Enterpreneurship - An Art or Just a Skill!

Entrepreneurship

Being an Entrepreneur is not just a skill or talent but an art and also an intention to do something of your own. It’s not just some funding or good contacts that could create Entrepreneurs instead it’s a spirit that could be built into students during their academics. Take an example from MIT, we have seen and read that mostly MIT grads come out and go for their own startups instead of working for any firm.  Does this mean that only the students with entrepreneurship interests get admissions in MIT? Answer is no, it’s more related to what has been taught to them and how they are groomed for their professional career.

We can’t say that individuals with Entrepreneurship skills are just some extra ordinary people, of course they are human and created like we are do but at the same time they are sharp and intelligent enough who keep a close eye on global IT Business, what is currently happening, the kind of software product that should be rolled out into the software market to run the show for at least next 5 to 10 years.

Entrepreneurs not just think of a business but a complete business model of how they would start, how and what kind of resources would be required, till what time or duration they need to fly light to establish at least a stable setup.

Today, if we look around us, we can see hundreds of new names opened and even doing well with their business. Each day while at our work places we get to know an emergence of one or more new firm, a big question that really comes to our mind is, how these people are getting the business, finding and managing the required resources, continuously hiring and foremost still growing.

The point to note is most of the Enterpreneurs play safe and they are good enough to get and create the exact required resources around them. Since day one, they work and struggle for something of their own with a clear vision of what they intend to start. They either develop an organic fund by doing some offshore consultancies or other part time jobs or take some fast cash loans from any financial institutions if they are sure enough that they could return that in a timely manner.

Venture Capitalist:

Since last three to four years another concept that has really became quite common is of venture capitalism where some already established individuals or companies invest the required cost for any startup and become one of the stake holders. This model has allowed many new names to introduce themselves within the market with a proper setup.

After developing or creating some initial modules, usually, entrepreneurs look for venture capitalists to get some extra funding from them so that they could proceed with the remaining planned scoped out features and at the same time expanding the operations. Some individuals have just gone into Ventures to expand the geography of the firm to foreign regions to have presence other than Pakistan as well.

There companies and some big fishes within the market who are themselves a kind of pool of seven to eight different firms of the same domain or product line. Some of the examples are Tyler Technologies, that gets and outsource the business from Microsoft, SAP, Oracle and some other big names to some local vendors here in Pakistan. Dena Japan who last year acquired Game View Studios as Dena itself is a pool of companies who only developers Mobil Games and social networking Apps.

There are individual people who run their own firms and at the same time invest their profits to some other firm to create a second or third label for them. One of the examples of this particular Model is Secret builders, a silicon valley based firm that has some specific stake in one of local firms here in Karachi and also outsource their projects to them.

Success Stories:

There are many success stories if we see around us, one of them is MIXIT that started with only five individuals, took a very nervous start, main stake holders never wanted this to be started in Pakistan and wanted to give the opportunity to India but it was one Man, Mr. Yusuf Jan, who brought the Business intention here, seated the resources at his own home. Initially he paid salaries of the resources from his own pocket by teaching at different academic institutions and doing different consultancies. At one time, the setup seemed to be abandoned as they were struggling to get any clients but suddenly they got a US based client which actually triggered them. Now they have been acquired by a UK based firm known as PATS.

Game View studios just started back in 2010 with setup only in Lahore, today within a time of only 2 years, they are looking for a head count of around 1000 with offices in Lahore and Karachi and recruiting the resources with one of the most lucrative offers in town. It was just last year when a strategic acquisition turned the table for them and they became of the Giants in Karachi now.

Usman Rafique Zuberi.
Roll No: 11k-3003