Pakistani Entrepreneurs Share What Keeps Them Motivated in Tough Times

“Failure is success in progress” remarked the renowned Father of Physics, Albert Einstein. Have we ever cared to wonder that the awe-inspiring mind behind the smartphones we carry today or the MacBook, Steve Jobs, dropped out of college? In fact, he was even kicked out of his own company. We all may have a dispositional inclination towards enshrining such eminent entrepreneurs as legendary, but we tend to neglect the fact that they too went through highs and lows in the corporate arena. Their graphs of entrepreneurial success too witnessed steep dips through their lifecycles. And the existence of these negative gradients is precisely why these entrepreneurs learned to pick themselves up, to not fear failure but conquer it, to continue with unflinching conviction and to become the celebrated business magnates they are today!

We see tons of motivational quotes from Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, and they are all amazing (no doubts here) but those are not the only great minds. We have immense talent right around us and that deserves to be highlighted as well. So one day I decided to ask a very important question on one of the startup forums, As an entrepreneur, when you come across a moment of decline or find yourself in a dark place, what brings you back? How do you motivate yourself?

I got many answers but realized that somewhat their essence was the same. The answers could be condensed to form one solution to the entrepreneurial problem. Some of the responses I collected are as follows:

“I read books. This time, first 140 pages of ‘The Hard Thing about Hard Things’ helped me”. Madeeha Hassan, CEO Savaree.

Of course, all entrepreneurs face rough patches in the lifecycle of their brainchild, but keeping staunch faith is the key to survival! We came across a particularly elaborate response from the Chairman and CTO of Soloinsight, Farhan Masood.

“When I founded my startup with zero capital and no background but just a dream to build a globally significant company out of Pakistan specializing in our own facial recognition systems and the whole world of Internet of People around it, I was declared a maniac and crazy… I was never taken seriously… Everyone laughed but no one helped… I was told the companies who were working on such things were 1) Jewish and 2) have hundreds of millions of dollars as grants and funding. 3) Fingerprint systems had already taken over the world by storm and even if I did succeed in building such technologies which one doesn’t even can find a book or a research paper on, I was way too late to enter and won’t be able to make any difference… I am glad I did not listen to any of the naysayers… I am glad that they did not help me and with persistence I proved them wrong… Today I have a company that is spread across 3 continents… Our 3D Facial + Iris + Palm Vein recognition technology is well received in United States… We have raised a $3 Million seed round and we are on a path to become a globally significant company…”.
Aptly put, even if an entrepreneurial journey witnesses obstruction or any sort of degradation, the conviction to not let your brainchild die, the conviction to push harder and have unending faith would aid you in overcoming that decline but this may only seem plausible if your heart is where your work is, as passion is the sole fuel that drives the vehicle of success.

Another essential tool for success is positive energy and its rightful directional radiation. Furqan Ahmed of AliffIqra.com elucidates the notion stating, “The only thing that ever lift me up when I’m down and in despair is a walk among other entrepreneurs, understanding their issue and help others while I can. Helping others is the best source of positive energy for me; it works like a charm.”

Where some entrepreneurs believe that positive energy and confidence boost equip them adequately to combat the moments of pitfall and decline, others have taken on an entirely different approach on the matter. For them it’s the force of negativity and criticism that strengthens the fibres of their motivation and makes them believe that they have to strive to be the best because the laws of nature only allow the survival of the fittest!

The founder and CEO of Daastan, Syed Ommer Amer says, “The negative feedback and the mockery of the people drives my passion. At one point where it breaks me from inside, it also makes me furiously mad and determined to actually prove myself and shut the mouths of those who ridiculed me. To put it simply, I channel the negative feedback to drive my passion to unlock the hidden potential within myself. By the Grace of Lord, I have always overcome adversity with my resilience and my every achievement, be it of national or international level, has enable me to inspire people and prove the worth of my idea.”

Irtaza Ahmed Qureshi, Founder of JaldiSe, also has to offer something on the matter. “I always listen to the translation of Quranic Verses and then listening to some related industry companies story which inspires and motivate me to be great and perform best and bring a best possible outcome. Best part for inspiring myself is that I am hoping for more work from some new and different clients”.

