Introduction

Born in a middle-class family in Karachi, from the beginning Waliullah’s family encouraged him to aim for a comfortable life abroad. Waliullah was the youngest son of a family with a job-oriented mindset. His friends were part of the upper echelon of society who drove luxurious cars, dine at expensive restaurants and spend their summer holidays at an exquisite location abroad. The glitters of this lavish lifestyle attracted Waliullah to pursue entrepreneurship. His family and relatives had a love for pets and were especially enthusiastic about birds. This helped in developing a solid knowledge framework about the pet industry. This laid the foundation of Waliullah’s first entrepreneurial venture that he started as a teenager.

Early Life

As a teenager, Waliullah was a very social person who could make friends with anyone. However, he never preferred to be emotionally dependent on anyone. His friends describe him as a person with a kind heart and helpful nature. Even during his teenage life, Waliullah used to seek synergistic alliances in all his relationships. He had a thing to look for win-win situations for him and others to a point that he started viewing everyone as a potential client. These attributes considerably expanded his social circle. During his schooling, he observed stark inequalities and financial disparities among his batch-mates. He wanted to have a comfortable lifestyle like his more privileged friends and found entrepreneurship as the only way to climb the challenging social and financial hierarchy in Pakistan. Many people in Pakistan consider getting good grades in school and getting a degree from one of the top business schools as the only way to climb the financial hierarchy. As luck would have it, Waliullah was an average student and so had to put all energies on entrepreneurship to fund the comfortable life he always dreamt of in his childhood.

First Venture

At the age of 14, Waliullah started his bird trading business. He used the profits generated from this venture to fund his lifestyle and dining out in expensive restaurants with his affluent friends. In retrospect, Waliullah regrets his decision and advises others to be mindful of their spending in their new ventures.

Bouncing back from every setback

Waliullah had no motivation you might find in an average student from a middle-class background who views academics as an unlock to a better life. Things reached such an extent that at the age of 15, he was rusticated from his high school while his parents were abroad. Waliullah took a deep breath and decided to take matters into his own hands. Instead of informing parents who were thousands of miles away, he decided to find a solution before his parents got back. Waliullah took a leap of faith. During the next few weeks, he frantically researched and reached out to numerous schools. Within a month, he got admission to another high school, all while his parents were abroad and had no clue about this. This unique ability of Waliullah to bounce back from his failures, and to stand tall in the face of adversity, set him up perfectly to be a successful entrepreneur in future.

University Life

After graduation from high school, he applied to top business schools but was not able to secure admission in any of them due to his inconsistent performance as a student. He decided to try other universities and finally got admission to the prestigious Bahria University. Waliullah was not the one to waste his time dwelling on his past and rejections from top business schools. Once at Bahria University, he decided to make the most out of it. During his next four years in undergraduate, he experimented with several small scale ventures to finance his living expenses. He also made as many friends as he could as he saw them as future clients and bird in hand. This is when he realized that the key to a man’s pocket is his heart.

He started attending as many social gatherings as possible. This helped him gauge consumer demand in various industry. Focusing on his goal of having a comfortable life rather than focusing on the means to achieve it, he grabbed every opportunity with both hands. He started building a reputation in his peers at college as the person who could answer all kinds of services and product-related queries.

Life After University: Dubai

After completing his BBA, his father persuaded him to visit Dubai to search for a job. Even after 6 months, he failed to land a job in Dubai. However, like every other opportunity, Waliullah made the most out of it. During his time at Dubai, he explored multiple new avenues. One of these avenues was the Car Spare parts industry. He visited the largest market for Car Spare Parts in UAE and made connections with Pakistani and foreign vendors. This would eventually become his foundation and bird in hand for his second venture.

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