Survive or Thrive – how eCommerce reacted to C19 lockdown
After the pandemic-induced lockdown, online marketplaces and e-tailers braced themselves in a spike in demand following the temporary removal of international modern trade (IMT) and local modern trade (LMT) from the equation. They had to make a decision: adapt or die?
Why do we keep having petrol shortages?
The government is not responsible for the price fluctuations, but it is responsible for exacerbating the problem through its hamfisted attempts at controlling the nation’s energy supply chain
Locusts threaten our food supply, and also the fertiliser sector
So far, the mantra for the year 2020 has been: everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Pakistan’s two biggest neighbours...
The numbers are in, and large scale manufacturing nosedived 42% in April 2020
In news that surprised absolutely no one, large scale manufacturing declined in April 2020, according to the latest data released by the...
Cement sector expected to rebound by 2021, thanks to tax cut and government incentives
At first glance, the cement sector looks like it is struggling. The numbers came in for May, and they were not kind.
Pakistan’s...
Textile exports down 37% in May, unlikely to pick up any time soon
If you run an export-oriented company, you have to prepare for shocks. Perhaps you have to be on the lookout for other...
As private hospitals rake it in, should the government use its pandemic powers, or simply let the free-market be?
Covid-19 patients and their families complain of extraordinarily high bills and lack of transparency on pricing
The retail supply chain is begging for a disruptor. Can these tech startups be just that?
New entrants Bazaar, Tajir, and Jugnu all seek to empower the retailer to make more efficient choices, but will they be able to create a scalable service?
What the SECP’s new NBFC regulations mean for the industry
The regulator is seeking to add more teeth to the enforcement mechanism both for companies that offer consumers investment and insurance options as well as consumer access to credit.
Covid finally got Pakistanis to spend on fashion online… but businesses were caught off-guard
After the pandemic-induced lockdown, apparel businesses that depended on brick and mortar locations as a footfall and revenue source had to make a decision: adapt or die? Most chose to shift online, with serious teething problems in the transition.
What the 2020 Companies (Amendment) Ordinance means for startups
It takes into account many of the changes that entrepreneurs & VCs had been clamouring for, but there is still a long way to go
2020 was supposed to be the beginning of the recovery. Then Covid
Pakistan’s economy is going to contract this fiscal year, with GDP (gross domestic product) growth expected to stand at -0.38%, a significant...
Collapse in demand hits chemical manufacturing sector
Is there no sector of the economy that the Covid-19 pandemic has not affected? Look no further: the chemicals sector, which has...
The pandemic will hit bank earnings, but they have the capital buffers to walk it off
For all their pomp, and obsession with optics, banks in Pakistan do not actually do that well. And Murad Ansari, analyst at...
The promising life and tragic death of Inov8
Founders of Pakistan’s most valuable fintech, Bashir and Hasnain Sheikh squandered potential that they had for years, all the while trying to ‘fake it till you make it’. This is their story: a business tragedy in five parts, and the hamartia is hubris