The Forbes’ 2017 ‘30 Under 30 Asia’ has featured two Pakistani startup founders in its recent listing for the year 2017. In 2017’s list, both have been featured in the Retail & E-commerce and Enterprise technology categories in lieu of their exceptional achievements.
Forbes 30 under 30 is a list issued by the illustrious magazine which honours the brightest young minds and spotlights best young entrepreneurs, innovators and game changers across 10 different fields.
Bilal Athar, 27, CEO Wifigen
CEO of Wifigen Bilal Athar, 27, a cloud-based WiFi hotspot system which permits companies to create a custom login interface for visitors. Wifiigen also provides corporate clients with a cloud-based dashboard where they can see demographical data of people visiting them and further interact with them through email.
Totally self-taught, Athar established Wifigen in 2014 and among the company’s clientele includes Singapore’s Changi Airport, the island of Tahiti, and Unilever. Now he is looking forward to integrating artificial intelligence into Wifigen’s algorithms.
Waqas Ali, 29, co-founder Markhor
The co-founder of Markhor, Waqas Ali, 29 which is a luxury men’s shoe brand and promotes the country’s indigenous shoe craft, has been named in the Retail & Ecommerce category of Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list.
Markhor came to limelight and gained fame for its handcrafted footwear. It gained the laurel of becoming the first Pakistani startup to be granted entrance into the prestigious Y Combinator. The Markhor brand retails online, cutting out the middle-man system and aiding small-time artisans to earn a profit.
Last month, Markhor launched another Kickstarter campaign initiating its new product line promoting leather sleeves and pads for MacBook users. They have been successful in raising $12,833 against their goal of $5,000.
Besides the aforementioned people, Pakistani filmmaker Shahnawaz Zali has also been listed in Forbes ’30 Under 30 Asia: Entertainment and Sports’ list. Zali, who belongs to Lahore, is a graduate of Northwestern University Qatar Campus and has won international accolades for his films. His documentary ‘100 Steps-Sau Qadam’ was nominated for the Best film in the Narrative category for the 43rd Student Academy Awards.
