‘Pakistani Startups Making Waves’ celebrates local entrepreneurs

Plan9 took this year’s Independence Day as an opportunity to highlight some of Pakistan’s brilliant startups that have taken flight and are performing really well.

At the event, titled ‘Pakistani Startups Making Waves’, Umar Saif, Chairman PITB, spoke about how we need to inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs:

“For quite some time now, Pakistan has produced exceptional startups who have raised considerable investment. Our aim is to bring them together on one stage so they may help motivate and inspire budding entrepreneurs.”

The event was powered by ATX+PAK Launch Entrepreneurship Program under which 6 Pakistani startups are being sent to the US. Via this event, Plan9 brought together people from across Pakistan including a panel of quite esteemed individuals which included: Suneel Munj, PakWheels; Husnain Sheikh, Chairman & CEO Inov8; Monis Rahman, Rozee.pk; Qasif Shahid, Finja and Imran Ali Khan, Co-founder Zameen.com. The panel, moderated by Nabeel Qadeer, gave the audience an insight into the lessons they have learnt from their ventures and how they moved to gathered funding for their initiatives.

“Your future is bright, as international investors are looking to invest in Pakistan. You are in the right place at the right time”, said Monis Rahman, Chairman Naseeb Networks while addressing the startups in the audience.

Husnain Sheikh of Inov8 said:

“Inov8 was a failure till 2008. We persevered,you have to get through the tough times. Unless you fail, I don’t think you can succeed. It’s how you reinvent yourself.”

Qasif Shahid, whose startup Finja recently raised $1 million in seed funding, spoke on the importance of Fintech startups:

“FinTech on phones will make online payments much easier. FinTechs startups will come out on top.”

Suneel Munj, representing PakWheels, stressed the importance of sales:

“It’s all about sales and revenue! Making some rupees is better than stating millions on an excel sheet. For most of us sales is a zero sum game, for me, sales is a positive sum game!”

Plan9’s alumni startups Patari, Car Butlers, Car Chabi, WifiGen, Transparent Hands, Vivid Technologies, and Affordable also took center stage to talk about how they build their startups.

Humayun Haroon of Patari gave a very valuable piece of advice targeted at all startups and that most people forget.

“Give your brand a personality.”

Such events are highly insightful for budding entrepreneurs and should be carried out regularly.