to sustain and normalize the conversation around one of the most relevant issues of our time, an attempt to eliminate misconceptions and stigmas on mental health that cause thousands of people to suffer in silence.

To explore more stories on inspiring personalities who are making an impact in Pakistan, subscribe to our YouTube Channel

A passion to serve – The story of Dr. Bari and The Indus Hospital

“Dreams are not what you see while sleeping, dreams are what keep you up at night,” says Dr. Abdul Bari Khan, Founder, and CEO of The Indus Hospital – a Pakistani institution which provides quality healthcare free of cost. Founded in 2007 as a 150-bed hospital in Korangi, the Indus Hospital has evolved into a comprehensive health care network with hospitals and clinics spread across Pakistan.

Watch this video to hear Dr. Bari talk about the beginnings of medical activism in Pakistan (01:08), the journey of Indus Hospital (03:33), the generosity of its patrons (06:47), Pakistan’s healthcare challenges (07:19) and what keeps him going (08:32).

“From the very first day, we made a deliberate effort to ensure that it [Indus Hospital] is not linked to a personality.”

Contrary to the common practice of many philanthropic organizations in Pakistan, Indus Hospital does not keep a personality-driven identity which Dr. Bari deems as unsustainable.

“Indus Hospital exists as its own brand with its own governance structure.”

Dr. Bari reflects on the early years of his medical activism through his membership at the ‘Patients Welfare Association’ in 1980, that led to the formation of Pakistan’s first voluntary blood bank at Dow Medical College which he oversaw as the Project Director. Now operated by medical students, the bank supplies over 375 units of blood every day to consequentially curb the influence of professional donors who had previously cartelized the sector to manipulate patients.

Dr. Bari recalls how Karachi’s first bomb attack was crucial in helping him identify the need for an organization like the Indus Hospital. He adds that the miserable condition of Civil Hospital’s casualty ward coupled with the stories of financial hardship voiced by patients and families suffering from the 1987 Bohri Bazaar Attacks motivated him to pave the way for establishing a truly free of cost medical services provider in Pakistan.

In 2004, Dr. Bari regrouped with three of his friends from college to realize the dream they conceived in 1987. Thirty-two years later, the Indus Hospital – now part of the more extensive Indus Health Network – stands as a model of free healthcare, serving the underserved with indiscriminate and quality treatment.

“There should only be one model, ‘all or none,’ either you make a private hospital, or you keep it completely free,” asserts Dr. Bari while pointing out the shortcomings of ‘mixed’ financial models.

“Today, it has been 12 years, and not even a single patient has been refused based on inadequate finances.”

Dr. Bari attributes the sustenance of their ‘free of cost’ initiative to the vast spectrum of donors who persistently contribute with donations scaling from millions of dollars to equity in businesses to houses being donated by families in the line of Indus Hospital’s mission.

“The healthcare challenges of this country are so vast that no one sector can solve them on its own unless we get together and collaborate.”

On the road to expansion, Indus Hospital is scaling its presence by consolidating public-private partnerships and establishing Indus Health Network which has 12 hospitals of its own.

For more interviews with public figures and personalities that have left their mark in Pakistani society, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

A rare interview with Pakistan’s pret wear revolutionary

“I did not invent Shalwar Qameez – I made it fashionable,” says Tanveer Jamshed, widely regarded as the pioneer of pret wear in Pakistan, and better known by his brand name, TeeJays.

Over three decades, he popularised the ‘national dress’, creating wardrobes for iconic television dramas such as Tanhaiyan and Kiran Kahani, and public figures, including Ziaul Haque.

Watch this video to hear about the story of the shalwar kameez as we know it (0:15), TeeJays’ association with television (1:15), the role of his mentor (3:57), doing business as an artist (6:46), innovation in marketing (8:25), the future of pret wear in Pakistan (10:15), and his advice to the people watching (11:23).

Born in a military family, the 73-year-old credits his father as a mentor both for being exceptionally well-dressed and also for allowing him to go on a tangent in pursuing his passion.