Similar stories came our way when budding entrepreneurs shared their diverse range of pitfalls and the sort of lessons that were learned as an outcome! Asad Memon of Remote Interview adds to the list, “Most startups die from suicide, not murder. Founders should realize that it is supposed to be like that; a rollercoaster ride. The Zuckerburg-like stories they enjoy reading everyday are only blinding them more. The only thing to do is make any little progress they can and live through it. For us, it’s just getting one more user”.

Some entrepreneurs have various mottos or mantras that they religiously follow and believe in. They deem that these mantras or mottos work like a charm for anyone facing a daunting plight. For instance, Sana Khalid (CEO of Minerva) says, “I think entrepreneurs are driven by challenges. A problem or challenge is all the more reason to do better”. Faizan Chughtai, who is the Director Software Solutions – Vexellum Pvt. Ltd, adds, “There is no hard line for everyone to follow for motivation. For me, every morning I say to myself in the mirror. “Is this how I want to see myself tomorrow?” That gives me enough juice to keep going”!

Hence, it is inevitably clear that almost all entrepreneurs follow a particular element of entrepreneurial fuel to aid them in driving onto the road that leads to success. These motivational drivers are exactly what shall turn these startups into huge corporate businesses, if followed with diligence. They may seemingly sketch a canvas of an array of mantras but in the end if condensed, the essence of it all is the same!

Here’s ending this long piece with a light note from Muhammad Shariq, CEO of Taplando: “For me, its food, as a temporary fix. Gets me out of the dark state, makes me feel better and clears my head. It’s like a mental reset button. That’s all I need to refocus. Also, recalibrating”.

After a tough competition between startups scouted fromall overPakistan, 8 teams are selected as the second batch at The Foundation

Lahore: The Foundation Business Incubator at LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship has recently completed the scouting and induction process for its second batch of startups.

The new batch, as usual, was open for aspiring entrepreneurs from all over Pakistan. Over 35 short-listed startups were considered for incubation or acceleration at the Foundation and about half were presented to the illustrious Foundation Council for final selection. The selection involved founder interviews and evaluation of the business models by leading entrepreneurs and businessmen of the country.

With the new batch, a few changes have also been introduced based on the feedback from the first batch of entrepreneurs. The program is now following a weekly theme of topics, objectives and activities. For the first two weeks, the startups completed an intense Entrepreneurship Development Program which gave these startups a much-needed initial boost. Following this has started the regular program with weekly milestones, sessions by mentors and other activities.

This time around, five startups have been inducted in the incubation program and three start-ups have been selected for the accelerator program. The incubated startups include, H&O Solutions which is a one-stop shop for home maintenance and repair services. AutoGenie offers auto maintenance service at doorstep or nearest workshop. P for Plan is a comprehensive marketplace that connects individuals, event planners to venues by procuring event management related services. Scontly is a discount-based, hyper-local, digital marketing solution for businesses and Jewelry Design Pro is an online marketplace for trading digital downloadable designs of jewelry. Among the three accelerated startups, Fictive Labs offers smart home solutions that bring the control and management of electric appliances in homes at the consumers’ finger tips through their mobile phones; Appify Systems offers ease of browsing and ordering food online, food delivery services and customer order tracking; and A.H Paper Products provides recycled paper and packaging solutions for businesses.

Talking about the second batch, Khurram Zafar, the Executive Director of LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship said “There was a lot of IT focus in our first batch and I am pleased to see the startups and entrepreneurs are choosing to diversify into other sectors also. Seven out of the eight businesses from first batch are operational and several are negotiating with investors for funding. We have similar high hopes from our second batch as well.”

The second batch is due to graduate in February, 2015 with a coinciding investors summit as before.

LUMS, the nation’s most prestigious higher education institution, built the Center for Entrepreneurship with the vision to make it the largest breeding ground for sustainable, high-growth and high-impact businesses in Pakistan.

The management of the center, headed by Mr. Khurram Zafar, an entrepreneur himself, as well as an independent council of leading entrepreneurs of the country scout for promising upstart businesses all over Pakistan and inducts the most promising ones into this four month program. The Foundation offers co-working space, utilities, internet, and other administrative support to the startups as well as access to a network of world-class mentors, business leaders and investors who guide and groom these young, passionate entrepreneurs. The center is also collaborating with investors to put together a seed stage investment fund for the startups as well as collaborate with business center developers to offer subsidized office space to the graduates of the Foundation program.

