A precocious teenager doing badly in school goes on to found a technology startup as his talent lies away from what the school routine could draw out and polish. His firm becomes one of the fastest growing biometric companies valued at US$30 million in 2016; an unemployed youngster attempts to sell electronic dictionaries by email and sets up the largest e-commerce portal in Pakistan selling 40,000 products today; a cricket app from Pakistan makes its way to official IPL scoring app status beating competition from Indian Silicon Valley; and a young school girl from an impoverished village is now running a multi-storeyed school despite facing stiff opposition from her own father and brothers. The book "Enterpreneuring Pakistan" is a collection of such stories about Pakistanis overcoming the challenges of founding and running successful enterprises. Written by business coach and mentor Azhar Rizvi, the book is a first-hand account of the journey of 27 tech startups, social enterprises and some individuals, whom the author has mentored and supported in their goals.

The writer is the co-founder of MIT-Enterprise Forum of Pakistan, Pakathon Global, Women's Digital League, OPEN Pakistan amongst others and serves as Chairman, Standing Committee on Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FPCCI). He is involved in technology projects with the Federal and Sindh Ministries of IT and the Karachi University.

In this book, Azhar has also described the dedication and hard work of highly educated Pakistanis who have formed associations and events to discover and hone the entrepreneurship potential in Pakistan. Events like Business Acceleration Programme, Packathon, IBA-Invent, NUST-Discover and several others constitute the ecosystem of technology-based entrepreneurship involving over 10,000 participants and more than 65 universities across Pakistan.

The 27 stories are about the startups and individuals that participated in these events. Some of these companies are worth millions of dollars now while a few are at early stages.

"Enterpreneuring Pakistan" is divided into four parts. The first one is titled 'Technopreneurs' and includes technology based startups. The second part is about 'Socialpreneurs' who are working to bring about social impact through their ventures. 'Silverprenuers' are those who started their entrepreneurial journeys mid-career or late in life making use of their skills, experience and networks. 'Futurepreneurs' looks at stories of student inventors and researchers who are making their way towards commercializing their projects. The book celebrates the enthusiasm of youth but also dispels the myth that tech startups are a trend for the young alone. Azhar includes four stories of startups that experienced individuals have created in their second careers late in life.

All of these individuals and companies had started with minimal experiences and resources, overcoming failures, personal challenges, social pressures and economic uncertainty. These success stories do not read like fairy tales. Instead, they show the real life challenges these enterpreneurs faced and solved with innovation and perseverance. These are inspiring accounts of common hard working Pakistanis who have found direction and channelized their potential to achieve remarkable feats. These true stories from today's Pakistan recount the resilience and passion that keeps this country running despite the gloom forever hanging over its image.

===========================================================

Book: "Entrepreneuring Pakistan"

Author:                                         Azhar Rizvi

Publisher :    Azhar Rizvi, 49/1 Lane 15, off: Khy-e-Badban

Pages   :                                               351

Price  :                                                 NA

===========================================================

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017