Roshni Rides the ‘Waapistani’ startup
with an American ethos Four Pakistan-Americans under the age of 26 are running a million dollar ride-sharing company in Karachi. Um, how?
Hanaa Lakhani
By Meiryum Ali
H
anaa Lakhani’s professional career path is the kind that would give the average Pakistani parent some anxiety. Around this time two years ago, the 26 year old was an operations analyst at the investment bank JPMorgan in New York. Today, she is the chief marketing officer for a tiny startup tucked away in a building close to Kaybees, in
14
Moneeb Mian
Gia Farooqi
Bahadurabad, Karachi. A bit of a change, to say the least. The driving force (haha) [Editor’s note: laughing at your own bad puns is just sad] behind this career upheaval is the ride-sharing startup Roshni Rides. The project is the brainchild of four founders: Hanaa Lakhani, Gia Farooqi, Hasan Usmani, and Moneeb Mian. All have backgrounds similar to Hanaa’s: all four are of Pakistani origin but were born and raised in New Jersey, attended Rutgers Business School, and then in 2018, packed their bags and moved to Karachi – with $1
Hasan Usmani
million in prize money in hand to jump start their company. Roshni Rides is unique for many reasons. For one, its entrance in the Pakistani market appears to be at the right time. Uber and Careem have already familiarised many Pakistanis at least with the concept of ride-sharing. Airlift and Swvl, brand new companies announced In Pakistan with much fanfare this year, are providing bus and shuttle services. Roshni has slowly but steadily grown in the two years since 2018, and has found its niche as an alternative to van wallas for women.