The teams that have been inducted as the first batch of The Foundation includes, Cognitica which develops augmented reality based mobile and marketing solutions. Beed, based on research done at LUMS, this team is working on making all broadcast content interactive with the aid of smart phones. Savaree, this company is building a trust-based, ride share social network that allows drivers to monetize the free passenger seats in their cars by posting routes and connecting with riders that share that route. Bugdev Studios, a team of very passionate mobile game developers and designers that build and publish creative, fun, action-packed games that make people think, feel and enjoy.

Other start-ups include BizClout, a one-stop solution to fully e-commerce enable SMEs with-in 15 minutes using a proprietary content management and ecommerce platform. The company offers value-added products to promote and market these online brands as well. MARO, oven baked bread (tandoori Roti and Naan) is one of the most commonly consumed food item in Pakistan and MARO aims to setup a network of ‘Tandoors’ that provide healthy bread and an immaculate consumer experience at the same price as traditional ‘Tandoors’. Appography, the company aims to improve the customer experience by introducing a visual navigation IVR (Interactive Voice Response), in a clutter-free, simplified and more consumable manner on customer smart phones.

Speaking about the Center, the Executive Director, Mr. Khurram Zafar said “Entrepreneurship is the future of our country and LCE aims to scout the best entrepreneurs from all over Pakistan and provide them everything they need to succeed and turn their dreams into realities.”

The Foundation is one of the many innovative projects under the LCE banner with other centers in progress such as the Skills Commercialization Centre and a Corporate Innovation Center amongst others.

If there’s one industry in Pakistan where entrepreneurship is erupting nowadays, it would be none other than the technology sector. The low startup capital required for a technology company as well as the general appeal of computers to young minds make it the go-to industry for anyone hoping to make their mark on the entrepreneurship landscape. And in that sector, if there’s any one organization that has emerged as a hub for tech entrepreneurship, it would be Plan9 – PITB’s Tech Incubator . 

Now after 10 months or so since its inception, on my visit to ASTP, I am sitting with this amazing young intern Samar Haider analysing the initiative and how it achieved success in a very short time.

A non-profit government program, Plan9 exists to nurture the best minds from across the country in a six-month incubation process wherein all those inducted into the program are provided with not only the workspace and tools to create their products, but also world class mentorship, linkage opportunities with enticing investment channels, and that vital exposure that makes an aspiring entrepreneur into a successful one. Plan9 has begun to gain immense popularity amongst bright students and now receives scores of applications from fresh graduates when its induction process begins. Currently, it is in the midst of its second incubation cycle, with fifteen energetic teams actively working on their products and prepping them for launch later this year.

But, Plan9 didn’t happen overnight. Much thought, planning and hard work went into establishing Plan9 into the icon it is today. It was Dr. Umar Saif, the chairman of Punjab Information Technology Board who along with other like-minded people around him came up with the idea for such a start-up incubator in Pakistan. A Cambridge and MIT educated Computer Scientist, he has authored several influential publications with his research being published in an array of popular media including New York Times, MIT Technology Review, CNN, and BBC, to name a few. Not content with excellence in academia alone, Umar has co-founded many a start-up himself and has worked tirelessly for the promotion of ICT in developing countries such as ours. It was this passion for bringing the wonders of technology to the underserved areas of the world that got him the title of Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, won him the MIT Technovator Award, and earned him a spot on TR35, MIT’s highly selective list of the top young innovators from across the globe.

When Dr. Saif was planning to setup Plan9, he went out in search for someone to help him structure and run what then seemed like quite a daunting project, someone who shared the same passion for entrepreneurship and wanted to make a difference back in their homeland. Dr. Umar’s search led him to Nabeel A. Qadeer, better known for his contribution towards numerous software automation initiatives within the SME sector of Pakistan. A Certified Project Manager by Profession, graduate of FAST-NU with a Master’s in Business & Management from Strathclyde Business School, Nabeel had experienced first-hand the rigours of founding a startup in the real world, Nabeel learned that he had a lot more in common with Umar than just their undergrad degree in Computer Science. Both these individuals wanted to see Pakistan become a hub for the booming technology sector, especially where entrepreneurship was concerned. It was this first contact that cemented a long-lasting bond between two technology futurists, a bond based on an idea which was Umar’s vision and Nabeel’s will.

