A collage of four Pakistani origin entrepreneurs Photos: Courtesy Forbes magazine
Forbes magazine has listed four Pakistani origin young entrepreneurs in its ’30 Under 30′ picks for the 2018 edition, recognizing individuals advancing work in fields of arts, science and technology.
“This list continues to spotlight the impressive, the inspiring and the (genuinely) enviable,” its editors, Caroline Howard and Natalie Sportelli, wrote.
The Pakistani origin young entrepreneurs include Khizer Hayat, Sarah Ahmed, S Zayd Enam and Raza Munir.
Here is how Forbes profiled their achievements:
Khizer Hayat, 28, is the cofounder of ThroughPut, a data science automation company which estimates waste in supply chain and logistics operations and offers recommendations to eliminate bottlenecks and areas of concern. Hayat is also the President of the Teach Pakistan Initiative, an NGO working to improve the education system of rural Pakistan.
Sarah Ahmed, 28, was recognized for her work in the retail and e-commerce industry. The New York-based entrepreneur founded Warp + Weft, “a premium denim brand that weaves its own fabric to guarantee the best value and fit.”
S. Zayd Enam, 25, decided to drop out of his PhD program at Stanford when he founded Cresta.ai, a bootstrap startup that builds AI to help scale and improve the quality of customer services. Enam dropped out of high school to work on his first startup MediConnect, a healthcare provider platform in Pakistan.
Raza Munir, 29, is Cofounder, Climb Credit which takes an innovative approach to combating student debt: ROI lending. Raza Munir, along with cofounders Zander Rafael, Amit Sinha and Vishal Garg, partner with schools and programs that justify the cost of tuition and offer legit career paths — mostly in skills-based fields such as robotics and nursing. To date they have provided fast and affordable loans to over 5,000 students attending 60 schools and hundreds of programs. In October the startup entered into agreements with investors to purchase $130 million of student loans originated by Climb Credit.
Releasing its choice of the top talent making a difference in the lives of people, the business magazine says the Forbes class of 2018 30 Under 30 list includes 30 honorees for each of the 20 featured categories.
“Over the past seven years, Forbes has grown a 30 Under 30 alumni network of over 4,000 people worldwide. The names within this network exemplify Forbes’ impressive track record of spotlighting young game changers and industry leaders who were on the cusp of achieving still greater fame and fortune,” the magazine said.
The categories the magazine included in its evaluation include Art & Style, Consumer Tech, Education, Energy, Enterprise Tech, Finance, Food & Drink, Games, Healthcare, Hollywood & Entertainment, Law & Policy, Manufacturing & Industry, Marketing & Advertising, Media, Music, Retail & E-commerce, Science, Social Entrepreneurs, Sports and Venture Capital.
Interestingly for young startups and entrepreneurial young people, among honorees in the latest edition 50%+ are founders or cofounders, 53% started their business to solve a problem, 29% want their business to change the world, 73% live or work on the two coasts: 35% on the West Coast, 38% on the East Coast. An impressive 19% of them are immigrants from 50 countries.
