Saeed Book Bank: Another casualty in KP
It’s not that I never anticipated the closure of one of Peshawar’s largest and oldest bookstores, Saeed Book Bank, yet that news still broke my heart. I can’t exactly recall my first visit to the store but I do know it was the best book store in the province. Saeed Book Bank has been regarded as a site worth mentioning to tourists in Peshawar. It has served the literary and educational needs of the people of KP for over five decades. Saeed Book Bank was established in 1955 by Saeed Jan Qureshi. His sons took over the family business in 1985. ...
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Money 101: Getting down to business
If I was to do a spot poll and ask a hundred odd people whether they wanted to work for themselves or someone else, 95 per cent would choose being their own boss over job security and the luxury of forgetting about work when the clock strikes 6pm. But for every person who dreams of owning a quaint bookshop, a café by the sea or any other small scale business there are 10 others who will never get around to starting it up. Small businesses are the backbone of any economic system, often owned and managed by families, they continue ...
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Pakistan needs to take entrepreneurs seriously
Our governing mentality has mostly been about ‘providing’ jobs and not ‘creating’ them. There is a very big difference between the two approaches that also reflect different governing philosophies. When you hear stories about inefficiency and corruption in government run institutions (like the Pakistan Railways), it is due to the first approach. Governments find it expedient to hand out jobs to people to improve employment figures even when state owned companies do not need any more people. Jobs are also given to party workers to find a way to keep them satisfied. Alas, our political culture is as such! This ...
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The real entrepreneurs of Pakistan
Shakeel operates a DVD rental shop in the building across the street from where I live. It’s nothing too fancy, just a couple of shelves in a six-by-four feet space, in a market dominated by tailors and kapra walas. He comes in at about 4 pm every day, and takes the 10 pm bus back home. All day, he rents out pirated copies of the latest Hollywood and Bollywood flicks to clients at his little shop. Shakeel’s a young guy, maybe 24, with glasses that look remarkably similar to mine. His mother doesn’t let him go to his shop if ...
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