Back in Pakistan, the two put together their very own A-Team of excelling individuals from diverse backgrounds, each bringing something unique to the table. Hafsa Shorish who overlooks the marketing and PR and is the reason Plan9 has been making waves in the media shared her experience saying “Plan9 has offered me a plethora of opportunities to learn and grow. Dr. Umar Saif’s unwavering belief and Nabeel’s utmost faith in me from the very beginning empowered me to take on all sorts of challenges”. Uzair Shahid has taken charge of end to end operations of Plan9 ensuring that all runs smoothly in the grand scheme of things. Mariam Shakir watches over the incubatees & alumni relations and is the one to go to if ever there arises the need for a brainy researcher. Sarah Tariq Gilani is the one with a knack for stringing words together into wonderful pieces of writing and also drives Plan9’s design strategy. Ahmad Farooq Malik comes in wherever the legalities are concerned, to ensure that the budding startups face no issues out there in the real world. And finally, Ebad Shah, their resident designer and animator, brings thoughts and expressions to life on a digital canvas to get ideas across in a symphony of shapes and colours.

                                                                                  Plan 9 Team

Together, these people have transformed Plan9 from a mere thought into the country’s largest technology incubator. What was just carpeted office space a year ago is now a floor teeming with energetic engineers working on their renditions of the next big thing; Plan9 is doing a lot of things right; they’ve managed to bring together stakeholders from all across the Technology Industry under one roof with the desire to help young technology entrepreneurs make something out of nothing.

Their board of advisors is a reflection of the kind of capable people they have involved with this initiative. Amazing individuals from across the globe are now associated with Plan9, some as Mentors and others as Investors. One of their major milestones has been the creation of Pakistan’s first Angel Investors Club which is now working conscientiously towards building an ecosystem for local and foreign investors to put their time & money into young Pakistani entrepreneurs.

The graduates of Plan9’s very first incubation cycle went on to make headlines of their own, making achievements for which they credit the incubator as that key environment which helped them grow into successful entrepreneurs. Plan9, too, has benefited greatly from them, for it has been those very fresh incubatees who unknowingly helped mould it into the great facility that it is today.

Summing it up, Plan9 is a commendable initiative taken by the Government of Punjab for aspiring entrepreneurs. Those of us who have been out there struggling and did everything on our own know what an ideal resource it is where you don’t have to worry about utility bills, power outages or office space, and just concentrate on building the next big thing. Fabulous free resources coupled with valuable advice from local and world experts make it the place to be for young graduates. Kudos to Plan9 team especially Dr. Umar, Nabeel and Hafsa on a job very well done. Hope we’ll get to see many more success stories from Plan9 in the coming years. I can already see Pakistan’s name climbing up the ranking of best startup ecosystems.

While we are different personalities, there is one vision that brings both Nabeel Akmal Qadeer and myself on a common platform i.e. “Educating, Motivating and Inspiring Pakistani Youth”. Both of us want students to follow their passion and field of choice after graduation.

In order to achieve these objectives, we launched a startup, went to educational institutes in various cities, and tried whatever we could do at our end to help the ambitious lot. Last year, both of us left Pakistan to pursue higher studies in management that we have successfully completed recently.

So Nabeel recently called me up and shared this initiative “My Biz Pakistan”. My immediate response was “What’s so different in that?” Nabeel said “It has what we were lacking before.” Then he continued to elaborate why it’s different and I somewhat agreed to the root cause why we failed in the earlier iterations of our plans. In short, it was the lack of resources at hand. Though I am not part of this team, the plan discussed by Nabeel totally resonates with how we should support Pakistani Startups. It’s time to mature our angel investment market.

Many of you might know about Amer Qureshi. Amer is a highly experienced Australian Chartered Accountant, Business Advisor and Author. Born in Pakistan, but having spent most of his professional life in Australia, Amer has developed a passion for helping business owners, entrepreneurs and professional improve their lives. This passion has led him to write four books, develop numerous seminars and TV Shows with the aim of motivating and inspiring people. An excellent speaker and presenter Amer has contributed to the development of a large number of professionals and business owners in Australia, Pakistan, Dubai and Qatar.