His expose into designing wardrobes for the TV screen came with Shireen Khan’s ‘Kiran Kahani’ in 1973, and his take on shalwar kameez became an overnight sensation, gaining popularity among the elite classes of society and becoming fashionable wear at clubs and parties.

The founder of a retail brand launched about 50 years ago, TeeJay considers fashion an integral part of the nation’s economy and regrets that it’s limited to the few who can afford it. His advice for his daughter, Feeha, who has followed in her father’s footsteps, is to make reasonable material at reasonable costs so that more people can wear these clothes.

While having grown a successful business, TeeJay considers himself more of an artist than a businessman, putting his entrepreneurial experience down to miracle rather than practice.

For his services to design and his contribution to fashion, Tanveer Jamshed was awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz in 2007.

For more on this charismatic visionary, watch the above interview and subscribe to our Youtube channel.

Life insurance in the digital age

“When you’re on their smartphone, you have their share of mind,” says Faisal Abbasi, CEO of TPL Life – a ‘startup’ launched by TPL to offer innovative health and life insurance solutions through a digital platform. In his conversation with VCast, Abbasi laid emphasis on the transformative role of smartphone penetration in evolving the insurance industry.

Watch this video to hear him talk about his company’s innovative products, why everyone should get life insurance (00:53), areas the industry needs to develop in (02:21), challenges for the business (02:58), the buzz of ‘Insurtech’ (04:34), and captaining the ship as a CEO (05:01).

“The rule of thumb is that you should at least get yourself insured for 120 months of your income,” says Abbasi, stressing on the need for every earning member of the family to obtain life insurance.

TPL Life positions itself as Pakistan’s first fully digitized insurance company, and in particular, has brought in an innovative agent-recruitment program called ‘Muavin’ – which functions as a virtual workplace and certification provider, and is designed to take advantage of the country’s idle workforce, and earning them a steady income idle workforce to become a source of regular income.

Abbasi believes that increasing public awareness regarding insurance acts as a stimulus for companies to improve their products as they try to meet the demands of these more informed customers.

At the moment, the insurance sector of Pakistan is comprises nine life insurance companies that serve a population of over 220 million. Due to the sheer scale of this industry, Abbasi values securing a niche in the market through TPL Life instead of competing over traditional channels, and says that the adoption of digital mediums has increased TPL Life’s turnaround time by 80% compared to the market.

A firm believer in Pakistan’s potential for business growth, he recalls being offered lucrative incentives by organizations abroad, and how he has consistently refused them over 23-year career. Going forward, his prospect for a prosperous Pakistan lies within the realm of smartphone adoption and access to broadband, both important game-changers in realizing a digital future.

For more of our conversations with Pakistan’s established business leaders, visit our YouTube Channel.

A data-driven solution for healthcare delivery in Pakistan

“You need to change your attitude towards problems,” says Abid Zuberi when comprehending his transition from the corporate world to starting his own company, Oladoc.com (previously known as MyDoctor.pk).

Watch this video to hear him talk about his experience of starting up (01:20), the challenges faced (02:13); his views on our education system (03:29); the state of Pakistan’s economy (04:06), and the vision behind Oladoc (04:46).

The startup traces its roots back to Mr. Zuberi’s three-year-old nephew, whose allergies revealed to him the fragmented nature of the country’s health sector ultimately motivating the creation of MyDoctor.pk in 2016.

“We were the first platform which was thinking on these lines.”

Mr. Zuberi expressed his concerns regarding the culture of incubation in Pakistan, which is deeply invested in nitpicking minor disparities at the expense of ignoring the elements that illustrate the ‘big picture’ of a business. He acknowledges the role of attending Startup Istanbul as a cornerstone for his exposure to the ‘Venture Capital’ world. The in-depth insight into valuation and investors’ perspectives consequently yielded towards their seed funding of $1.1million from the UAE-based Glowfish Capital.

