Today’s roundtable gave us a unique opportunity to peek into Pakistan’s entrepreneurial eco-system. Due to the efforts of Sennen Desouza with the Institute for Business Administration (IBA), we got to interact with entrepreneurs from Pakistan, and some of them will be pitching at the next roundtable session as well. If you are fed up with negative news of military coups, terrorism blunders, and such from that part of the world, you may find solace in hearing the entrepreneurs’ points of views.
Daffy Labs
First, Arunachalam Veerappan from Chennai, India, pitched Daffy Labs, makers of a $49 bulb that has a 15-year lifespan and significant energy saving capability. Arun has started seeing traction within Chennai from architects and engineers designing high-end, energy-efficient homes.
Silk Huts
Then Rasool Bakhsh Channa from Sukkur, Pakistan, pitched Silk Huts, an agri-business designed to generate employment for rural women in the villages of Pakistan. Rasool Bakhsh made an excellent presentation that outlined how he plans to buy silk worms and have farmers grow the cocoons in various villages, share revenues with them, and sell the packets of cocoons to thread makers and cloth makers in Pakistan.
Rasool Bakhsh demonstrated an excellent understanding of the silk business in Pakistan, and I hope his idea pans out. One thing I am sure about: he will be a successful entrepreneur, whether it is with this idea or another, I do not know. But he has all the characteristics of fire, attitude and persistence that signal a promising journey.
Play Deal
Next Ali Sedighian from Ontario, Canada, pitched Play Deal, a daily deal concept that proposes to bring groups of buyers and local merchants together, such that the buyers can make group buying proposals for merchants to reject or accept. Interesting concept. Could possibly work at college towns, with students. Worth launching and testing.
You can listen to the recording of today’s roundtable here.
As always, I would very much like to hear about your business, so let me invite you to come and pitch at one of our free 1M/1M public roundtables. We will be holding future roundtables at 8 a.m. PDT on:
Thursday, September 5, Register Here.
Thursday, September 12, Register Here.
Thursday, September 19, Register Here.
Thursday, September 26, Register Here.
If you want a deeper relationship with me, you are very welcome to join the 1M/1M premium program. If you have any questions about the program, please, first study the website, especially What to expect from the 1M/1M premium program and the FAQs. If you have additional questions, please email me, and I would be very happy to respond. Please note that I work exclusively with 1M/1M entrepreneurs.
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Sramana Mitra is the founder of the One Million by One Million (1M/1M) initiative, a virtual incubation program that aims to help one million entrepreneurs globally to reach $1 million in revenue and beyond. She is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and strategy consultant, she writes the blog Sramana Mitra On Strategy, and is author of the Entrepreneur Journeys book series and Vision India 2020. From 2008 to 2010, Mitra was a columnist for Forbes. As an entrepreneur CEO, she ran three companies: DAIS, Intarka, and Uuma. Sramana has a master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.