Entrepreneurs of Pakistan
“I was raised in an upper-middle class household with all the privileges a family member of senior government officer could have had. My father worked for the government and so did his father before him. My uncles worked for the government and so did two of my aunts. Literally every adult I knew growing up worked for a pay cheque. Everyone thought I too was going to end up with a comfortable and secure job like them when I would grow up. I started my professional career back in 2014 with a modestly well-paying job and everything seemed to be going well.
I’ve craved innovation almost all my life! As a child, I remember, I would always play around with stuff and try to come up with things of my own. I’ve had a great passion for tech since we had our first PC at home. Those were the days of Windows 98 and dial-up connection. As I grew older my passion for technology got stronger and deeper. I’d always be exploring new pieces of software. I used to call myself a “tech-explorer”. As a teenager I fancied robots, Artificial Intelligence and how smoothly they integrate with our daily lives.
I have always had this feeling that I’ll do something big in my life. What it would be, that I did not know. But I had faith in myself and the belief that God has a plan for everyone and it’s just a matter of time that you get what you want.
I still remember, 8 years back when I was a young boy and got admission into Lahore School of Economics, I was the most clueless soul on the planet. I had no idea what I’m going to do with my life.
Restlessness, frustration, dissatisfaction started plaguing my soul.
“My childhood was largely spent either in Lahore on the planes of Punjab or alongside the sheep marked rolling green hills of the Welsh countryside in the UK. At the time, my dream was to become a professional football player.
Born to a family with an established, business background, I’ve always lived a privileged life. Spending almost all my life in the inner city of Rawalpindi, I’d say I was blessed to live closely to the poor of my city, my country.
Living in close contact to them I got to know what many, many of us don’t know – the problems they face in their day to day lives just to meet their basic needs – things we all take for granted. Sadly.
Born to a middle class family, I believe I have an unfair advantage over others in terms of knowing how to make through the toughest of times. Little did I know that my deprivations would take me so far.
At a tender age of nine, paralysis hunt down my father who at the time was the only bread winner for the family. When my father got paralysed it was as if time had stopped. The world that appeared to be the most beautiful thing to me became the ugliest. All of that in a flash!
Our poor financial conditions pinned us down to the point where we were forced to sell my house.
“Having a natural tendency to possess extraordinary mathematical skills and creative writing / composition abilities, I can say that I passed out through the initial 12 academic years at Beaconhouse School System just fine. Experiencing an emerging profound interest in software development, I took admission at FAST-National University with Computer Science majors. That was the time when I truly ex…plored myself and was amazed to see what I am capable of. As my fingers settled on the fretboard of a guitar, my mouth started practicing debating.
“I was a very pampered boy till the 12th grade. My first experience with the outside world was when I went to NUST hostel. As I graduated, I realized that in-fact the world protected by the bounds of my university was still not the outside world in its true sense. My father asked me to live on my own, without any financial support. That was a blow in the face. It was my first experience with the outside world and boy was it like train hitting you at bullet speed. Desperately I started looking for a job but didn’t find any for a long time.
I belong to a lower middle class family with a limited educational background. However, my father was determined to make sure that his children had access to quality education and prioritized this over many things. It was only due to his determination and continuous effort that I ended up in the best engineering university of Pakistan, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST). It was …an honor for me and my father that I became the first engineer of the family.
“From my grandmother to my mother and father, my entire family is very creative. They have exquisite talent and impeccable taste and being surrounded by so much creative energy, the want to create became second nature to me. I have always enjoyed redecorating my room, making picture collages, helping my mother set up our home when we moved away. It wasn’t till after university that I realized I co…uld pursue interior and product design as a career.