My Biz initiative has been developed with Amer’s vision to help the young Pakistanis become entrepreneurs and take control of their lives. My Biz Pakistan would provide training, tools, networks and access to Angel funding for starting small businesses. The angels would also act as mentors to these young entrepreneurs. It is not a charity, a micro finance institution, an NGO, a government authority or anything of the sort. This is a setup where few Pakistani Business Leaders are trying to make a difference.

The angel investors will fund innovative business ideas that are considered to have great potential for success. The funding arrangements are negotiated between the investors and the entrepreneurs, however, the organization would provide the framework, ideas and advice and help you through the process. Typically for small startups, the funding will be limited to between PKR 50,000 and 200,000 and will be made in stages on achieving agreed milestones.

Both Investors and Entrepreneurs can work with My Biz Pakistan. Terms for both the parties are mentioned at http://www.mybizpakistan.com. For students, the My Biz Ambassadors in your city and your university are your first point of contact, and will be able to provide all the necessary information and advice that you need. In the event of any additional assistance, you may also contact one of My Biz consultants. If you want to be the ambassador at an educational institute, you can also apply for that by following the application process at http://www.mybizpakistan.com/join-us.html

Moreover, the inside scoop is that some former CEOs of multinationals would soon be joining the My Biz Board, and that the organization has already engaged investors from Australia and Dubai. If you have a good proposal, they can invest right away. So what are you waiting for?  Now you don’t have an excuse that you are short of cash to take the jump.

It was late 2005 when I started promoting entrepreneurship, social media and startups amongst the techies in Lahore. I came up with a name called “Technology Entrepreneurs Den (TED)” for our meetups but little did I know that there was already a global phenomenon known as TED. I got to know about it when few people asked me if I am coming up with a local TED event. I had to drop down the name but at least it introduced me to the wonderful TED Platform and since then I have listened around 80-90 phenomenal TED Talks.

TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK each summer — TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and Open TV Project, the inspiring TEDx program and the annual TED Prize.

The TED Conference, held annually in Long Beach, is still the heart of TED. More than a thousand people now attend — indeed, the event sells out a year in advance — and the content has expanded to include science, business, the arts and the global issues facing our world. Over four days, 50 speakers each take an 18-minute slot, and there are many shorter pieces of content, including music, performance and comedy. There are no breakout groups. Everyone shares the same experience. It shouldn’t work, but it does. It works because all of knowledge is connected. Every so often it makes sense to emerge from the trenches we dig for a living, and ascend to a 30,000-foot view, where we see, to our astonishment, an intricately interconnected whole.

Last year in July, when Asim Fayaz told me that a license has been acquired, I was overjoyed that finally we would have a platform to share ideas and reach out to masses. Asim did invite me to earlier events at LUMS and Kinnaird which were held on July 25 2009 and February 23 2010 respectively but few professional commitments didn’t let me join both the events. On May 22, 2010, I got an email from Asim for the third event. I decided the very day that this time over I’ll definitely register for TEDxLahore and make it to the event.

The best thing was that Asim had a humungous plan for this one unlike previous events. Last month, I got to know that 3 other friends would be amongst the top management as well. Tajdar O. Chaudry is there for PR, Conventional Media Relations and spamming our twitter feeds. If you see good publicity on TV and Radio Channels this time around, he’s the man behind all this.  Bilal Rashid performs the wonderful duty of adding “X” to the event and is standing besides the TEDxLahore Team with his brilliant photography and talent management skills.

Khurram Siddiqi, who’s a relatively new to my friends list, did a marvelous job in selecting the speakers for the event. He finally managed to convince few females to speak at the event. Moreover, I was introduced to Nuzhat Saadia Siddiqui by them whom I have never met earlier but I guess I would definitely try to meet her on the event day if she’s free from the volunteer tasks to know more about the Mobile and Door Jamming programs that Khurram has worked on in order to avoid any disturbance during the event.  The ever humble Jazib Zahir, the COO of TinTash has never failed to impress me. If it’s an entrepreneurial effort of any sort, he’s there for you without any attitude.

The TEDxLahore received around 900 applications till 22nd July against 270 seats and the successful applicants have been informed. I would like to congratulate Asim for assembling a dream team and then putting up a marvelous effort into the event with all the volunteers. This team of professional and student volunteers surely deserve kudos. Those who want to know more about the event should watch and listen the following links and I would appreciate if no one from accepted audience drops out. The event would include some good short films and musical performances apart from the inspirational & motivational talks. If you are not coming, please inform the TEDxLahore Team. There are definitely hundreds of people waiting for this opportunity to come to them.