Starting as the first platform of its kind, Oladoc has emerged as Pakistan’s most extensive digital healthcare program connecting doctors to patients and automating the appointment process. In addition to booking more than five hundred appointments every day, Oladoc currently extends its coverage in Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi with over two thousand paying doctors on board.

“The vision is to be the go-to solution for healthcare in Pakistan.”

After rebranding from MyDoctor.pk to Oladoc.com, the company has its sights set on extending to other regions, that have healthcare infrastructures similar to Pakistan. Alongside their expansion, Mr. Zuberi intends to focus on creating data-driven products as he acknowledges an abundance of untapped data in the field.

“Pakistan is set to do great things,” says Mr. Zuberi while concluding that the education sector needs to step up to foster entrepreneurial spirit amongst the emerging demographics of the country who could then capitalize on the available opportunities.

For more of our conversations with Pakistan’s established business leaders, visit our YouTube Channel.

The story of Easypaisa and humility in entrepreneurship

“Keep thinking big, but execute small,” says Nadeem Hussain, founder of Planet N Group of Companies – a social impact investment firm that focuses on emerging markets. Formerly, he served as the founding President and CEO of Tameer (now Telenor) Microfinance Bank.

VCast sat down with him to understand innovation in finance, his perspective as an investor, and the state of Pakistan’s startup ecosystem.

Returning to Pakistan after a successful Citibank career, Hussain found himself at a crossroads; whether to re-enter the banking sector to lead one of the established players, or to forge a new path altogether.

He ended up securing a microfinance bank license and establishing Tameer Microfinance Bank in 2006, a venture which led to the development of Easypaisa and eventual acquisition by Telenor three years later. Tameer consequently emerged as the most profitable microfinance bank in the country with a total transaction volume surpassing Rs. 1.2 trillion as of December 2017.

“They [the local banking sector] haven’t invented a new product since the earth cooled,” says Hussain in his critique of Pakistan’s banking sector, attributing the complacency of the local banks as a catalyst for Tameer’s penetration across the market, with a banked population representative of only 1% of the country. The divide between lenders and creditors in the context of increased smartphone adoption has paved the way for microfinance institutions such as Easypaisa to emerge successfully.

Husssain is an advocate of entrepreneurship at the grassroots level, and recognizes the provision of new business opportunities as an essential channel for the economy to benefit from 55-60% of Pakistan’s population that is under the age of 25.

In addition to resilience, which Hussain considers a core entrepreneurial value, he believes in maintaining a balance between confidence and humility as a cornerstone of success for startup founders.

For more of our conversations with Pakistan’s established business leaders, visit our YouTube Channel.

An important message on dignity and free health care from Dr Adeeb Rizvi

“Simply observing [a problem] doesn’t mean anything, unless you own it as a problem,” says Dr Adeeb Hasan Rizvi – renowned for his philanthropic contributions to public health as the founder of the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT).

He has spent a lifetime “owning” the problems in public health care and dedicating his professional career to solving them through free, and quality treatment. Dr Rizvi and his colleagues have built a remarkable institution, where not only do doctors use the most modern technology for the treatment of urology disorders and transplantation, but they place it at the service of those who have no means to pay for it.

Every day, SIUT demonstrates that a hospital does not have to be for-profit to sustain quality services. And the fact that it’s a government facility offering free treatment only reinforces the principle of the state’s obligation to respect the citizens’ right to health.

Dr Rizvi’s service to humanity started even before the commencement of his professional education; as a young volunteer bringing patients from slum areas to Karachi’s Civil Hospital. Enrolling in medical school brought him ‘nearer to the problem’ – which he identified as the lack of dignified healthcare for the poor.

Now, at 80 years of age, he has spent more than half his life in solving it; embodying a universal principle that ‘no one, irrespective of cast, colour, creed or religious belief should be deprived of food, education and health because he’s poor.’

Following his appointment as Assistant Professor of Urology at Karachi’s Civil Hospital, Dr Rizvi started SIUT in 1972 as an 8-bed unit within the hospital. Forty-seven years later, the institute has now become a centre for excellence in South Asia, and the largest urology, nephrology and transplantation facility in Pakistan.

