40 min read
The world has become a much different place in the last year, we have seen many success stories sprout out from all corners of the globe. These stories tell us how talented youths from various vicinity of the globe managed to be the face of change without the need of a degree. These individuals rocked various fields and managed to encourage a growing number of entrepreneurs, thinkers and many other people to take risks. While most names that come to mind have their roots in many first world countries, we feel that there is plenty of untapped talent in Pakistan that is lacking the proper recognition that they are rightfully entitled to. These individuals are often overlooked due to the absence of a proper platform that can help bring these individuals to the limelight.
Every individual on this list has made a significant impression to the world at large with their intentions being to give back to their homeland, they represented Pakistan at many international platforms and forums and managed to come back with laurels and the feeling of accomplishment. TechJuice will now proudly tell you the tales of 25 unsung heroes, who have made strides in the fields of technology, entrepreneurship, social activism and many other categories.
Let’s proceed one at a time and see the rise of these young harbingers of change, we hope that they won’t be the last we will see in a long while.
25. Khalida Brohi, Age: 25 yrs
Khalida is an outstanding woman, She has taken a firm step for the rights of women in Pakistan and rather than just choosing to be another voice on the social media outlets she has instead chosen to do something practical. Being at the helm of the Sughar foundation. An NGO targeted to helping empower women through education and training workshops to help encourage other women entrepreneurs to be a bread winner rather than a victim of domestic violence or honor killings.
Khalida’s story is one of tragedy that didn’t directly happen to her but was a source of inspiration to her. At the tender age of 16, She witnessed the death of a friend who chose to do a love marriage over an arranged marriage, the decision ended with her friend being the victim of an honor killing and of course the incident was written off by the authorities and given no attention. Khalida refused to take this injustice sitting down and vowed to be an enabler for women in Pakistan who have the inner flame to spread their wings and be something more than being limited to their household. Khalida has reached out to hundreds if not thousands of women in her mission through the 23 villages that she is currently helping out in. She has made it her goal to do as much as she can for the betterment of women in society and to help put a halt to the draconian concept of honor killings in Pakistan especially when a female is the intended target.
She is a social entrepreneur who prides herself as a harbinger of empowerment for women in Pakistan, she has appeared at various conferences, talks and arranged various other seminars to help create aware about the deplorable state of women in Pakistan and is taking a step by step initiative to make sure hers is a voice that is not lost in the crowd.
Her recognition for the state of women in Pakistan and choosing to fight the male dominant society of Pakistan in order to obtain more rights for women and having an effort to putting an end to the pain, suffering and meaningless deaths of countless females who are victims to physical, psychological and other kinds of violence is truly what makes her one of the most proudest additions to the list. She is indeed a brave and perhaps a true example of a Knight in Shining armor and surely a figure for all women in Pakistan to look up to as a model Pakistani.
24. Zain Ashraf Mughal, Age: 25 yrs
Zain is another feather in the cap when we talk about youth who have contributed something of significance in the world of social entrepreneurs. Zain is the brains of Seed Out, a registered Non-Profit organization that helps in micro finance the people who are left in the dust, the people who are too poor to reach out to social media outlets or crowd funding for their ventures. Seed Out allows people to choose which entrepreneur to sponsor through donation, zakat or sadaqah and Seed Out will do more than just give the deserving people the money, he and his team will personally help these people to start their enterprise and get their business off the ground by helping provide them with appropriate training and guidance through a mentor to help put these people on the right track towards a better future.
Seed Out is a crowd funding platform that targets the people who don’t have the facility of giving their pitch or ideas to banks or other sponsors, Seed Out helps connect potential entrepreneurs who are most commonly indigenous to the rural areas of Punjab to potential angel investors who would be able to help them achieve their goal of starting their enterprise.
Seed Out helped in making the hopes and dreams of 50 Entrepreneurs in 2014 while just keeping his operations in Punjab a reality, Zain is working hard to expand his operations to other provinces of Pakistan in the coming future. Along with Seed Out, Zain also has a number of other projects under his belt, such as; ivoke, A digital solution provider (ivoke managed to be one of the top 100 startup’s in 2014 on a global scale, and went to Dublin in recognition for it) The software house is better known for their cloud book-keeping web app, eccountant. Zain is also an avid Polo player, he has recently entered an agreement with USA’s San Antonio polo team and later in 2015 will be part of an unprecedented event in the world of Polo (for Pakistan), Zain will be a part of the USA Vs. Pakistan Match as a fund raiser for Seed Out.