Those in Islamabad can join the Islamabad Viewing Party at  Civil Junction (Near Jinnah Supper Market, F-7/3) whereas Karachiites can watch the live feed at The Second Floor (T2F) in DHA, Karachi. Live stream of the event will be hosted at the Pakistani Embassy in the Netherlands as well. The event would be held on July 31, 2010 from 2:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (PST) at Ali Institute of Education, Lahore.

A report on TEDxLahore by Rabia Mahmood of Express 24/7

TEDxLahore Team on Express 24/7’s “The Morning Show” with Waqas Rafique

Coffee Republic with Aysha Raja – TEDxLahore Team’s interview on City FM 89

Winners - mBillionth Awards 2010

It was Jehan and Rabia Garib’s twitter feed that led me to register my product for the mBillionth Award 2010. When I registered, I knew that we’ll be rejected in even short listing as we couldn’t find an appropriate category to nominate our product. Moreover our application was unlaunched and running in private alpha amongst our own company employees. We thought that by the time jury will judge our entry, we will launch the public alpha. But if you are in a telecom business where operators have an upper hand, launching your service independently becomes a herculean task. I don’t know which place did we end up in Grand Jury held in Colombo last month but I am happy that we were at least shortlisted for jury.

The m-Billionth Award South Asia 2010 was the first of its kind in the region recognizing and felicitating mobile innovations, applications and content services delivery. It was arranged to honour excellence in mobile communications across South Asia spread over 10 core categories. The m-Billionth Award is designed as an annual South Asia’s leading mobile content’s award platform towards larger regional Mobile Congress in media and policy advocacy. The platform was created with the help of DIT and Digital Empowerment Foundation who have come together to create a regional platform and had support of partners like mint newspaper, VAS companies like IMImobile, OnMobile, One97 and the umbrella organization such as IAMAI (Internet & Mobile Association of India). Pakistan Software House Association (P@SHA) was the Country Partner, Bytesforall , the Strategic Partner and CIO Pakistan, the Media Partner from our side.

21st Century World could be a cellular age going by the phenomenal increase in cell phones worldwide. The cellular age is fast accelerating with cell phones magnifying our larger identity in both individual and collective domains and in various social, cultural, economic contexts. This tremendous growth of mobile penetrations is a scene to be witnessed worldwide especially in developing countries with larger population concentration. Thus, the power of cellular technology is evident. And South Asia is and cannot be left behind. Therefore, the objective of the awards was to

• Recognise mobile innovations and creativity.
• Provide a platform for the innovations into benchmarking in the mobile industry.
• Provide a wider forum for strategic networking, alliances and partnership building.
• Provide a South Asia Congress to exchange ideas, practices and policy strengths & mobile advocacy.
• Facilitate in building a South Asia network towards campaign and advocacy in mobile for mass empowerment and inclusive growth.

The response to the mBillionth Award nomination process was phenomenal: more than 250 entries were received and after screening 165 nominations were successfully accepted: India – 121, Sri Lanka – 28, Bangladesh – 07, Pakistan – 05, Nepal – 03, and Maldives – 1. The 14 member Jury came up with 24 winners & 12 special mentions from 5 South Asian Countries.

Osama Manzar, the man behind the awards said “No business vertical or community will remain untouched by this pervasive mobile device: entrepreneurs from all sectors, community leaders from all regions and government officials from all departments are curious to know how they can leverage the mobility platform to cause transformational impact on areas of their impact and influence.”

There was an impressive line-up of eminent dignitaries, best practitioners, innovators and policy makers for various plenary sessions scheduled at the full day mBillionth Congress, Exposition and Award Gala held at Hotel InterContinental Eros in New Delhi yesterday to promote cross-border exchange of ideas, policy strengths and mobile advocacy.

EntrepreneursPK Team is extremely delighted to inform you that though there were only 5 nominations from Pakistan amongst 250 total entries, yet we won 2 awards at the mBillionth Awards 2010. The Citizen Journalism Startup, SeenReport won in the m-News & Journalism category whereas Jaroka Tele-Healthcare won in the m-Health category. We take this opportunity to congratulate SeenReport and Jaroka Teams, and are hopeful that next year we would have many more winners to make us proud. Also our gratitude goes to the Digital Empowerment Foundation for taking the lead in creating this recognition and networking platform for mobile content developers.

