Female entrepreneurs in Pakistan are making a splash in the male-dominated world of business. We spoke to Areeba Zeeshan about her journey on establishing her startup ‘Machine sells’, a Business to Business machine trading platform where you can buy, sell or rent machines across industries in Pakistan.
1.) How did the idea of Machine Sells come about?
Areeba Zeeshan: My husband was the mastermind behind this idea. Three years ago, his father gave him the task of selling off some machines from their factory. This seemingly easy task turned out to be very difficult. The brokers quoted prices much less than the actual worth of the machines and there was no other platform. My husband realized there was a huge gap in the market when it came to the buying and selling of machines. So, after months of hard work, machinesells.com was born, a B2B machine trading platform to buy, sell or rent any kind of industrial machine.
2.)What excites you about entrepreneurship?
Areeba Zeeshan: What excites me the most about entrepreneurship is the challenges that you face day-to-day and how to overcome them. No day is the same at a startup and you get to learn new things on a daily basis. Furthermore, when you see your own idea coming to life and gaining traction that’s what motivates me the most.
3.) What is the best thing about having your husband as a business partner?
EVERYTHING. Our business is our baby. He has always got my back and we love bouncing off new ideas with each other.
4.) What is the worst thing about having your husband as a business partner?
I would not call it the ‘worst’ part since I love working with him, but sometimes we can get a bit too caught up with thinking about our business and forget there are other things we also need to talk about.
5.) How did you go about finding funding?
Currently, my husband and I are bootstrapping our business and we will be looking for investment at a later stage.
6.) Is it more difficult being a young female and married entrepreneur?
There are obviously a lot of other responsibilities that we have to do along with work, but you need to prioritize and manage them smartly. Moreover, everyone around me has been very encouraging and my husband has been my greatest support in this.
7.) What was your proudest moment?
It was when we launched our website and started getting traction for it. The response reinstated my belief that a platform like MachineSells is indeed the need of the hour.
8.) Where do you see Machine Sells five years down the line?
Machinesells.com will revolutionize the industrial machines market where all machines will be bought and sold through our website. We want our website to become a household name just like Zameen.pk and Pakwheels. We also intend to go global once we have tapped the Pakistani market.
9.) How can start-up culture be encouraged in Pakistan?
When I was studying at LUMS university, I remember studying this course called ‘Social Entrepreneurship’ in which we had to come up with a social idea, build a business model and calculate the financials around it. At the end of the course, we had to present our idea to a bunch of investors. For me, it was one of the most useful courses I studied at university. I think schools and universities should arrange such competitions, courses, and sessions so that these ideas are inculcated in Pakistan’s youth so that the next generation is even brighter than the current one.
10.) What’s the one piece of advice you would give to other young female entrepreneurs?
Stand your ground and believe in your idea. There will be lots of waiting and patience required but you have to believe in the idea yourself first for it to succeed.
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