LocationsUNDP Tech Tales:
Women, Technology & Business
By Waleed Yawer | Program Officer, CODE PAKISTAN
Technology has helped women entrepreneurs to successfully build their businesses in overcrowded market spaces.
Code Pakistan has partnered with UNDP Pakistan to disseminate key findings from the National Human Development Report (NHDR), ‘Doing Digital for Develop-ment’, released last year in 2024. As part of the NHDR dissemination sessions, a plenary event called, ‘Tech Tales’, has grown from an agenda item to a celebration of Pakistani women in technology and business. This event promises greater digital and financial inclusion for Pakistani women. The women who have joined Tech Tales are using digital tools and platforms to create and grow their businesses.
They have kept their business model and proposition simple. Below are key components from their business plans:
Developing and improving skills is key.
Understanding the gap in the relevant industry or market.
Conducting an aggregated market analysis to assess demand for the product or service. The women entrepreneurs took different approaches at this stage.
Women Tech Entrepreneurs’ Stories
Maria Riaz is a digital illustrator and founder of WHY Books from Muzaffarabad. She developed her skills and business to improve her services and products. She built demand for local children’s role models such as Mr. Abdul Sattar Edhi and disseminated her products through digital illustrations.
Sana Razzaq, founder of KN Himalayan Pink Salt, has carved out her niche within the growing market for pink salts. She has introduced bath salts for cosmetic routines that has driven demand for her products.
Zareen Taj, founder of Shaheen Zaman Wedding and Jewellery Designer, and Sheher Bano founder of SH Jewellery and Cosmetics, came into a saturated market in the business and consumer hubs of Karachi and Lahore, respectively. They created value propositions that eventually helped them excel.
Mahrose Zufran, a 16-year-old student from Karachi, created a Sindhi language calculator using AI for the local Sindhi speaking business owners in her area.
Tuba Majeed is a founder of Tuba’s Photography from Azad Jammu & Kashmir, she offers her services nation-wide. Tuba aims to become the first female photographer from AJK.
Despite varying approaches to business growth, all the entrepreneurs relied on technology and digital platforms at different stages. The businesses entered competitive markets, but technology assisted them in understanding target audiences, aligning demand and marketing their products and services.
Scalability
The goal of each entrepreneur is business expansion. Maria Riaz and Sana Razzaq have reached international markets, this achievement was possible only through understanding the global supply chains and especially by creating a seller-buyer network through digital platforms. Maria found that Amazon had helped her expand her product to international markets and reducing at source printing costs. Kashish Sami, founder of Khyber Special Pakwan and Aneeta Khan, owner of a salon in Peshawar, run resource heavy businesses and plan to expand their services nationally.
To meet their expansion targets, their best bet as entrepreneurs is AI. For each of these businesses, retaining their consumer base nationally and globally is key. The use of AI can help in identifying consumer patterns, understanding consumer behavior and customizing business approaches aimed at expansion for each business. All the Tech Tales women entrepreneurs have done a remarkable job creating and sustaining business services with odds stacked against them. The use of AI will only help their businesses grow and flourish.
