Asad: Founder, Activa Financial
“I recognized early on that a JOB was not my thing, rather a YOB. So since then I’ve done my own thing.”
Message to entrepreneurs: “Be persistent. Believe in what you do. Many successful entrepreneurs don’t know how to sell, many don’t know how to code. They just got there because they were persistent. If you really believe in your product, you have to keep on going. Eventually, you’ll make it.”
Reason for Being an Entrepreneur: “I think I have ADD”
A long, long time ago, when I first moved to the US, I had to work while going to school at the University of Houston. After counting 17 W2 forms in just one year, I knew I had a problem – an authority problem– or was it Attention Deficit Disorder…Whatever, I didn’t like folks telling me what and how to do – especially if I knew what I was doing – (which was not always the case but then taking orders was never my best trait)
A favorite story from that part of my life
The best job during my school days was working as a security guard at a cemetery. I could study or sleep whenever I wanted to with no supervisor or anyone watching over me. In fact the supervisor himself was very superstitious –he was too afraid to enter the cemetery at night and he’d park on the highway and use his bullhorn to check on me..: “Asad! Asad!” I’d give him an auto-response YO while sleeping in my car…It was an upscale cemetery in Memorial city area of Houston–I guarded the expensive marble statues on graves at night. At the job interview, the supervisor had asked, “Are you superstitious?” I said, “Yes, I am very superstitious.” We haggled and at $9 bucks an hour I lost my superstitions. (Nine dollars per hour in those days was a king’s ransom. Minimum wage was $3.45.)
Anyway, at some point in all my jobs, the supervisor or boss would come and let me quietly know that it was time to go – resign or get fired! So I recognized early on that a JOB was not my thing, rather a YOB (Your Own Boss). So since then I’ve done my own thing.”
Early Life: “Why Don’t You Send Me to America?”
My parents had always wanted me to become a doctor. I even got admission in medical school but one week later I realized that medicine was not for me. I came home and told my parents and as you can imagine they totally freaked out. My mom asked me, why? I said, I don’t want to make house calls–patients call you up at night and you gotta go… My mom countered with “you’re not gonna be that good a doctor that patients call you up at night! (Thank you for the support mom! The funny part is that I did become a “doctor” not the type she wanted me to be but a PhD nonetheless) Anyway.. although I was shivering in my boots, I stuck to my guns –. My brother was in the Merchant Marines, and he got to travel and see the world. I wanted to travel too and asked if I could join too. My father was mad as hell and said, “No, we’re going to put your ass in the army.” That was the first time I stood up to him. “Well, if you put me in the army, I’ll punch a senior officer and get court-martialed. No one knows me but everyone knows you (Dad was the chief of police of the entire Punjab province) People will say the son of so and so got court-martialed”. That “logic” or was it blackmail got to him –he just stood there, dumbfounded, not knowing what to say. He backed off and asked me what other options have I thought off?
“Why don’t you send me to America? I said. He retorted, “We can’t afford to send you to college there.” I said that I’d apply for a scholarship. I got a scholarship from the University of Houston. My father gave me $400, a plane ticket and sent me on my way to the US of A. I blew the $400 on onion rings – yup – Jack-in-the-Box onion rings that I could not get enough off. Had never seen anything like them…2 months and $400 gone on onion rings I started pumping gas at Tenneco my first of the umpteen jobs in the US.
Start-Ups: From Fisherman to Financial Services
At first, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study. I went from industrial to chemical engineering to architecture. Then I found computers and fell in love. I graduated in computer science, got an MBA and then went back to Pakistan and became a fisherman! Loved to sail, loved the sea.. As it turned out my first startup was deep sea pair trawling. I was recruited by consultants from FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). Their objective was to get artisanal fishing and make it more modern. They were looking for a guinea pig. I was the perfect pig for them. They took me to Thailand and showed me a new concept called “pair trawling.” It was so good that it was banned in Thailand, (because you could catch so much fish and deplete the resources – so fishermen would go out alone and pair up in the deep sea- far from the eyes of the authorities). Anyway, I loved it and went back, sold my apartment, got a loan from the bank and bought two vessels equipped with a lot of gadgets (that were never used). That was my first startup. Made a lot of money until one boat sank – that ended the “pair” part of pair trawling…so I parked the other on land and tried to sell it as a “boat restaurant” concept (the boat theme with sailors as waiters serving you and crab racing on the counter plus the sea view was quite a novelty in those days and I had investors lined up trying to outbid each other. Needless to say I made more money than when I was fishing! Went on to do several other small startups. My most recent one is next gen banking and payments that is going to change how folks interact with their finances.