This is an exemplary idea that has truly managed to earn Zain a well deserved spot on the list due to the ingenuity and intricacy of the initiative.
23. Moeez Javed Rizvi, Age: 24 yrs
Moeez’s inspiration for this start-up draws from the great flood of 2010 that affected the rural area’s of Punjab in a severe degree and left many homeless, deprived of their life savings and income. When the tragedy struck, Moeez was in the second year of his university and was part of a group that went door to door and gathered donations for the victims. When he witnessed the deplorable state of the items that were coming to his team he was awe struck about it and chose to bring a change to it. He started Virgin Tee’s with the sole focus being to give a part of his earnings on each shirt towards a charitable cause such as helping in the funding of the education of a child.
In 2014, Virgin Tees helped pay for the education of 3000 children in need and Moeez is aiming for a higher goal in 2015 and with a wider reach to help fund the education for more children and Moeez plans on burning the midnight oil if he has to to in order to make his goal achievable.
Outside of Virgin Tees, Moeez is also working on P For Plan, the a fore mentioned service allows people with all sorts of estate to put their property up for rent to be used for hosting events. This is a tremendous help to those who wish to use large venues but don’t wish to break the bank. The initiative offers a number of venues ranging from houses to even farmhouses and halls. This is indeed a very promising solution to those facing the issue of where to hold their event since the rates, location and maximum occupancy are mentioned with the venue that a customer could choose. So far the initiative has had a lot of positive feed back and is continuing to exponentially grow with other people going to the site and page to promote their estates and find estates to host at.
Moeez is an amazing man who has done an exemplary job in helping combine his love for helping others while also promoting art in Pakistan. His accomplishments and achievements in the field of charitable work are indeed admirable and he should be proud of having such a selfless heart, Moeez’s character and his inner flame that drives such an amazing ambition are only some of the reasons why he is on the list.
22. Ali Moeen Nawazish, Age: 24 yrs
Ali Moeen Nawazish is a name that not many Pakistanis will be unaware of. He is one of those boys who went against all norms, and had the dream of bringing the good side of Pakistan to the fore amidst all the terrorist activities, religious fanaticism, extremism that Pakistan is usually known for around the globe. Yes, he is the boy who scored 22A’s in his A-Levels, and showed the entire world that Pakistan still has the potential to do well in all walks of life, provided the energies of Pakistanis are routed in the right direction. There were many Pakistanis who objected to this fact that students should not become a “jack of all trades, master of none”.
Ali Moeen Nawazish did in fact turn out to be a “master of all trades”, when after graduating from Cambridge University, he returned to Pakistan starting many different projects, such as Twenti3 Group, Step Up Pakistan, AMN Schools, and AMN Kids, all of which are working towards the development, prosperity of Pakistan, especially in the field of education. Nawazish also worked with Mobilink (a subsidiary of Egyptian based Orascom.) in their campaign, “Kal ke Liye Aaj Badlo”. The News conducts an educational exposition every year, and in 2014, Nawazish attended the educational expos in Islamabad and Lahore, and interacted with students to motivate them to work to the best of their potentials.
Every now and then, Nawazish has been criticized for his political views, but he maintained his composure, and faced criticism with logical reasoning and rational arguments. his participation in the political scenario through his political writings helping influence the youth and how he is extremely vocal about his opinions and actually has the courage to put his material in news papers and other literature for the sake of telling his thoughts and feelings on a current political or social scenario which is truly admirable. His commitment to the youth and how he uses his influence for the betterment of today’s youth is absolutely astonishing and why he has landed himself a spot on the list.
21. Sameer Ahmed Khan, Age: 24 yrs
Sameer is a skilled developer, being recognized for his talents by Microsoft and Nokia is no small task for some one of his age and it becomes an even bigger deal when you have won small scale and large scale competitions from the companies. Sameer has achieved a number of accolades in the field of technology and has made a number of apps to show his prowess in the field.
Sameer is indeed portrayed as a Jack of all trades with many awards for him to flex his geek muscles with. All his hard work has earned some well deserved recognition and he is currently working with an American based company to make something that can be every Pakistani students worst nightmare but at the same time a dream come true for students in the west. His current endeavor is called “evernym” an amazing concept which truly deserves some recognition and this project is currently what is occupying all of Sameer’s time.
