KARACHI: LadiesFund intensifies its deep dive into Buraq building to give Pakistani women start-ups the insight into becoming unicorns. Watch her fly is the Buraq Center by LadiesFund’s motto and certainly the charitable organization is taking this vision seriously.
Their ‘How to build a Buraq’ trainings continue with Sameer Chishty, partner, SparkLabs, a network of tech startup accelerators and tech venture capital funds in Greater China, Korea, Australia, USA, and Oman. SparkLabs has invested in 280+ tech companies, says a Press release.
“The most successful entrepreneurs have extreme passion,” stated Chishty. “How to get funding? Investors look for growth and performance. Show me your path and what you will do with the extra money.
What is the use of these additional funds? Show me where you are today. Where you need to be. Show me how you are going to get there. And then you say, here is what I need in capital.”
He has a no-nonsense way of getting to the bottom line and a very practical approach to explaining the topic.
“Very few women start-ups know that they can get funded, let alone how,” said Tara Uzra Dawood, President, Dawood Global Foundation LadiesFund, “Sameer is a guru on start-up funding and is the perfect person to bring this insight to our members.”
Chishty guided all through what he calls the 4 Ts of Investment Criteria – TAM (target market), Team, Technology and Transfer. “Find the problems that are hard and that you can fix through technology.
Trust me the same industry has the same problem in other countries that someone is trying to solve,” said Chishty.
The 90 minute exclusive session included an intense 60 minute PowerPoint followed by 30 minutes of invigorating Q&A, with Chishty patiently answering detailed questions regarding when, how and where to get funding from, and particularly which first steps to take.
There was great demand for this information with almost 100 unique attendees participated over the course of the call, with an average of 75 participants actively engaged for 1 hour or more.
“For the first time we faced lockdown in Karachi, family life was disturbed; children schooling came to a standstill and I felt the weight of uncertainty for the future. Lockdown started to ease in phases, but of course, it is far from business as usual,” shared Syeda Raafia Mamujee, LadiesFund member and Founder of SRM Couture. “Ladiesfund initiated the first LF Virtual Zoom Meetings on the 8th of April 2020 – a valued initiative which gave all the members to interact and something to look forward to each week.
I remember the date so well, as it was my first opportunity since lockdown to dress up, and suddenly, I found myself no longer depressed, but feeling energetic, positive, relaxed & geared up for the future, and then started to launch virtual initiatives and earning opportunities of my own. #LFVirtual is a motivation initiative, a revival of thinking creating new initiative modules how to help & support women entrepreneurs (especially us home grown businesses).”