The list of winners of mBillionth Awards 2010 is as follows.

m-GOVERNANCE

1. Many to One SMS, INDIA www.katnidistrict.org

2. GPS/GSM Based Train Tracking System, SRI LANKA

3. Paperless Admission System of Shahjalal University of Science & Technology (SUST), BANGLADESH http://sust.edu/admission

4. M-Distribution, INDIA www.megovernance.com

m-INCLUSION

1. Dialog Tradenet, SRI LANKA http://www.tradenet.dialog.lk

2. Dakia, INDIA http://one97world.com/

3. Voice of Youth, NEPAL http://www.ccfocusone.com

4. Panini Keypad, INDIA www.paninikeypad.com

5. Nepal Wireless, NEPAL http://www.nepalwireless.net

m-NEWS & JOURNALISM

1. Reuters Market Light, INDIA http://thomsonreuters.com/

2. Gaon Ki Awaaz, INDIA http://gaonkiawaaz.wordpress.com/

3. See ’n’ Report, PAKISTAN http://seenreport.com/

4. CGNet Swara, INDIA http://audiowiki.no-ip.org/admin/playback.php

m-EDUCATION & LEARNING

1. English Seekho, INDIA http://englishseekho.in

2. Drona, INDIA www.deltecs.com

3. Ability, INDIA www.willager.com/ability

m-ENTERTAINMENT

1. 3G Play, SRI LANKA http://wavenet.lk/

2. M-Search, INDIA http://onmobile.com/

3. Colombo Ride 2.0, SRI LANKA http://games.lk

4. Mobile Antakshari, INDIA http://www.slideshare.net/rajam/mobile-antakshari

m-TRAVEL & TOURISM

1. SMS 139 Railway Enquiry, INDIA www.spicedigital.in

2. AWATAR Mobile Booking, INDIA http://www.kstrc.in

3. Suruk, INDIA http://www.suruk.com

4. MobileWishPocket Travel Assistant, INDIA http://mobilewish.com/pta

m-BUSINESS & COMMERCE

1. EKO, INDIA www.eko.co.in

2. WorldGSM INDIA www.vnl.in

3. Mobiquity mMoney, INDIA http://comviva.com/

4. Business Express, BANGLADESH http://batworld.com/

5. Voice ERP, INDIA http://uniphore.com/

m-HEALTH

1. Eliminating queues in OPDs in hospitals – An m-Health initiative by JPN ATC, INDIA

2. Jaroka Tele-Healthcare, PAKISTAN www.jaroka.seecs.edu.pk

3. Students Health Information Tracking System (SWHITS) for Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (APSWREIS), INDIA http://swhits.cgg.gov.in

4. Aarogyam, INDIA http://jpnagar.nic.in/aarogyam/default.htm

m-ENVIRONMENT

1. m-Governance for Forest & Wildlife Management, INDIA

m-CULTURE & HERITAGE

No Winners

Special Awards:

Most Innovative Nomination

Ability, INDIA

Chairman’s Award for Emerging Mobile Initiative

Dhiraagu – Mobile Zakat, MALDIVES

Recently, one of my friends told me about the Power of Ideas organized every year in India. The promotional video (below) just blew me away and refreshed memories of initial struggling time I had while starting my first venture.

The Power of Ideas is the intellectual property of The Economic Times, India’s leading financial daily. In a unique three-way public-private-academic partnership, The Economic Times has joined hands with the Department of Science and Technology (Government of India) and the Indian Institute of Ahmedabad’s CIIE (Center for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship) to create a formidable force that can champion the cause of entrepreneurial culture in India. It leverages on the Government’s remit to encourage innovation and IIM-A’s demonstrated experience in mentoring and incubating start-ups.

The Power of Ideas encourages anyone and everyone with an idea to realize his entrepreneurial dream. Ideas will be polished and nurtured with personalized guidance from mentors and then incubated at IIM Ahmedabad, before being presented to the largest gathering of investors, besides some receiving an assured seed funding, courtesy the Department of Science of Technology, Government of India.