To post Sameer’s accomplishments, awards and accolades would require us to give him a separate page. Among some of his achievements are winning the Imagine cup 2013 as “National Winner” in the “Games” category as well as a Nokia Developer Champion. These are only a couple of the many proud titles he holds.
Sameer’s attitude, his incredible talents and how he continues to strive for excellence is what has earned him a well deserved spot on this list.
20. Syed Muzammil Hassan Zaidi, Age: 24 yrs
Meet the man behind LOLZstudio, while these guys don’t do short videos the way Zaid Ali does, their videos are long, absolutely entertaining and are strictly focused on our local culture. The studio does great informational videos too and has made a recent campaign to make people aware about how watching violence happen is just as bad as being a part of it in the first place. LOLZstudio is a studio that does also provide some great quality content in terms of humor, current happenings and more, Almost anyone can really enjoy the diversity these guys show and how their lengthy yet entertaining videos will keep you yearning for more.
Muzammil Hassan Zaidi says that the toughest part for him when starting up this adventure was pretty taxing especially when their audience was Pakistani citizens and social media users. Muzammil Hassan Zaidi tried to go for the richer humor of the west and the jokes they tried to convey would mostly fly over people’s heads and leave them missing the punch line or the point of the joke. Muzammil Hassan Zaidi attributes this to the failure of their audience lacking the viewership of western sitcom’s such as How I Met Your Mother, friends and other sources of their inspiration. Making their audience adapt to their comedy style was by far their biggest challenge.
He has also served as the brand ambassador for Nokia Lumia phones in Pakistan, Muzammil Hassan Zaidi also got the opportunity to work with Coca-Cola and was featured in the companies campaign to “Do Good”.
The content, motivation to stay on the track of quality videos with no negotiation on time span and the determination that Muzammil Hassan Zaidi and his team demonstrate is admirable. Muzammil Hassan Zaidi and his team are a proud addition to this list and rightfully deserves this seat.
19. Haris Nadeem, Age: 24 yrs
Haris has a tale of small beginnings, having a lot of responsibility on his shoulders as a teenager and being the eldest male in his family, he became passionate about the world of technology and blogging with the aspiration of giving something back to his household, after almost a decade of striving he has gone above and beyond the call of duty to make his goal a reality and do his family proud.
Haris has been quietly working on a new project of his by the name of Team Android which is creating quite the buzz on domestic and international level, this tells us that Haris isn’t quite yet done with his blogging days and considering how much experience he has mustered over the years we can safely say that Haris is on the right track of keeping his new project kicking for a long time to come, his passion towards the current project and his contributions to the people of Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad through GDG and GBG are also reasons why he deserves to be mentioned on the list.
18. Haris Zulfiqar, Age: 23 yrs
Anyone and everyone who works in the world of wordpress themes should know the name of this gifted individual, having his first gig working for envato, an online marketplace for wordpress themes in Australia, it wasn’t soon until Haris struck gold. His Mona Lisa was a remarkable theme by the name of “Avada” which if you look up is still one of the most outstanding wordpress themes that managed to shatter records all around and has made him an overnight success.
Haris has been passionate about the world of wordpress themes since a young age and has been striving to do his best. Little did Haris know, that his theme, Avada would send him to the stars and while most people would choose to enjoy their success and retire there and then, Haris decided to keep active in the scene and use his current influence to build theme-fusion which he actively updates and contributes new themes to, while still providing support to Avada.
Haris’s knack for consistency, his motivation to not let his massive success keep him out of the scene and how he chose to indulge himself in the word press scene from such a young age where kids at that age are otherwise distracted by other attractions is what has earned him a spot on the list.
17. Shahzaib Hussain, Age: 23 yrs
Who would have thought that someone holding a degree in electrical engineering would amount to having a Facebook page to show their digital drawing skills, own another page for selling custom T-Shirts and a design house that specializes in visiting cards among other kinds of professional paraphernalia?
While there are certain a few other people who are on the list too, Shahzaib is truly remarkable being multifaceted when the word “design” comes to mind. The astounding genius manages to run a variety of ventures, all synonymous with designing. Shahzaib Hussain ART, Stripteez & Octopulse are all of Shahzaib’s pride and joy and no matter which of his pages you pursue, you will see that his humor is intelligent, simple and yet can be understood by everyone.
