Startup Guide Issue 11

STARTUP GUIDE

ISSUE 11

13

YOUNG LEADERSÂ

THE FUTURE OF PAKISTAN

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STARTUP GUIDE

Editor Shehab Farrukh Niazi Art Directors Aleeza Javed Mahnoor Haroon Niazi

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EDITOR’S NOTE

SHEHAB FARRUKH NIAZI

Pakistan turns 72 years old this month – there appear to be multiple stances when it comes to the future of the country. We talked to 13 young leaders from different walks of like – from digital and social entrepreneurs to urban design, tech entrepreneurs and community builders. builde We can conclude with pleasure that these young entrepreneurs are highly optimistic about the future and are clear about their vision for ‘Naya Pakistan’ when it comes to their domain or work, but more than that, they’re ready to play their part to the realize that vision. They acknowledge and appreciate the fact that they have a role to play, that individuals make a society and if each individual is ready to play his or her part, there is no way that the vision for a ‘Naya Pakistan’ will not be realized. ‘Naya Pakistan’ is not a political stance, but a mindset that each of us needs to adopt and embrace – it is only then that we will play our part. As entrepreneurs, we all know the importance of mindset and the right attitude for success. So, in true t entrepreneurial fashion, let’s embrace the vision of Naya Pakistan, play our part and inspire the young generation that will propel this country forward. Pakistan Zindabad!

FEATURING DR. SARA SAEED KHURRAM

SUNIYA SAADULLAH KHAN TECH ENTREPRENEUR

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

SHAMEELAH ISMAIL

KOMAIL ABBAS NAQVI

CREATIVE ENTREPRENEUR

TRAVEL ENTREPRENEUR

HASSAN BIN RIZWAN

ANEEQA ALI TRAVEL ENTREPRENEUR

ED TECH ENTREPRENEUR

NADIA PATEL GANGJEE ENTREPRENEUR & COMMUNITY BUILDER

AMNEH SHAIKH FAROOQUI SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

ARZISH AZAM

S TO R Y

ALI SWATI

MUZAMMIL HASAN ZAIDI

NIMRA QAZI

C O V E R

SAMAR HASAN

Glug Wows Lahore with its First Inspirational Event for Creatives Lahore, July 28, 2019: Spreading its wings beyond Islamabad, Glug organized its first event in Lahore, Pakistan, on Sunday at LMKT, SPARK. This was the first meet up of Overflow in Asia where the beta version of their product was tested. The event was swag sponsored by Sketch, Dribbble, and Overflow. Working around fulfilling the objective objecti of creating a platform and enhancing opportunities, the event featured a host of experienced speakers – giving them the opportunity to display their creativity, share their valuable work with like-minded people and offering inspiration to the ones looking for growth.

More than 75 people from diverse fields attended the event that featured inspirational talks given by creative people.

One of the most important activities planned at the event was the conduction of a lucky draw among the attendees in which two persons won a Sketch license that was worth $99 for a year.

The first speaker spea of the event Mr. Zulqarnain Ansari, Director of User Experience Design at Experts Desk/UX Design Studio, shared business and freelancing tips with the audience.

He provided insight into the concept of digital thinking and why it is necessary when starting a new project. He also communicated his analytical and business skills to the audience by ana telling them how to deal with international clients.

Next, Mr. Qasim Rishi, Graphic Designer and Branding Professional at The Concept Guy Design Studio, talked about experience with meme developing and doodling. He talked about how digital designing has enabled him to express the daily life humor into these two modes of expression.

Also among the speakers was Shahzaib Hussain, a competent Illustrator and Comics artist at BBDO, who shared his passion for designing and advertisement. Through his inspirational story, he described his journey as a self-taught artist and discussed the tools and techniques that he used to make designing easier for himself.

Ms. Priya Osannah Smith, the Marketing Manager of our event partner Payoneer, also gave her remarks that such events must be conducted to create awareness among the participants and to support them.

The event e ended with a keynote from Roshaan Saeed, who launched this meet-up of Glug. She is the first woman to approach such international entities and to bring them to Pakistan for the empowerment of local design industry. She is also the representative of various design platforms like Dribbble, SketchApp, Glug, etc.

The event was well-supported by various outreach partners including AppsGenii, WomenInTech and our media partner, Startup Guide Pakistan.

A treat for the programmers and designers was the live music performance by Mr. Danial Khurshid, a 27-year-old vocalist, lyricist as well as composer of The Lazawal Band, who gave the perfect ending note to this worthy event.

