How to start a small business in Pakistan ?!

Considering the increasing unemployment ratio, high inflation and political instability, I guess it’s better to start some kind of small business that gives you some form of stability and some real support in the long run.

I have written extensively on how to start a small business, this website is choke full of ideas, practical approaches on how to manage day to day affairs of your business, marketing…

Bhai daro maat, small business koi itna bara tension wala kaam nai, I promise!

Starting Business From Scratch in Pakistan

What I am going to show you guys today, is how to start a business from scratch, yes! “Scratch”!

Pakistanis are used to spoon feeding (:s dil pay mat lay yar!) so I am going to spoon feed you guys on practically explaining each and every aspect of a small business, that will help you in effectively and efficiently managing day to day affairs of your small business.

Hann g, finance ki tension na lain, HR or marketing to halwa he, halwa ;p

Agr app MBA/BBA na be hain to koi tension na lain or waisy bhe MBA/BBA walay to rattay/theory k eliwa kuch janty nai aor jo kaam k banday hoty hain wo kisi company mei “job” krty hain business nai.. ;p

So if you want to be an Entrepreneur, Business Tycoon (hopefully.. ;p), independent, want to make some really good money in the long run, then this article is for you!

"Starting Small Business" Article You Must Read!

I have written an article on this website for global would be Entrepreneurs, where I have covered all worries like how to manage financial side of your business, how to manage HR side of your business, how to manage Marketing side of your business, in a nutshell everything, a2z about a small business.

You guys should read that article but before reading that article I want to add a little extra to it over here.

The article I am talking about is “Starting Small Business: I want to Start a Business but I have Fear of unknown!” this article covers everything related to a small business, from starting a small business to effectively and efficiently managing its daily affairs. 

What I am going to do here is to elaborate that article a little bit, so you guys should read this article before jumping to that one, its really important!!.

What this (the above) article covers?

• How to start a small business efficiently and effectively
• How to effectively manage financial side of your small business
• How to effectively manage Human Resource side of your small business
• How to effectively manage Marketing side of your small business

Bhai ek baat yaad rakhain, karobar wo hota he jis ki market demand ho, wo “nahi” hota jis ki market demand na ho, mery kehnay ka matlab he, don’t look for or wait for “absolutely new, cool, out of the box ideas” to start a small business.

That is absolutely stupid, ridiculous way of thinking, trust me, there is much likely hood that you gonna fail miserably in trying “absolutely new, cool, out of the box ideas” because that never works, heck even in U.S. they say go for something that is not new because “Research suggests” something as follow.

Nearly 50 percent of new products introduced in the market are complete failures and more than 70 percent do not reach their sales goals.[1]

Kuch pally para ? that’s why I am saying, start a business that is already doing great in the Pakistani market instead of wasting your time and resources by starting something completely new and failing in it in the end! ;s

One Exception though!

Yes there is one exception to this rule of avoiding starting something completely new, working on something completely different, out of the box type of thing, that is online business, because online market isn’t saturated with online businesses right now in Pakistan, Entrepreneurs are making entries and making some good cash along the way.


Online Business sector in Pakistan is in its introduction/growth stage right now.

So if you want to go for small business that is in marketspace (online) then look for any business that hasn’t made in Pakistan as of yet, by looking I mean looking what kind of online small businesses are doing great in developed world, in first world countries.

Once you locate few businesses that are doing great in first world countries, second thing is to check if anybody is offering the same kind of stuff in Pakistan, if no, then you have to do your imagination by using the same business model in “desi” settings.

That’s what pakwheels.com, rozee.pk etc have done!

Coming back to bricks & mortars or small business, you should read that article, (the article I mentioned above) bit by bit and read it at least a dozen times so that you ABSOLUTELY UNDERSTAND what you need to do to start a small business in Pakistan!

That article gives you PRACTICAL ADVICE on how to start a small business and how to manage its daily affairs from hiring, firing, training to accounts management to marketing, business development etc.

App logo ko pata nai hoga, mei ne ye website issi cheez ko mind mei rakh k banai he, to give practical actionable advice on marketing, small business, branding etc instead of some bookish “theoretical stuff!”.

So what I have written here over the years is not just for MBA’s BBA’s guys rather its for everyone who want to start small business or want to learn practical marketing!

Remember though, you will make mistakes along the way while running a small business, that is normal thing, so you shouldn’t feel low or sad when you make some mistakes here and there, there is actually a proverb that an experienced person is a person, who has made all the possible mistakes and learned from it ;p

Beside according to a research if you want to be an Expert in a field you need to work at least 10,000 hours in that field [2].

The most important thing in any small business is to keep learning, being persevere in face of hardships, obstacles, you won’t learn all the nitty-gritty, know-how of small business in one day or one month but you will learn (maximum in six months from my experience).

One thing I didn’t cover in that article is how to get supplies or raw material for your small business, yes, I didn’t cover this one because I wrote that article for those, who had everything ready but just wanted to launch the whole thing.

So let me answer this part, how to get supplies, raw material.

It’s easy, get to the market, meet the wholesaler in case you want to start distribution or retailing and if you want to start your own brand, then meet the person that is running a similar business.

Ask him/her about the supplies, raw material etc, do this by meeting few dozen entrepreneurs, learn where and how do they get their supplies, raw material, what raw material are essential and what aren’t etc etc

After a month of survey you will have a very good idea about where to get your supplies, raw materials from and how to get the best stuff at the best price etc with best after sales security, policy etc.

You will get to know all of the nitty-gritty once you get in, don't worry about that and please, Khuda k lie!!! DON’T TRY TO LEARN ALL THE THINGS IN ONE DAY, you will get confused, tensed due to information overload, so give yourself time by learning little by little! Bit by bit!

That’s it, don’t forget to check out this website constantly for more practical stuff on marketing, small business and in case you want articles directly coming to your inbox, please subscribe!

Lastly I will help you in case you have problem you can get in touch with me via email, contact form or commenting here.

So get it started now, don’t wait for tomorrow! 

Over to you guys!

References:                              

1.      Delre, S.A., Jager, W., Bijmolt, T.H.A. and Janssen, M.A. (2007), “Targeting and timing promotional activities: an agent-based model for the takeoff of new products”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 60 No. 8, pp. 826-835.

2.      http://gladwell.com/outliers/