His talents are surely not going unnoticed and there is definitely a good future for Shahzaib, should he continue on the path of following his dreams and ambitions. It is blatantly obvious that all of the works before you are the results of the Shahzaib’s own passion and the sweat of his brow, most people will greedily enter the world of social media entertainment to make a quick buck but Shahzaib chose to find a way to follow his dream and turn it into something that can give him a return which is a talent that only a few people have and is surely appreciable in this instance.
Shahzaib admits that electronic engineering was the road chosen for him but being a self published cartoonist / designer was the road he chose for himself, albeit Shahzaib was faced with the dilemma of being unable to deliver on “professional” images in the primary days of his projects, he was not deterred from deviating to his favorite artistic style and vowed to be a success. While the companies can’t be mentioned, Shahzaib has managed to work with certain top tier companies and continues to work on some inspirational stuff which will surely surprise you once the cat is out of the bag!
Shahzaib’s commitment to his pages, his content, ability to diversify and cater to a number of audiences with utmost care while conducting all his operations by himself, managing his further studies is absolutely admirable. Shahzaib stands as an example that anyone and everyone can do what they love and still be able to earn from it, given that your heart is in the right place and you stay true to who you are. All these reasons are why Shahzaib has earned a well deserved spot on this list.
16. Abubakr Eirabi, Age: 23 yrs
Abubakr is better known for his start up, Technolsys. He has made both of his ideas cater to a large enough audience to stay in the market while also bringing something new to the table that no one else in the list has done so far.
Abubakr was only a semester shy of having his degree, he chose this path to pursue his passions and they have landed him on AllSecure & ToyZone. The latter is a self-explanatory title and offers some pretty good products at an attractive price with cash on delivery as an option which most other hobby shops or toy shops in Pakistan don’t offer.
Along with ToyZone, Abubakr operates primarily from Technolsys Labs which is his own software house and he is running this along with one other co-founder. Initially this project started off with more heads at the table but they chose alternative career paths and left Abubakr and his Co-Founder at the helm of Technolsys all by themselves.
Abubakr’s passion and his motivation to over come adversity and difficulties is what is truly his most appreciative trait. Even though he took the bold risk of ending his education early and faced abandonment by people he thought he could count on, Abubakr was not deterred by circumstance and chose to rise above and get to where he is right now. This is why he has earned an earnest spot on the list.
15. Zulqarnain Jameel, Age: 23 yrs
Zulqarnain is truly an inspirational figure. Having completed his education and landing a stable job at Telenor, he couldn’t sit at his desk without feeling like there is more that he can do to help give back to his country. He took a bold initiative, left his job at Telenor and chose to start a social enterprise with a few other people by the name of “The Tent School” even though the idea was to educate children under a tent, the tent went unneeded when the village elders of Zulqarnain’s first choice of visiting facilitated them with a good piece of land and some a small house.
Zulqarnain is currently using some bold and intuitive techniques to help teach the children, his methods have been proven to be effective since he was able to help one of his students to surpass the first grade curriculum in the span of two months. He uses tablets to help encourage students to answer questions in the classrooms, the biggest hindrance that stands before Zulqarnain is the lack of resources and funding that he has but this does not demotivate him or shake his resolve. Instead he chooses to hold his head high and carry on with his mission.
Zulqarnain’s story, his consistency, commitment, initiative and resolve are only some of the many reasons why he has been chosen to be a part of this list and we hope that you consider looking into this amazing entrepreneurs cause and see what kind of changes he has in store for our country and hopefully you can help be a part of that change!
14. Shahzeb Mirza & Salman Sikandar, Age 23 yrs
Meet the unlikely duo who would beat the Americans and the Europeans to the hologram race. The kind of stuff you have dreamed off ever since watching them as concepts in Star Wars and Star Trek as children are now things of reality! Wondering how it works? Take a look at the video and our initial coverage of it here. Currently Shahzeb Mirza and Salman Sikander are working very hard to make the final product available as soon as possible and you can follow their progress by visiting their official facebook page for the product, Magision Tech.
This is a story about two ambitious students in NUST who were looking to kill two birds with one stone. When Shahzeb and Salman were working on their final year project they set out with two goals in mind; To score a good grade and to make their product something that wouldn’t be put on a bulletin board but actually make a difference out in the world.