Events like these to foster the creative community play a pivotal role in building up the ecosystem. While this is only the beginning, we look forward to seeing such incredible and creative initiatives being taken in Pakistan and appreciate community builders like Roshaan Saeed, bringing international communities together in such an amazing way and offering creative a platform to grow and make their mark.

About Glug: Glug is on a mission to champion ch creative communities around the world. It started out in 2007 as a handful of mates talking shop and showing their work and reels off in an East London pub. Twelve years later and it’s an international movement with events in many cities around the world. Based around a series of talks and informal networking, Glug has become one of the most exciting, credible and well-attended creative events around. ev

SAMAR HASAN SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

Samar’s Vision of Naya Pakistan “I would like to see a more egalitarian, harmonious and progressive Pakistan, one where people respect and appreciate each other’s diversity and work together towards mutual goals. My version of Pakistan is a country where everyone—men, women, transgender persons, differently abled people—are self-reliant, capable of making a better lilife for themselves, while being much more responsible towards each other and the environment.”

Samar’s Contribution to Naya Pakistan “There are tremendous challenges faced by Pakistan and the world today, which require collective and swift action. As an entrepreneur and an optimist, I tend to view challenges as opportunities and believe that we have the power to transform the world for the better, especially since we have abundance of the greatest resource available to us—people. One of the reasons for me to establish Epiphany was to help individuals and organizations achieve greater impact through capacity building, research, strategic communications, better execution and partnerships.

Therefore, I would like to continue bringing likeminded people together; offering them platforms to collaborate; creating and sharing knowledge and providing leadership and support.”

Samar’s life and work revolve around the philosophy of Yohsin, an alternate worldview espoused by Hazrat Ali, which states the worthiness of every human being is what she or he “yohsin” (does), with five different characteristics. Whatever she or he does must be done with excellence (ahsan); it must be beautiful (hasan); it must be useful and not harmful; it must be done with passion, with something that you give from yourself (ihsaan) and must be done with respect. She believes in the good human beings can do and through th her work, tries to nurture their potential for good. Her social enterprise, Epiphany, is about helping people find their “aha” moment, and providing them with the resources they need to make the magic happen. Epiphany also facilitates them and their organizations tell better stories about their initiatives.

ALI SWATI DIGITAL ENTREPRENEUR

Ali Khan Swati is the founder of Awaami and currently the founder and CEO of Red Tale, which is a Content development and Social Media advertising agency. Red Tale’s digital content around social awareness brings them a distinctive position in the market.

Ali’s Vision of Naya Pakistan “For me, the vision of "Naya Pakistan" means a country free from corruption, racism and sectarianism – a country which is on the path to solving the economic and energy crisis; but most of all, a country where the rights of the weak and minorities are safeguarded, and the focus of government spending is towards health and education which will surely improve the quality of life of the general public.”

Ali’s Contribution to Naya Pakistan To achieve the vision of "Naya Pakistan", Red Tale Studio creates content, which highlights the issues currently plaguing the country and creates awareness among the masses.

Red Tale has collaborated with UNDP to create a short film about the serious issue of child abuse and Red Tale was also a part of the Stop "Violence against Healthcare - Bharosa Karein" campaign by ICRC. I will keep doing my best to highlight the socio-economic issues so that we can finally achieve the dream of ‘Naya Pakistan’.”

HASSAN BIN RIZWAN ED TECH ENTREPRENEUR Hassan is the CEO and co-founder of Sabaq, which is an education technology company, aiming to make learning seriously fun. Sabaq converts lessons from Kindergarten to Grade 5 to digital content, designed in a way that ignites the students’ passion for learning. Sabaq is helping more than 50,000 students across Pakistan to tha learn from its digital lessons to improve their learning outcomes.

Hassan’s Vision of Naya Pakistan “A place where 100% of school-going age children are learning either through formal schools or technology-based solutions. In that vision, no child is left behind and every child has an equal opportunity to learn Math, Science, English, traditional subjects, and then after grade 5, they can work on acquiring a vocational skill or continue to learn through formal education.” conti

Hassan’s Contribution to Naya Pakistan “I see myself continuing to lead Sabaq and taking it all across Pakistan, through different alliances and partnerships – to make this product available to children in and out of schools through installation of hardware devices, managing 3G and 4G connectivity and our partner networks with schools, telcos, non-profits to help children learn through high quality, fun and engaging lessons so th that they understand and learn at a grade level and they can get the chance to continue their education beyond grade 5. I see myself and my team working on improving access to education for children who currently don’t have access.”