For a successful startup ecosystem, Pakistan needs to learn to celebrate failure

Merai has 16+ years of experience in product design, product development, UI, UX, Deep Tech, AI and IOT. She has diverse experience in verticals that include, Telecom, EdTech, Climate, Agriculture, Travel, Social and Construction Tech.

She currently works as a technology expert and is actively engaged with more than 40 startups every year incubated at the National Incubation Center, Islamabad. As part of her role she helps startups develop and deliver to market, physical as well as digital deep technology products including AR, VR and AIoT and helps with financial integrations to accelerate them through JazzCash.

She is a technology advisor to multiple businesses that are operating locally as well as globally. She also works as a consultant with various emerging FinTech companies that are in the prototyping phase of their digital transformation.

She holds a masters degree in Engineering Management from UET, Taxila

Merai is a lifelong learner. Quite often you would find her sipping the best roasted coffee in town and updating her GoodReads account. Apart from that, she loves to swim and keep herself healthy.

Mohammad has 2+ years of experience in digital marketing, branding, human resources, and operations. At Teamup he assists with business development, launching new ventures and operations for existing projects. He also handles the recruitment and operations for Teamup’s Career Launchpad program which is a career accelerator for young professionals.

Prior to his role at Teamup, he was working as a digital marketing executive at a digital marketing agency based in Islamabad, he was assisting with project management and was handling client social media strategy and customer relationship management.

He has also worked in the marketing and business development function of a travel startup incubated at the National Incubation Center as well as the marketing function of an e-commerce and delivery startup based in Islamabad.

Mohammad has always been interested in entrepreneurship and has successfully run a baked confectionary business based at his university campus.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from NUST.

Mohammad loves the outdoors! In his free time, you’ll probably find him hiking, trekking or chasing wildlife. He’s also passionate about fitness, sports, tech and sketching.

Qurat Ul Ain has 7+ years of experience as a Strategic & Deals Consultant and is a budding ‘socioprenuer’. At Teamup Ventures, her role is primarily to support the evaluation of investment opportunities and to lead financial due diligence.

Qurat previously worked at PwC and has served over 80 clients globally with total project values exceeding PKR 2bn. She has strong credentials in Valuation, Financial Modelling, Strategy, Business Planning, Corporate Finance, Sales Growth Strategy, and Internal Audit.

She has trained 3,000+ professionals in financial modelling through the ACCA.

She has advised & mentored several startups during her career. Inspired by mentors that shaped her career, she has ventured into the space & is establishing a mentoring platform – Pathways.

She volunteers for many organizations, mainly ACCA, UN, WEG, and The Citizens Foundation. Qurat is a Member Network Panel (MNP) of ACCA Pakistan since 2019.

Qurat’s interests include photography, reading, cooking & playing the violin. Her life philosophy is inspired by the great Muhammad Ali – ‘Float like a butterfly, Sting like a bee’. Watch out!

Suffiyan has 3+ years of experience in incubation, acceleration & program management. He specializes in operations, program management, program design, recruitment, strategy and entrepreneurship. As part of his role at Teamup Group he handles partnerships, business analysis, and business development.

As Head of the Hult Prize Pakistan Campus Program he led the growth of the university outreach program and capacity development workshops for budding entrepreneurs & ambassadors.

He has experience running operations for the $1M Hult Prize Global Accelerator in UK & UN Final (United Nations HQ, NYC) annual programs in partnership with the UN and President Bill Clinton.

He holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering from NUST.

With 12 years of experience as a UK qualified barrister, Ahmed is a partner at AUC | LAW where he handles the firm’s corporate and transactional work. His areas of interest include investment law, technology related challenges and cross-border investment transactions, with clients including multinational firms like Jazz, Reckitt Benkeizer, DHL, as well as prominent startups.

Over the years he has worked on Seed and Series A investment transactions involving Pakistani startups. He regularly advises incubators and also lectures on technology law to the startups incubated there. He has worked with many of the Pakistani VCs and a number of well know angel syndicates.

He has assisted the Securities Regulator of Pakistan (SECP) regarding startup focused changes to companies law and regulations (such as employee stock options for private limited companies, share buy back and issuance of sweat equity). He assisted the SECP in developing its Equity Crowdfunding Regulations.

He routinely writes and has published papers and articles in The Nation, Pakistan and the Counsel Magazine, Karachi and Pakistan Law Digest. At Cardiff Law School he chaired the first Welsh Model United Nations Conference on eradication of the AIDS pandemic from third world countries. He is also the co-author of a book titled Alternative Dispute Resolution Review, published by Law Business Research, London. He is a fellow at the Continuing Legal Education Initiative of Pakistan, which aims to raise the overall standard of the legal profession. He regularly lectures on technology law.

Ahmed believes Skynet is going to take over the world and he would like to retire to a quiet place in a valley before that happens.