The duo tinkered with various sensors to achieve what they did with their hologram and they worked in collaboration with professors of NUST and with benefit of Salman’s prior experience to working with Holograms, both of them set out to create something that would later on amount to what we are looking at today. Initially, the product will be used for advertising purposes in the automotive industry and high end electronics market. The duo plan on making this product available for educational purposes in institutes and museums in the future too once they have received adequate funding.
They are both looking to change the consumer interaction experience to a whole new level and they are very ambitious about it. They are on this list in recognition of their hard work, innovation and motive to endure the upcoming rough of the market.
13. Daniyal Shahid, Age: 23 yrs
Daniyal Shahid saw the lack of awareness of events in major cities as an opportunity to help give people an idea about the upcoming events of Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, centralized them to one website, “kiascenehai.pk” an aptly named site. As the name implies, this is a site that will keep you up to date with all the latest happenings in your city. The site not only covers happenings or events but also tells about famous restaurants and eateries for you to indulge your taste buds in, no matter which of the three cities you are currently in.
The site is definitely one to be listed on if you are a business owner with an upcoming event and if you want to attract the right audience, the site also offers a ton of categories for you to explore if the items on the homepage aren’t your cup of tea.
Daniyal’s motive for the conception of this website was how many great events would fly under the radar of everyday people and he saw this as an opportunity for him and his team to grow on. Under the mentor-ship of Umair Bangesh, a gifted and talented adviser who would tell Daniyal and his team on how to turn their venture into a profitable idea, Daniyal and his team quickly embarked down the road of entrepreneurship with their heads held high due to the confidence bestowed upon them by their mentor.
Daniyal’s efforts to centralize all the happenings around the major cities of Pakistan to keep the public informed about the happenings is truly a commendable effort and how he manages the site and keeps it updated is truly amazing too.
12. Uzair Ikram, Age: 23 yrs
To those of us who have been criticized by their parents for doing nothing with our time in our vacations, Uzair stands by as an inspirational story of couch potato turned lucrative entrepreneur. A simple nag from his mother is what set off a chain of events to help push Uzair towards the right direction of productivity.
Uzair’s tale isn’t one of overcoming adversity, obstacles or anything in his way. his story is simple, he was enjoying the lazy life of vacations and slept in all day, his mother was watching the television and showed him a news report on a youth who made riches as a freelancer. Like any other parent, his mother gave him the lecture of how others around him are being productive while he is wasting time. It was from here that Uzair would march to his computer, register an account with elance and saw the opportunity of translation jobs being bountiful, he offered competitive rates, quality work and other services that his competitors weren’t offering and soon made a name for himself.
Uzair’s company is known as Universal Translation’s Studio , the studio has managed to secure a number of accolades for itself with one of them being recognized as the #1 Translation Company currently on Elance and they have specialized themselves in popular languages around the globe to cater any audience.
In only a few years Uzair has made a luxurious lifestyle for himself, expanded his operations to various regions in Asia and is enjoying his riches rightfully so. Uzair took negativity from his mother and turned it into a positive, he set out to prove that any one can be a freelancer and with enough hard work, commitment and strategy can turn it into a lifestyle to be proud of.
Uzair’s can-do attitude, his unusual story and how he turned his life around in a moment is why he deserves to be on the list, this is a lesson to all of us who use excuses to avoid working. if Uzair can do it, surely you are just as capable?
11. Qasim Zafar, Age: 23 yrs
Qasim and his team have burned the midnight oil to help make an alien concept into a norm. Carpooling to work or any other place is a common practice in the west but many people in the east are afraid to car pool due to various fears and ego problems. Qasim is looking to introduce Savaree to the Pakistani masses, an app that will allow you to find carpools near you so that your commute to your work place, education institute or any other place you travel to on a daily basis Is filled with people you can interact with and if you can’t find a carpool but have a car then why not make your own carpool and take the first step in socializing? This is by far the most intriguing social concept so far and the app is currently under very strict testing with only a handful of people having access to it.
Qasim Zafar is a man of many talents and interests, having deep rooted interests in engineering with emphasis on algorithmic, airplanes, rocket, small planes, having built on a flight simulator. His primary motivation for having Savaree as an idea was how to increase social interactions between people without the fear of safety through a very rigorous back-ground check on the people who apply for the car pool. So far the app is still in testing but Qasim reports that there are currently tens of rides on a daily basis with dozens of happy users which is what helps put a smile on his face.
