Jawad Hamdani 
Choosing a bank in Pakistan should be straightforward but for most people it is not. Most Pakistanis open their first account wherever their employer sends their salary, or wherever their parents bank, or wherever the nearest branch happens to be. A decade later, they are still at the same bank out of inertia, even if … Read more
When the State Bank of Pakistan launched the Roshan Digital Account in September 2020, the goal was straightforward: give the approximately 9 million Pakistanis living abroad a proper, regulated, fully digital way to bank, invest, and send money home without ever visiting a branch in Pakistan. Before RDA, an overseas Pakistani who wanted a Pakistani … Read more
A freelance web developer I know in Karachi ran his entire business through his personal savings account for over two years. He sent invoices with his personal account IBAN, received international payments into his personal account, paid his subcontractors from the same account, and kept a rough mental note of what was business money and … Read more
Every year around Ramadan, the same conversations happen in Pakistani households. Someone checks their bank statement and notices their balance went down by 2.5 percent on the first of Ramadan. Someone else did not notice at all until they were trying to pay a bill. A third person submitted a form they thought would protect … Read more
A relative of mine was turned down for a car loan two years ago. The bank officer told him his credit profile was not clean but refused to elaborate much beyond that. He had a good salary, no recent debt, and genuinely believed his financial history was fine. He had no idea that a credit … Read more
When I first started tracking what actually killed most new online stores in Pakistan, I expected the answers to be product selection, pricing, or marketing. Those came up, but the most consistent factor was logistics. Sellers who figured out shipping, COD management, returns handling, and courier selection systematically built businesses that grew. Sellers who treated … Read more
There is a clothes shop near my home that has been in the same location for over fifteen years. The owner knows every regular customer by name. His prices are fair. His stock is good. But his shop has no sign, no social media presence, no consistent packaging, and no way for someone passing by … Read more
Tax compliance is the subject that makes most Pakistani small business owners visibly uncomfortable. Not because they want to avoid paying taxes, but because the whole system feels opaque, the terminology is confusing, the consequences of getting it wrong feel severe, and nobody has ever sat down and explained it in plain language. So here’s … Read more
A friend of mine runs a small digital marketing agency in Islamabad. For the first two years of his business, he got clients entirely through word of mouth and personal referrals. The work was good, the clients were happy, but growth was slow because every new client relationship started from scratch through someone’s personal introduction. … Read more
A bakery owner I know in Lahore spent six months perfecting her recipe, decorated her Instagram page beautifully, built a loyal following, and started getting orders. She was genuinely busy. Then eight months in, she sat down properly for the first time to calculate what she was actually earning, and the number shocked her. After … Read more
