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Forbes, an American business journal, with over 100 million online readerships worldwide, has recently published its annual series of highlighting stories of young innovators and entrepreneurs: 30 Under 30 Asia list. This comes as a proud moment for Pakistanis that among 30 people from 24 countries of Asia-Pacific region, Forbes has added at-least four entrepreneurs and innovators from Pakistan for its 30 Under 30 Asia list 2019 for social entrepreneurs, technology enterprises and health care fields.
Zain Ashraf — Founder, Seed Out
Zain Ashraf is the founder of Seed Out which is Pakistan’s first crowdfunding platform that is supporting entrepreneurs with interest-free micro-financing. The aim of the platform is to end poverty in the country and to explore talented entrepreneurs in the country. Meanwhile, Zain Ashraf has also been featured in TechJuice 25 Under list of 2014 and has won Common Wealth Youth Award in 2018.
Seed Out is a platform where donors can choose to donate or lend to projects listed on the nonprofit’s website and can track progress along the way. When repayment is made, the organization helps to reinvest the sum into other projects. According to the company, Seed Out has a 97% repayment rate and has helped 538 locals raise funding.
Laila Kasuri — Water Analyst, Global Green Growth Institute
Water analysts like Laila Kasuri are becoming quite important in adopting a preventative approach to water sustainability issues as climate change is taking its toll on the emerging markets. Kasuri is presently a water analyst with Global Green Growth Investment’s Policy Solutions Division. Previously, she has worked with organizations such as the World Bank, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences on climate-smart irrigation, flood risk reduction, and river basin planning.
Roshni Rides — Women friendly carpooling platform
Roshni Rides is Pakistan’s first women’s friendly ride-hailing service for commuters. The platform was founded by Hanaa Lakhani, Hasan Usmani, Gia Farooqi and Moneeb Mian. The four Rutgers classmates wanted to provide reliable transportation service for refugees, and their company arranges affordable rickshaw rides along designated routes between a refugee camp and common destinations such as markets and hospitals. The idea propelled Roshni Rides get the $1 million Hult Prize back in 2017, and the team is now focused on working with companies to provide safe rides for female employees in the country.
Ahmed Rauf Essa — Co-Founder, Telemart
Ahmed Rauf Essa is the co-founder of Telemart which is one of the leading e-commerce platforms in the country. He founded the e-commerce store while he was studying in a business school at the age of 23. Other than business to consumer product, the company also has a large wholesale channel which caters to more than 500 dealers online and is an end-to-end solutions provider for major firms such as P&G, Lucky Cement, and Ufone.
