“Technology is going to change the world…” says Imran Aftab, Founder and CEO of 10Pearls, as he explains the purpose and importance of his work. 10Pearls is a company that provides businesses with products to help them transform and stay afloat in our competitive digital economy. It has not only supported multiple startups but large … Continue reading “Mastering the art of ‘business backwards’ with CEO 10Pearls”
“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 … Continue reading “The story of Easypaisa and humility in entrepreneurship”
“I really hate seeing good companies die, because they’ve taken bad money,” says Kalsoom Lakhani – founder and CEO of Invest2Innovate, which helps explain the recent launch of i2i Ventures, a $15 million-dollar seed fund designed to unlock the potential of young Pakistani entrepreneurs by investing in early-stage startups. As an accelerator, i2i has graduated … Continue reading “i2i: Lessons from Pakistan’s first startup accelerator”
“There’s no other way of finding out if you would have been successful. Just take the plunge and do it,” says Ayesha Samie Cashmiri, owner of Pakistan’s first ice-pop-only parlour, Lush Crush. When people would question Ayesha about opening a shop that only sells ice pops, that too at a price point much higher than … Continue reading ““A business with a soul”: The success story of Lush Crush ice-pops”
“Anybody invested in the stock market with a decent portfolio requires powerful analytics to generate good returns on their investment,” says Sennen Desouza, co-founder and director marketing at Investors Lounge. One of the first startups to graduate from Karachi incubator The Nest i/o, Investors Lounge is solving a key problem in Pakistan’s financial markets; enabling … Continue reading “Here’s how to make smarter investments in Pakistan’s stock market”
In little over a year’s time, Ignite – The National Technology Fund, has set up five National Incubation Centres (NICs) across the country, having incubated more than 200 startups since launching in 2016. These NICs, located in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta, are run by private partners and form a nation-wide effort to facilitate … Continue reading “NIC and the future of Pakistan’s workforce, with CEO Ignite”
In conversation with the young CEO of TPL e-Ventures, about the benefits of adopting a strategic perspective.
“Disruption hits you so hard, and so quickly, that you don’t even get a chance to wake up. By the time you wake from your slumber, it’s already over,” says Junaid Iqbal, Managing Director of Careem, a ride-hailing platform based in Dubai, with leading market share in the Middle East and North Africa region … Continue reading “Whatever you do, go big: In conversation with MD Careem”
Moments of great cultural significance can rarely be traced to any one physical existence. In Lahore however, literature, art, and progressive discourse have always had a home address on Mall Road, in a place called the Pak Tea House. Watch this video to learn more about the iconic café’s rich cultural heritage, its distinguished former … Continue reading “A cup of tea, and history”