Seven Pakistanis that made it to Forbes’ 30 under 30; Details inside

ISLAMABAD: The Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Asia list celebrates 300 young entrepreneurs and innovators under the age of 30 who have transformed their respective industries across the Asia-Pacific region.

As per the details, seven Pakistanis have been included in the Forbes Under-30 Asia 2024 list, including cinematographer and creative director Bushra Sultan, who has been placed in the arts category.

Bushra, who hails from Lahore, has been recognized for challenging the country’s “restrictions on women.” She has collaborated with leading brands, including the Pakistan Cricket Board and Xiaomi Pakistan.

Forbes has highlighted his campaign for Demesne Couture called “Guria” (doll), in which Bushra Sultan has shown how brides are controlled ‘like puppets’ and have wires attached to their hands. The magazine also praised her “Chimera” campaign, which includes “headless women.”.

In addition, lenders Aleena Nadeem and Sarkhail Bawany have made it to Forbes’ finance and venture capital category.

Nadeem runs the education startup EduFi in Lahore, which helps students pay university fees on a monthly basis instead of spending money together at the beginning of the semester.

Nadeem, an MIT graduate, interned at McKinsey during college and then worked for Goldman Sachs and Ventura Capital in London.

“After a successful pilot launch in 2021, Edufi started disbursing loans earlier this year.

As the investors were convinced, EduFi’s $6.1 million pre-seed round in November, led by Zayn VC, was the largest such round in Pakistani startup history,” said Forbes.

Sarkhail Bawany, on the other hand, heads fintech company Abhi (now). The company gives workers the option to withdraw a percentage of their salary before the end of the month in case of an emergency.

Abhi partners with companies to offer their services to their employees. It has spread its branches in the Middle East and Bangladesh. “The company has also issued Islamic bonds worth $6.8 million in May 2023, followed by a Series A of $17 million in 2022. Bavani is also the CEO of the startup’s payment services subsidiary, Abhipay.”

Kasra Zunnaiyyer has been inducted in the Enterprise Technology category, while Adeel Abid, Aizaz Nair, and Ali Raza, co-founders of Karachi-based Linkstar, have been inducted in the Consumer Technology category.

Zunnaiyyer, co-founder of Karachi-based Trukkr, has found a solution for managing logistics in his country. Trukkr allows its users to “get financing, track their fleet, and connect with customers.”

As per Forbes, the company has attracted the attention of foreign investors for being the first digital service targeting small and medium-sized trucking corporations.

“It raised $6.4 million in seed funding in 2023, led by Washington-based Action Venture Lab and London-based Sturgeon Capital,” the magazine reported.

Read More: PM Sharif asks Pakistan embassy to help Pakistani students in Kyrgyzstan

Abid, Nair, and Raza are co-founders of Linkstar, which provides opportunities for freelancers, while the platform also offers online courses for freelancers to learn. The website allows you to create a portfolio for free.

“By the end of 2022, Linkstar raised an undisclosed pre-seed round from US-based SOSV. In 2023, the founders announced that they had acquired Oliv, a Dubai-based career marketplace. Oliv companies offer internships, part-time jobs, and help recruit students and graduates for work and post-graduation jobs.”