Zouhair is an international business executive with 37+ years of global experience in telecom, technology, strategy, operations and Board Governance and is a Member of the Pakistan Prime Minister’s Task Force on IT & Telecom. He is Co-founder & Partner at TeamUp@NIC which runs the National Incubation Centre, incubating and training technology entrepreneurs and is now Co-Founder and General Partner at Teamup Ventures.

Zouhair was a founding team member at Mobilink (now Jazz). At Motorola UK, as Senior Director Operations, EMEA he managed the set up and rapid growth of several mobile operations. As COO of Orascom Telecom he led the launch and growth of mobile operations in Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq and rescheduling group debt of US$ 1.6 billion, divesting in Jordan, Yemen, Syria and Africa. He served on the Boards of Mobile companies in Algeria, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Jordan, Egypt, UAE and Pakistan.

As CEO Mobilink he led customer growth from 1m to 31m customers, growing revenues from US$ 80 million to US$ 1.3 billion, making it one of the 5 fastest growing companies in the Asia Pacific Region and the largest private sector company in Pakistan. As Chairman of the Executive Committees of the Boards of Warid and Wateen Telecom he led the operational and financial restructuring taking both companies to profitability. As Managing Director, Mobile for Development, GSM Association, he managed a US$ 150 million technology fund investing globally in startups in FinTech, e-Health, Agri-tech, e-Learning and e-Commerce.

He has been an early stage investor, Board advisor and mentor for technology companies, including Coda Payments which provides access to digital entertainment. He exited Coda Payments at a 10x valuation in 2019.

He has served on the Board of Islamabad Stock Exchange, the Ignite Technology Fund, Pakistan Television Corporation, Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, and as Senior Advisor to the Better Than Cash Alliance, UN Capital Development Fund. He is currently a member of the Board of Regents, and Super Numerary Fellow, Harris Manchester College, Oxford University since 2009, and Non-Executive Director on the Board of Friesland Campina Engro Foods Pakistan. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and an Alumni of INSEAD, France.

If you want to coax Zouhair away from work, your best strategy would be to offer him jazz music, a good cigar and a conference call !

Parvez currently serves as the Project Director at The National Incubation Center and is Co-founder & Partner at Teamup, the service delivery partner to the NIC. He is also a Managing Partner at Teamup Advisory. With over 30 years of practical high caliber diversified experience stretching across Europe, the Middle East and Asia from startup and greenfields to established market leaders. His experience includes tier one companies such as BT, Nokia, Motorola, Orascom, Telenor, Etisalat, Millicom, C&W, Samsung and many more.

As Chief Commercial Officer at Mobilink now Jazz, Parvez was responsible for all commercial objectives from strategy to operational execution. He developed a high caliber team of sales, marketing and customer care personnel who created innovative and iconic brands such as Jazz and the Mobilink franchise distribution network aligning the company for adding over 50+ million subscribers over the years.

Parvez also started MobileZone from scratch after identifying a gap in the GSM distribution channel. The concept, simple but innovative at the time, was a “one stop shop” for both sim card and handset available at one location. MobileZone started off from one shop in Karachi and became the largest distributor across Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the UAE and the recipient of many regional awards from leading brands such as Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson etc.

Parvez specializes in board level strategy, operational management, team execution, as well as internal processes optimization and communication. He is known as the chief thinking officer! He brings out the best in people by showing them a new side to thinking and acting as entrepreneurs rather than being simply managers or employees for an organisation.

When he’s not thinking up new ways to grow businesses, Parvez is a full-time grandad, enjoys playing golf, and tending to the many fruit trees in his garden.

Danyaal has 6 years of experience across strategy, investment banking & operational roles. Over the past 2 years he has been responsible for driving all new business development opportunities at Teamup Group, including setting up Teamup Angels, and structuring Teamup Ventures.

In recent years, he has acted as a trusted advisor to several burgeoning startups in the Pakistan eco-system.

Previously, he was at Lightsource BP (BP’s solar development JV) in the Strategy & Investments team reporting to the CEO. Lightsource BP is one of the most successful solar developers globally. Danyaal developed the company’s Australia market entry strategy and handled several $250m+ inbound acquisition opportunities.
Prior to that he was at Jefferies in London, reporting to the Head of EMEA & APAC Investment Banking with a focus on M&A, EMEA & APAC business management & strategic growth initiatives for the American bank’s European business.

Danyaal began his career at Access Corporate Finance in M&A, where he was part of several large transactions in the offshore wind and oil & gas space. In addition to his core responsibilities, he also supported the establishment of the financial boutique from a regulatory and administrative perspective.

He holds an LLB from SOAS, University of London and an MSc from University College London (UCL).

Danyaal is a believer in the 3Cs philosophy of life that involves embracing cricket, chocolate & cigars – not necessarily in that order.