A previous endeavor in the world of entrepreneurship which ended in failure did not deter him from his life goal of being an entrepreneur and which is why he chose to continue with Savaree. He learned from past mistakes and corrected them when he committed full time to Savaree.
Qasim’s determination, persistence to strive for the better, mission to enable meaningful social interactions between people in a country where mistrust is common among the populous and how he plans to making this the new social norm once Savaree leaves testing is truly something to applaud and why he is on this list.
10. Maaz Kamal, Age: 22 yrs
Maaz is yet another visionary who is looking to bring the future to Pakistan. Interactive television is a relatively small niche in the world at the moment and are practically non-existent in Pakistan, while most interactive television methods operate using Smart TV’s. Maaz is looking to use his start-up, interacta to change the way we watch television and make us a part of it.
Interacta is an application that can change the way we view our television, we can turn our smartphone or tablet into something that can act as a medium between the viewer and the program they are viewing. Viewers will be able to give feedback on advertisements and even participate in live channels such as cooking shows, Quiz shows or contest based shows.
Maaz faced the typical challenges that a student at his age would face. Firstly, he was held down by the social pressures put upon him by his peers and elders due to how alien the concept of Start-Up’s is currently in Pakistan, the second hurdle that Maaz faced was having to find the right people for the right job which is a daunting task for businessmen as is and for him to shoulder the responsibility for this alone without any help was a behemoth of a task for him.
The start up has managed to gauge our interests and with an entirely new concept that can only be matched on the level of Magision Tech, This start up is a brilliant example of the talent of today’s youth and how this can potentially shape the way we watch television and how we can encourage adults to be more active smartphone users when using the app to interact with our favorite television program,
Maaz’s aspiration to bring something unique to the Pakistani marketplace is what has earned him a spot on this list.
9. Taimour Tanveer, Age: 22 yrs
Taimour is a graduate from NUST who proudly holds a degree in electrical engineering and didn’t wait until long to make his first entry into the world of technology through a revolutionary app that would fail to lift off, but Taimour was not let down by the difficulty that stood before him and would further try to reach out to other business owners, sadly the young look that he carried was what hindered him to be taken seriously. His flagship application was an app by the name of “La Carte”, that would change the way we order food at restaurants by using tablets in place of menu’s. Sadly his app concept was turned down by professionals he approached only to further have his idea outsourced to Lumensoft, a leading software house in Pakistan.
Taimour also stresses that the potential of 3G / 4G speeds in smartphones is wasted when there is little to do with it outside of updating social media statuses, He is planning on bringing a change in the world of e-commerce by making customized commerce apps to connect retailers to consumers through smartphones. Much like the domino’s App currently in the Google PlayStore. Taimour is currently in talks with Stylo shoes as their flagship client to help kick this concept off on the right foot.
Despite having a degree in electrical engineering, Taimour sought to learn a new trade. The start of his software house was less than a bumpy ride when his partners would soon leave him at a time. He was soon almost alone at the helm of the software house but chose to see this as a challenge and went on to grow from there by teaching himself mobile development.
Taimour is a talented pioneer, intellectual problem solver and a skilled developer who is looking to change the way we use our 3G / 4G and working to bring us on par with the first world countries with respect to e-commerce, this is a commendable effort on his part and why he was selected to be on the list.
8. Sadaf Amin & Syed Maaz Imran, Age 22 yrs & 21 yrs
Pakistan has been done proud once again by having two of our most distinguished and deserving youth represent Pakistan on another international platform under the umbrella of the annual Telenor Youth Summit. The both of them brought some robust, unique and absolutely marvelous ideas to the table
Sadaf Amin, 22, is a student of Master of Science in Agricultural Engineering at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. Sadaf’s idea is named “Mobile Agriculture Farming System” which uses mobile technology to manage farms from anywhere including irrigation control, fertilizer injection and other growth conditions.
Syed Maaz Imran, 21, is a student of Bachelors of National University of Science and Technology, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. Maaz’ idea is a website named eTutionHub which he started with one other student to provide online education along with synchronous student teacher feedback. Together, they have given online tutoring classes to many O and A level students from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Turkey and Pakistan.
Despite the duo being from different cities they still managed to hold the synergy of an effective team and represent Pakistan and maintain our positive image on yet another international platform.
Last year we were done proud by Saad Hamid and Awais Imran at the Telenor Youth Summit. It is good to see that their successors were able to live up to the expectations set by them and we can hope that the coming generations have high enough aspirations to succeed the standard set by Sadaf and Maaz.
