PEOPLE BLOGS

College dropout Waqas Ali cofounded Markhor, a luxury men's shoe brand to promote Pakistan's indigenous shoe craft. The brand retails online, cutting out the middle-man and helping small-time artisans make a profit. Initially funded through a Kickstarter campaign, Markhor has worked with over 100 craftsmen and craftswomen in the country. Markhor is the first Pakistani startup to be accepted into -- and backed by -- Y Combinator. In 2012, the duo launched Markhor — an online shoe brand that connects indigenous shoe-making craftsmen to global customers — but their journey was not a walk in the park. “The idea started with our small digital media company that provided assistance to people who were not familiar with technology. We would train them on how to use the internet for communication and business proposals,” recalls Ali. It was during this time that they first met Hussain who was striving to keep the craft of shoe-making alive and was convinced the internet was

A   graduate of GIKI, Faizan Buzdar is the CEO and founder of Convo, a provider of cloud-based digital collaboration workspaces for companies, and their teams, where the visual conversations around multiple files, content, and images are critical to advancing business. Convo eliminates the need to jump in and out of emails and applications and accelerates how teams share information, collaborate on work and make decisions. Faizan is a hands-on executive, entrepreneur and product leader who possesses a unique combination of skills in technology, engineering, and interactive design. What has driven Faizan in his years of product development is the application of a human-driven approach to product design: great products are designed for people, by people. Faizan is known for leading cross-functional teams across multiple locations around the globe. This experience has shaped how he developed Convo: to fully support a fast-moving, agile, globally-dispersed business beyon

Dr . Umar Saif was named one of the top 35 innovators of the world who is radically transforming technology by the Massachusetts Institute of Technolo gy in August 2011. Along with being known for his work on using Informa tion and Communications Technology solutions for developing world problems, he is also a part of the faculty at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, the founding vice-chancellor of the Information Technology University Punjab and established one of the first start-up incubators in Pakistan. Umar Saif is leading a digital insurgency in Pakistan, bringing transparency to governance, through his shock and awe approach to public-sector reform. The impact of his intervention is rooted in its outrageous simplicity, for example, ghost schools are a problem that has plagued Pakistan for a long time. Why not take selfies with attendance registers at schools via independent inspectors and upload them in real time to monitor the presence and effectiveness o

From the footpaths of Karachi’s Lyari to the Bronze Medal Stand of Seoul Summer Olympics 1988, Syed Hussain Shah has had a tiring yet fulfilling journey burdened with challenges and difficulties. However, all the childhood hitches and early troubles failed to pull him back from his dreams and led him to what no other Pakistan could have achieved.  He’s not just a boxer in the rink but a fighter against troubles of life. He started off as a homeless laborer in Karachi and sits proudly as a professional boxing trainer in Tokyo, with Pakistan’s highest civil award Sitara I Imtiaz pinned to his shoulder and countless medals to his credit for his impeccable realm for a decade on the international boxing front. Born on August 14, 1964, he is a story in himself; an inspiration that reminds us of the glory this country possesses. He was poor, he had little clothes, and sometimes no food at all. He would sleep on the streets and at times do a job here and labor there to earn himself a day