From textile seth to freelancer: the evolution of Bilal Fibres

Four days ago Bilal Fibres Ltd (PSX: BILF) – once a modest spinning mill on the dusty Sheikhupura Road – told the Pakistan Stock Exchange it had approved a Rs10 million business plan to create an in-house IT division. The nine-page filing sketches a start-up more reminiscent of a co-working loft than a ginning shed: five laptops, two software engineers, a marketing specialist, and a go-to-market playbook that explicitly name-checks Upwork, Fiverr and other online labour platforms for client acquisition.

Management says the cash will cover basic kit, registrations and one year of salaries; breakeven is pencilled in for “12–18 months” on the back of website builds (Rs100–250 k each), mobile-app minimum viable products (Rs300 k–1 m) and monthly IT-support retainers. Board minutes show annual revenue potential of Rs12–70 million if the team lands even a handful of contracts each quarter.

The announcement follows an earlier progress report stating that spinning operations remain suspended and that the mill’s revival would hinge on “Technology/ICT… in view of limited financial resources”. External coverage quickly framed the shift as “a textile manufacturer entering IT” and highlighted the board’s hope of tapping SME demand at home and in the Gulf.

If the plan sounds quixotic, investors do not seem fazed: BILF shares are still up more than eight-fold year-to-date, trading at Rs21.3 compared with Rs2.3 last October, despite the company recording zero yarn sales for two straight years.