7. Usama Tauqeer & Umair Javaid, Age: 21 yrs & 22 yrs
Usama, Umair and their entire team at the Aloo Clan are a hive mind of talented, persistent and more importantly absolutely model examples of how team work should be. Another dynamic duo, these guys set fire to the midnight oil to get to where they are. The name Aloo Clan is no laughing matter here, Ladies and gents. Aloo Clan is an amazing design house that caters to a humongous audience in Pakistan. Their client list is pretty vast and diverse and their work is on the level of a foreign professional studio, the benefit that this studio has over its competitors is how they have the ability to understand the Pakistani mindset and use the right palette of colors for the appropriate theme and how to read their Pakistani consumer the way someone working in the US or EU would otherwise not be able to.
Their Facebook page is full of mesmerizing works of art from various brands, competitions and other categories. These guys give a “personal touch” a whole new meaning since their designs are some of the most unique works of art that we have laid our eyes on. These guys have worked with big wig clients and even the average Joe brand to help give them high quality works for a worthy price.
Some of their clients to name are IBSaA, LUMS, FM 91, NUST and many more.
The quality of their work, their achievements in only the short time span of a year and their determination to balance studies and a professional life is truly remarkable and has earned them a rightfully deserved spot in the spotlight.
6. Sanwal Muneer, Age: 21 yrs
Very few people on the list can be attributed towards having a role to play in the environment. Sanwal Muneer is a name you might soon remember when he will invent a revolutionary product that can change the field of energy with the ability to harness the power of renewable energy while on the road.
How will he pull such an ingenious idea you might ask? The wind energy from your car. Sanwal has been working on Capture Mobility for the better part of a year now and his idea is actually something that could help reduce our carbon footprint and finally solve the age long question of how to eradicate the issue of dangerous fumes on the road.
The concept is fairly simply yet a bit complex to understand, Sanwal’s idea is to capture the wind energy produced by speeding cars on the highway or other places of fast travel into air drums that will be affixed to lamp posts. These lamp posts will collect the wind energy or CO2 emissions from your car and these tubes will further convert that raw energy into renewable energy to be used to power whatever we see fit. One unit can produce 80 watts. if you place 1000 pieces along the highway you would be getting about 80K Watts enough to power up Far off villages, street lights and grid stations. The company aims to integrate a C02 harvester along the drums in the future which will purify the air.
Sanwal is currently pursuing to make his idea into a reality and we hope that his idea kicks off with its testing in Pakistan. Sanwal is truly a revolutionary and has an idea that can actually shape the world for the better and we can only hope can be an alternate solution to building Windmills in Pakistan. This creativity, ingenuity and perseverance to make this project into reality has earned Sanwal a place on the list!
5. Zaid Ali, Age: 19 yrs
We are all aware of the differences between the East vs the West style of child rearing, we have seen it portrayed in movies, TV shows, book and other forms of media. Zaid Ali T however is a brilliantly gifted individual who manages to add a good laugh to our day with his hilarious and well played videos to compare modern lifestyle of “White vs Brown” with contexts given to parents, their spouse and others. The best part? He is his own actor and stars in all of his works along with friends. If you are having a bad day at whatever, then the only cure for your downs is a visit to his facebook page and opening any video.
Zaid has recently taken the initiative to use his influence to create awareness about rape and how important women are in our society, his video isn’t a piece of work produced by a paid PR house and is in right one of the most brilliant videos and personal videos on the topic of Rape.
He is using his current repute to help entertain the masses with comedy that is rich, simple and to the point. It is clear from every video that he actively enjoying portraying the roles he is representing and is indeed very devoted to his works. He has been making his videos for many years and it wasn’t until the recent years that he gained attention for his works and is slowly becoming a prominent figure in the world of social media comedy, especially when he was featured in Facebook’s Year in Review video along side Malala.
4. Faryaab Sheikh, Age: 18 yrs
Meet the Editor-in-chief of SamMobile, a site that all Samsung smartphone fans follow religiously, albeit the idea originally rooted SamFirmware, a site which made official and test firmwares available for a massive amount of Samsung phones, SamMobile decided to take an initiative and show the world that SamFirmware is more than just another download site. From that genius, SamMobile was born. The extensive and comprehensive coverage that this site gives to Samsung smartphones is simply ingenious. Samsung smartphones make up a significant chunk of the Pakistani market and they managed to earn quite a few accolades for themselves as the years have gone by, both on a macro level and on a micro level.