Family and Career: “You Need to Communicate not Talk”
The new generation is out of whack. There’s no communication. They need to use their voices to communicate with each other rather than text messages. Even our generation is losing it to smartphones. We have stopped communicating our “talk” is just that -mere talk with no substance to it.
In our part of the world, the roles are more defined and double standards run rampant. Husbands don’t share or talk about their work to their wives thinking that the wives would not “get it”. The couple tiptoe around each other, or they fight. Then the relationship deteriorates and it’s gone. Divorces don’t just happen. It takes time. To make things work, you need to share and talk about important things and how they affect you. Your partner is not going to know unless you tell him or her. Do not expect them to “feel” things or be “in tune” with your inner thoughts – it’s not going to happen. Your spouse is not going to get a telegram from inside your head- so share your thoughts – listen don’t just hear.
Life Lessons: “Self-Reliance and Persistence”
There are two important lessons I’ve learnt. One is that you have to totally depend on yourself. When things are really good, then things are fine and peachy. But when things are down, even your loved ones and your own family, may back-off.
The second life lesson: You have to be very persistent. Believe in what you do. There are a lot of people discouraging you, but you’ve got to keep on going. Because, you know, when they say life happens, that’s exactly it–it happens, but you still have to keep on going. Be persistent. Believe in what you do. Many successful entrepreneurs don’t know how to sell, many don’t know how to code. They just got there because they were persistent. If you really believe in your product, you have to keep on going. Eventually, you’ll make it.”
Is it Lonely Being a Founder?
Yes, it is, especially if you’re over there [Pakistan or Dubai]. In the US you have much more support. Investors expect at least two co-founders. For example, there was Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. Bill Gates and Paul Allen. It’s a Silicon Valley culture thing. Over here is not as lonely. Back home you’re responsible for everything. You have to make all the decisions. If something goes wrong, you are solely responsible. I prefer the Silicon Valley model. I believe two heads are better than one. It helps to have a co-founder who has skills that you lack. I am a technical person, if I had a partner with a business background, then he can cover my weak points and we’d have balance.
What Accomplishment Are You Most Proud Of?
Back in 1999 I started hiring for my offshore development house and mind you this period was the height of the dotcom era and everyone and their mother was learning or studying computer programming and IT skills. IT institutes and colleges were mushrooming and opening up in every street. Anyway after interviewing hundreds of students I realized that they were very often detached from practical applications in the workplace; this, plus lack of expert instructors, redundant teaching methods, lack of accurate monitoring of learning achievements, etc. etc. was churning out illiterate degree holders without the relevant job skills needed for the job!
Well one can’t find thousands of expert instructors and send them out to teach all over the world so a viable alternative is e-learning. Anyway, to make a long story short, I started a non-profit that partnered with the best e-learning content provider and we started offering top of the line IT and programming skills in many poor countries for FREE. The non-profit kinda took a life of its own and we became a United Nations flagship partner initiative in 2006. The initiative has since been leveraged in many countries to deploy youth development and capacity building programs (especially during election times) and I got to meet world leaders that I never imagined! The International Commission on Workforce Development has so far trained over 3 million people in 21st century employability skills and as I love to point out in UN forums “we are not a talk show”. I get letters from students that are heart-rending. We’ve developed a very unique method of giving courses for free to learners using unique employee engagement programs and corporate social responsibility which provides the highest ROI on such programs. Details can be found on the ICWFD site and I hope folks reading this will support us as giving a self-sustaining skill to someone is the best legacy one can leave behind.