If you fall into the category below, you are eligible to participate.

•    Must be an Indian Citizen of 18 years or over currently residing in India.
•    Dreamers: Anyone who has ever cherished the idea of starting out on his own.
•    Entrepreneurs: Anyone who has just begun work on an idea even while he may be pursuing another day-time occupation.
•    Start-ups: Business enterprises headquartered in India; a standalone, not a subsidiary or division of a larger company.
•    Students: Pursuing their graduation or post graduation course in any stream
•    Corporate executives with a viable idea and keen to put their market experience to test

Though P@SHA, TiE Lahore, IEEE Lahore GOLD, Saif Center, Mr. Zia Imran, Dr. Zahir, Mr. Naeem Zafar and other many Pakistani Entrepreneurs have been encouraging, mentoring & supporting the young generation in Pakistan for quite some time, its the need of the hour that such initiatives are supported at Government and Academia Level. It’s good to see business institutes organizing Entrepreneurial Summits & Business Idea Competitions here in Pakistan but incubation is an altogether different process, giving more time for discussion in a different environment. In short, we need more of DOING at the moment rather than just presentation of an idea which most of the audience even forgets by the end of such events. Yes, you got me right. We need setups like Y Combinator here.

Telenor Pakistan has already taken a step in the right direction but we need more powerful stakeholders to join hands for a bigger movement. Also I would request management & business institutes in Pakistan to open up Incubation and Entrepreneurship Centers, introduce related degree programs and provide the opportunity to young minds for proper mentoring. This would in long term benefit our country’s economy.

Jamil Goheer and Khurram Mir at APICTA 2008

I clearly remember it was December 2006 when I got to know about a Pvt Ltd. Company working within the CS Department at LUMS. I was like WoW! Why don’t we have such a culture here at FAST-NU.  Later, I got to know that men behind this venture are ex-FASTians who graduated a year before I actually came to FAST Lahore.

After June 2007, we extensively started hearing about this company which called itself the First Quality Assurance Company in Pakistan mainly because by that time Khurram Javed Mir, the CMO of the company was out from LUMS with an MBA degree. He definitely had a plan how to take this company forward. I remember how people used to gossip about this company especially their batch mates. Some liked the idea considering that their companies can now outsource the QA work whereas some were of the view that what a stupid idea they have come up with as every software company has its own QA department. In the opinion of the second lot, they were definitely a failure.

It was May 2008 when one of my friends Arafat asked me to help setup an office and during the whole summer I heard him quoting Khurram Mir’s inspirational and motivational quotes though he never followed them himself .

“You know Rafaeel. Khurram Bhai said you have to work 20 hours a day if you have to get somewhere.”

By that time, Madam Jehan Ara and Sir Zia Imran had already administered an injection of entrepreneurship to me. So the next thing in my mind was if the CMO is so inspirational what their gang leader would be. Thus like an FBI agent, I ran a background check on Jamil A. Goheer who founded this company in 2006 and has played a key role in taking it from a startup to an award winning software QA services enterprise.  One glance at his profile confirmed that he’s definitely “The Boss”.

Year 2008 was a hard work payoff year for Jamil and Khurram. Their company won various awards including P@SHA ICT Award for Best Startup Applications. Also they were declared the “Best Startup in Asia Pacific” at Asia Pacific ICT Awards 2008.

Then suddenly one day, one of their employees told me about the breakup between the three founders of the company. Jamil and Khurram went one way by handing over the company name whereas the third partner on the other side. Everybody was of the opinion that their affair with entrepreneurship is over but my analysis said, “It’s Not”.

My guess was right. Jamil and Khurram jumped back in the arena with a new name Kualitatem and proved that its the people who matter, not brands. With the vision and the will, they have surely come a long way since then and never got a chance to look back. They have top international and local clients like Microsoft, BBDO, NetSol etc. on their list. What more one could ask for?

Jamil and Khurram seem to be in a constant pursuit of innovation and are cooking up interesting ideas soon to be revealed. Most of us are anxious and looking forward to hear more success stories from Kualitatem.

For the last few months, we were thinking to start a section called Entrepreneurs of the Month and today when we finally decided to give it a shot, Jamil and Khurram were definitely on the top of our list considering their hard work and perseverance. We have all our best wishes for them.