While working with SamMobile, Faryaab has reached several milestones with the site which are significant accomplishments for someone in the world of online journalism; SamMobile serves 150,000 to 200,0000 unique visitors each day, More than 100,000 user registrations each month, Most SamMobile visitors come from Germany, followed by Italy and France and lastly, their largest amount of unique visitors in a month record: 5,000,000 (December 2013).
Faryaab is also the founder and lead developer for SuperNexus, a custom Android ROM which has built quite a name for it self with expert smartphone users who aren’t satisfied with the stock ROM of their phone and are looking to experiment with different ROM’s.
3. Asad Jamal Malik, Age: 18 yrs
A youngster with an incredible aptitude to pursue his dreams. At such a young age Asad has been to places and participated in events that we can only fathom of. He has organised and been to many distinguished events in cities like Amsterdam and Berlin to gain and exchange entrepreneurial knowledge. He was selected for a prestigious scholarship to study in the United World College of Maastricht in 2012. During his time he has given many talks and speeches, the highlight being a speech in front of the King of the Netherlands Willem Alexander.
Asad is at a very pivotal age and while most people his age are worried about studies or other priorities, Asad is currently spending his time in creating an app which could revolutionize the world of conversations. With the help of Noema, the app is a rather interesting concept which will take away the barrier of text as a medium of communication and allow people to communicate vocally on a global level to discuss a variety of topics.
People from around the world can also contribute to the topic, give their rebuttal or their input from their standpoint. The concept will allow users to post a 15 second audio clip on the cloud for others to listen, if they are following the particular category; then the followers can reply in their voice and carry out a conversation.
Noema is currently going through initial testing at the moment and is currently looking for a 100 testers to be a part of it.
Asad’s wise utilization of his abilities, his achievements at this age and having the opportunity to travel around because of his talents is what makes him one of the youngest and easily the most notable personalities in this list which TechJuice hopes will aspire youngsters.
2. Haris bin Ashraf, Age: 17 yrs
Unlike the boy who claimed to have built the world’s first water powered engine; Haris isn’t one to tell tall tales. Haris took it upon himself to solve a crucial ecological issue and achieved recognition for it on an international platform, namely Intel ISEF for two years in a row. What problem did he tackle? The problem of plastic bags and other alternative uses for plastic.
Haris has actually been using experimental techniques to be able to turn plastic garbage and waste into a form of crude oil that can potentially have the same applications as crude oil that is mined. This could be among the ranks of ecological innovation to help turn a common issue plaguing the environment into something positive. This idea gained him recognition as a finalist this year in Intel ISEF held this year in Los Angeles, California.
Haris is also working on a physics project, one that can be of help to patients of paralysis. Haris’s concept revolves around using ocular recognition for patients of paralysis using electro-oculo graphy (EOG). This can help change the way we deal with patients of this disease in the field of medicine. Truly remarkable stuff.
Haris is a visionary and indeed one of a kind. Today’s youth is often criticized as being lazy, stubborn, lacking motivation and initiative. He saw the issue of the pollution caused by plastics and chose to find a better use for plastic in a way that can help create solutions for another crisis.
Haris’s diligence, ingenuity and out of the box thinking is what got him to this list and TechJuice wishes him the best of luck in making his robot a reality someday.
1. Malala Yousafzai, Age: 17 yrs
Malala, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has been a pioneer for education of women in Pakistan and still travels to ascertain her voice is heard for this purpose across the world. The Malala Fund, which lives up to its name sake is the source of hope for educating hundreds if not thousands of females in the rural areas of Pakistan. She acts as the adviser for this fund and oversees the money goes to the appropriate place in a timely manner.
She has taken a firm stance against the current oppression of women who are being held back from a proper education; more importantly she has become an icon of inspiration, hope and change for the betterment of women in Pakistan.
Malala continues to strive for a better future for Pakistan and we hope that she stays committed with her mission to where we can hope that the illiteracy issue plaguing the North of Pakistan is soon eradicated because of her endeavors.
Malala has been carrying out her mission since 2012; with her recent accomplishment of being the youngest to be rewarded the Nobel Peace Prize TechJuice stands by her and gives her a spot on this list in recognition of her commitment, resilience and having the resolve of a true heroine.
