How many of you have heard about women
entrepreneurs’ support group? No, I am not talking about the usual
closed-group-only-for-women on Facebook, but the actual platform where
individual home-based start-ups have meet and greet with not only each other
but with a panel of specialists where their day to day queries are answered.
Let me tell you about one. As
ethereal as it sounds, it was nonetheless an invigorating experience to see
different businesses under one roof trying to detangle the chords, from finances
to marketing strategies to collection of payments, you name the query and it
was answered briskly with a swift solution. Unique and independent forum is run by Zenub Babur Butt. It caters to different meet-ups for the
entrepreneurs from all walks of life, and provides platform for the newbies for
showcasing their work and to get their questions, about business management,
answered. On April 21, 2017 I attended one such rendezvous held at AwaamGah on Khayaban-e-Ittehad, Karachi.
I was exhilarated by the whole idea of this support group. Zenub gathered the
mentors including Rija Bakhtiar (the make-up artist from Reviews), Faiza Yousuf
(I.T. skills trainer for USAID, teaches at FAST-NU and IU), NoorJehan Arif
(from delta writers) and Muhammad Shoaib Ullah (financial advisor for the
Central Bank of Turkey and payment system advisor for Central Bank of Iran).
The worthy panelists and managing partners of the event (i.e. Zenub and Aneesa
Unus) tailored the event in a stepwise fashion where we hit off by starting
with the basics of business. Rija enlightened the audience about importance of
color integration, looks and hair (the dos and donts). The conversation moved
from generalizing the fashion to the importance of I.T. in visibility of your
venture. Faiza Yousuf’s fair and fruitful advice on social media presence,
selling from personal profile (good idea vs. bad idea), the specification
details to photography of the product were pleasant yet practical. I kept
wondering like the other worthy members, that these minute details could make
or break a potential customer. What if you ordered a vase and on delivery it
turned out to be flower pot not more than 30cm in height! (Happens a lot… right!)
Moving on, to NoorJehan’s well
explained fluent thoughts on the entirety and exclusiveness of your product
included not to frequently post about something you really want to sell. It’ll ruin
the uniqueness of the product. Asking for reviews, thank-you notes, birthday
messages will add value to your venture. Shoaib talked about the financial
breakout and risk estimation, which is often not envisaged by the newbies. He
emphasized on maintaining the financial breakout for just 3 months and short
term review of profit and keeping the cash flow integrated. The archaic payment
methods sometimes lead to trouble in money transfer, especially from abroad.
The new methods of faster and safer money transfer were told to the audience
and how to go about them. The conversation molded in to a more interactive
discussion as questions were posed by the attendees and the queries were
simultaneously answered by the panelists and their own varied experiences exchanged.
The session was followed by tea,
networking session and the certificate distribution among the premium members
and giveaways were given to the mentors. Giveaways sponsors included Aneesa
Unus and inhouse creations. The
creative partners included Dhinchaks Printers Packaging for the props. The
photographer for the event: Saran photography.
Zenub’s work is to apprise the premium members of
the group, of their rights as an entrepreneur, how to deal with day to day
stress, and how to gel in your persona with your work on every cellular level.
It’s all about giving back to the newly blossoming community of home-based
businesses. This is something you struggle to find within you or your
surroundings. Platforms like these are not only working as support groups but
could also lead to potential joint ventures among the peers which are part of
such forums.
Some of the home-based businesses (you can find their online pages on facebook) I came across in this particular event were:
S & S (Shazia and Saima)
The Trendy Trienkets (Rekha Khatri)
Abrish (Afsheen)
V2 (previously known as Hues) (Uzma)
A n Z collection (Aatika Noman)
Home Solutions featuring customized bags, organizers etc. (Tasnim Murtaza)
Heaven's Drapes (Nargis)
Durr e shehwar (Hand painted, block print fabrics, scarfs, shirts, dupattas)
Hawwa Helping Hand (Shamsa Jabeen J Ahmed)
Ambreen (Indelath)
Shabana Asif (Event organizer, Boutique)
MENTORS
GROUP PHOTO
Discussion with penalists and organizers of the event
No comments:
Post a Comment