SIUT currently conducts about 1000 dialysis a day and has performed over 5,800 transplants to date.

Dr Rizvi strongly associates a national identity with SIUT, and counts on individuals and organizations, to step up and contribute to its growth and operations; insisting on donations from Pakistanis, over international assistance.

His confidence in SIUT’s future – even after he retires – stems from his belief in the organization being larger than any one individual, with ownership divided amongst every member.

He is an ardent advocate of organ donation and hopes for more nuanced conversations around deceased organ donation in Pakistan, in context of road accident fatalities and the opportunity to convert a tragic loss into potentially saving thousands of lives.

Despite all of its accomplishments, Dr Rizvi is deeply worried by the fact that SIUT’s impact is only “the tip of the iceberg” compared to the country’s health care needs. SIUT’s costs are going up fast and donations have fallen. “There’s no place in the region that treats people with dignity free of cost and conducts all these kinds of operations,” says Dr Rizvi, who is concerned about the growing demand of SIUT’s services in the face of rising costs.

The government can not possibly meet the gap between the growing population and the existing infrastructure in public health, says Dr Rizvi.

Watch our interview with an inspiring individual and national treasure to learn about his early years, and what the future holds for SIUT.

An untold story of the ‘second’ partition

The lines of partition divide collective memory far more effectively than they determine the sovereignty of nation-states; mostly resulting in a gross imbalance of triumph and trauma.

In the case of the Indian subcontinent, millions of people have gone through the traumatic experience of partition twice within their lifetimes. Aquila Ismail, author of ‘Of Martyrs and Marigolds,’ is one of them.

We sat down with Aquila to talk about her book, which presents a fictionalized narrative around the violence of partition, mirroring her own family’s experiences in the turbulent circumstances leading up to and immediately after the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 – and how they became refugees in what used to be their own country.

Watch this interview to hear her talk about her family’s history, the personal effect of writing about a traumatic past, the audience she had in mind, and the impact of total dispossession.

She recalls the process of recording the memories as very painful, which reopened many wounds from the past, but one she has no regrets about going through. While writing, she got to reconnect with old friends from Bangladesh, those who had gone through the same events in history, but did not know her story.

“The painful thing is, in West Pakistan, there was no knowledge or even desire to find out what happened to the Pakistanis,” says Aquila, touching upon the lack of preexisting literature around the 1971 partition, and one of the reasons it was important for her to write it down.

Aquila’s decision to produce the book as fiction instead of a memoir was inspired by reading literary classics the likes of Proust and Dostoevsky, which made her a better writer, and helped her in realizing the importance of representing the stories of other people who had been similarly affected.

The family’s experience as refugees in newly formed Bangladesh left a particular impression on Aquila’s sister, Perween Rehman, who became one of the fiercest advocates against dispossession, and fought against violence and eviction throughout a resounding 28-year career as a civil activist, until her murder in 2013.

The book is available at Liberty Books outlets and webstore, as well as in the famous protected heritage bookshop “Pioneer Book House” (Opp. Dow Medical College, M.A. Jinnah Road, Karachi).

For more of our conversations with Authors of Pakistan, visit our YouTube Channel.

Opportunities in crisis – Coming soon on VCast

Every day, we are bombarded by negativity in the news cycle. But as we face our challenges as a nation, let’s not forget that there is a bright side.

Here are the people we are covering in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned to VCAST Online for insight and conversation around progress and positivity.
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Featuring:
Maheen Rahman | Alfalah GHP Investment Management Ltd.
Dr. Osman Faheem | Aga Khan University Hospital Pakistan – AKUH
Muneeb Maayr | Bykea بائیکیا
Ikram Sehgal | Pathfinder Group
Khalid Mahmood | Getz Pharma
Dr. Bernhard Klemen | Sarmayacar
Frans Nauta | ClimateLaunchpad
Georg Wolff | Buckle & Seam
Florence Villiers | Café Flo