Is PINE UK a reason for you to stay in the UK for longer and how does it feel coming back?
You may say that the reason to come back to UK or staying there for longer might be PINE. Having said that it has always been my home, I have friends and family there since the last 20 years, whereas PINE has brought the Erum that was there and also the best part is that what I started as an entrepreneur is now back and its time to get back to the community.
What is PINE and what is the purpose behind it?
PINE is a social enterprise, it is a business incubation where we will not only be entertaining and educating young startups but also understanding that whoever needs the entrepreneur skills, mentoring sessions, legal advice basically everything related to emerging small businesses and empowering them. PINE is a complete solution for startups, small businesses and mainly it is there to support and encourage people for the future of their corporate life.
Your next venture is PINE UK, how did you initiate that?
PINE UK is something that I really wanted to do, I am extremely grateful to Saleem for supporting it and being there. The best part of working for and with someone is to understand that the person has the same passion and I think that is what connected us. PINE UK is something that has been there because PINE Pakistan is a pilot model for it and that’s what makes PINE UK probably the first sibling for PINE Pakistan.
If we talk about the synergy between PINE Pakistan and UK, why are ventures like these important?
I may not say that we are living in a difficult time but we are living in a changing time situation. So the theory of change brings a very important element out here. We cannot work alone, hence we have to have synergies and collaborations even if you are a one man army, that doesn’t work anymore that era is gone. It has to be about the people for the people and of the people. PINE brings that initiative, PINE Pakistan has been struggling in the initially 6 months or so because we were hit by Covid. It has born in a brilliant set of startup that I think now needs a global platform. Any next venture should be a level up and PINE UK would be that level up to bring the synergy between the startups in Pakistan and UK and maybe going further or beyond, I would like to do something now and after that as well.
You have currently been selected for “Help to Grow” Management which is a government funded mentorship programme in the UK. How does that feel?
It feels amazing, anything that is funded always sounds good but I would say that I am blessed and very lucky in that way because even my incubation programme was funded by the Merton Council. I was very happy and we had an induction workshop planned so I think as a trainer also, I feel that once the learning part becomes more active in your life you become better in what you do. Mentorship is very important, as I also mentioned in my induction that in every third person you need a mentor. PINE’s initiative has always been to support & encourage people and bring the best out of them.
When we speak about PINE UK, who does your team include and how did you build it?
It is sort of a remote based structure so we have trainers from everywhere, but Saqib would be leading this whereas Mentors would be led by Maham, our team also includes Akbar Merza and Cary Sue. Cary is from the Chinese background and has really helped us to engage, apart from that we also have African based entrepreneurs and we get a lot of support from Farzana who is based in South Africa and even Brunei. When you talk about UK, we have people like Michelle who are based in Australia and she is one of our mentors as well.
Being the “Boss Woman” that you are and working on all these different ventures, what drives you?
I think Boss Women is a programme which is like a universal programme because I just can’t say it’s limited to UK or Pakistan or for that matter any specific country. It is a statement now, I think it is more cliché now as everyone speaks about Women Empowerment and Boss Women. I think there is a boss in women and men as well, the ventures we are doing are very strong, hence we envision to do mentorship programs. Mr. Saleem’s main principal company is an organization which is a law based firm, they have helped a lot of startups, he himself is an entrepreneur as he also said it in his interview that the support and to give back to the community is what PINE is going to be looking at.
Any parting message you’d like to give to aspiring individuals?
For PINE UK I would say that please come forward, go out check our website and work with us by making it better. Come to us speak about your business ideas we are here to listen and support. The best sustainability model is to keep your business running and for that you need a financial inclusion and legal pregame and the most important thing is connecting to the right people at the right time.
