Summary of Startup

Summary of Entrepreneur Interview

Entrepreneur: Zahid Iqbal

Businesses: Haneef Electronics

Haneef Jewelers

                      Dubai Mall

Interviewed at: Dubai Mall Site

Interviewers: Group

Team Members and Their Contribution

1. Zain ulAbaddin: Worked from start till end. He was very supportive, motivating and motivate and energetic throughout the assignment.
2. Moattar Farooq: Helped from selecting an entrepreneur to interviewing him, to summarizing the assignment.
3. Husnain: Was always silent and readily did all assigned work like a nice member.
4. Waleed Nadeem: Contributed a lot in every task. Did everything what you expect from an effective group member.
5. Kalsoom Ali: Was always ready to contribute and helped to successfully complete the assignment.

As assigned by the instructor we selected Mr. Zahid Iqbal to interview since he is one of the best examples of entrepreneurs in our locality. He started from the electronics business then diversified by entering into Jewelers’ and then gained fame in construction industry. Mr. Iqbal has been successful in almost all of his ventures and we interviewed him to know his secret recipe toward successful entrepreneurship.  

When we met Mr. Iqbal we understood what does it take to be an entrepreneur. In discussing his journey we learned that it is very necessary to believe and trust one’s own self. We should not pay any head to people telling us we can’t do a certain thing. Like Mr. Iqbal initiated Dubai Mall project in Sukkur because he had believe in himself while others told him it was not going to work, but he continued with his believe and now he is cherishing his trust in himself.

Mr. Iqbal also emphasized the importance of being patient in your doings because revenues may not flow immediately but slowly and progressively. We also understood the importance of being motivated and determined in doing business, because one can’t do business until he loves it or is determined in his aims.

He also suggested us to fulfill our family’s wishes and take care of them because our families are our support systems. They support us in maintaining health of our business and may also provide us with unseen opportunities, as he started Haneef Jewelers solely because of his father’s wish which turned out to be a success.

Putting all eggs in one basket is a dangerous thing. So is dangerous to remain in one line of business for an entrepreneur. Diversification is very important as it doesn’t only maximize profits but also provides us with opportunities to enhance our skills and knowledge and makes us more enthusiastic towards our business. For an entrepreneur it is important to diversify his business so that he remains excited and passionate like Mr. Iqbal diversified from electronics to jewelers and then from jewelers to builders.

Mr. Iqbal also discussed the importance of customers in a successful venture. It is necessary to have plenty of paying customers and for retaining them we must be sincere with them, we must provide them with care. Because these customers are the key to profits. And we can only have profits if we retain our paying customers.

Having role models and inspirations also helps in being successful entrepreneur because role models provides us with guidance of how to do certain things and which direction to go. Mr. Iqbal said it’s not bad to have role models rather it is necessary. Because we must know where we want to go or what we want to become.

Mr. Iqbal often visits new places and meets new people because he wants to explore things, cultures, and gain new experiences to have new and different ideas. He says an entrepreneur must bring newness in his products or the way he delivers his products and this newness can be gained by exploring new things. He elaborated the importance of providing newness to customers and also emphasized that the newness must create value for customers. He illustrated with example of Dubai Mall, that everything under one roof is something new to Sukkur market and it also adds more value by having restaurant and praying area in it.

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