After completing his education in the United States in 2003, Zeeshan Akhtar returned to his roots in Pakistan to make his mark in the professional world. PHOTO: FILE
Mian Zeeshan Akhtar, CEO, Chairman and mastermind behind the success of Q Mobile, has come to be known as the youngest entrepreneur in Pakistan’s mobile phone industry.
After completing his education in the United States in 2003, Zeeshan Akhtar returned to his roots in Pakistan to make his mark in the professional world. His affiliation with foreign brands like LG and Samsung provided him with opportunities to realise his own understanding of the Pakistani market.
Akhtar had great success with his ventures, resulting in increased market share for whichever brand he was handling.
For him, the sky was the limit...and then Q Mobile was born.
At 30 years of age, Akhtar took charge of a company that soon became a corporate giant. Today, Q Mobile is the biggest player in Pakistan’s mobile phone industry.
Company officials claim it was Akhtar’s insistence on quality that led to this success: concentrating on not only providing advanced mobile sets but excellent service, customer care and attractive prices that were comparable to world renowned foreign brands.
With a varied selection of more than 85 different cellphones, Q Mobile positioned itself to meet the demands of the Pakistani market, designing innovative and specific technologies that suited the region on the whole.
Akhtar intends to expand the company into numerous groups, in order to fulfil the demand of consumers from several walks of life. This will be possible through a strategy that will shift the Pakistani masses towards smartphones that are more affordable.
For Akhtar and Q Mobile, it’s all about empowering Pakistan towards better efficiency, and bringing new, innovative directions to the local cellphone industry.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 1st, 2013.
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COMMENTS (32)
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Erm... Mr.Zeeshan You are doing good. I am using Qmobile Noir a900. It's a BOMB phone! Rather, going for htc or samsung's cheap phones. Yurp I agree, Samsung's Doing well with their products But, there cheap phones like under 25,000 those phones are laggy,Not responsive ! we should be thankful to Mr.Zeeshan rather than getting our negativity over pakistani products! what i would say is Keep it up, Dork!
agreed with what Q Mobile is doing at the time being. They are bringing in the manufacture phones from whatever country my humble suggestion is invest in the R&D and start your own local manufacturing of the hardware as well as software. Let me assure u Pakistan does not lack in talent, already there are young boys & girls making various apps and are in the international ranking. I am shure that Q Mobile will be able to deliver.
Putting news items about people who are loan defaulters is a blot on the local media and your newspaper. It only promotes corruption and unethical behaviour in our society, business and politics. Responsible journalism please!!
I am using A700 its a wonderful gadget and replacement of apple .great work Mr zeeshan
Q mobile is a good mobile and they are doing good as far as the price, place and promotion is concerned. In the product segment they have to work more as their after sales service is not good. Cant get a replacement fitting for the Noir A 9 i purchased with much zeal. The screen was changed two times from their service center but not to the expectation. United mobile replaced in warranty the whole processor of the cell phone (Nokia) while Q mobile personnel are not allowed to do that. Any way had to sell the mobile cheap due to dust particles could enter and were visible on screen. Not to mention the other Q mobile in my family which are Noir A-8(3 in no) are being used since 8 months with out any tension. Only point to purchase is the aesthetics and purchase power at one time. Yes cost matters.
Q mobile's success is based on providing mobile phones with the best features at economical rates even though their UI leaves a lot to be desired. I used to buy only Nokia before but became a Q Mobile fan after trying the E-786 as a second phone. Now thinking of trying its smart phone category.
@Shakil Ahmed: Given the resources in Pakistan he produced tremendous results without any help from government whatsoever. Atleast acknowledge his feat and stop whining because lets face it we havent achieved even 1% of what he has.
@Shakil Ahmed: And what has your contribution to the economy of been?
ALWAYS CRITICS... To be an Entrepreneur in our country seems to be a curse there... No matter how Q-mobile looks or works but its a positive approach, and without doubt it capture the market. A person standing in the mobile shop can't bother ur filthy comments he just take care of his pocket and Mr. Zeeshan work really great on that. Good JOB MIAN Sahab KEEP IT up...
Lack of content
Qmobile has increased the price of there android mobile to show that they are compariable to good market brands but the Q sets are not worth the price.
Very bad written article I was Not expecting this from ET.
There is nothing special about Q mobile, why? The product is 100% outsourced i.e. mobile sets & accessories, are all imported from China, in bulk, branded with Q mobile & are then sold at a very low prices compared to other Intl brands, but with significant profit margins (benefit of bulk buying & cheap Chinese products). The only thing the CEO has done is injecting of crores of rupees & use of intensive marketing. The day a Pakistani entrepreneur makes his own product here (with his own ideas, or at least some of his own ideas/R&D) will be the start of new era of progress in Pakistan in manufacturing business sector.
Agreed. While re-branding phone are a step in the right direct, having local phone industry is even more important.
Mian Pervaiz Akhtar father of Zeeshan is the main man behind q mobile. He is a big bank defaulter. He owes our company and major banks a huge sum of money. His company new allied electronics borrowed heavily and defaulted. He is a declared defaulter by the state bank of pakistan. So you can understand how he has become successful !
Why I see a lot of losers here in comments section.
Mr Zeeshan why don't you try to manufacture mobile phones in Pakistan? That would be the best thing you can do for Pakistan industry.
I was always been an HTC user but for the last 5 months I am using Q mobile's A5 classic and to my surprise, its really working good with all the relevant features which I used to have it by paying atleast 40% more for htc. Q mobile fan now. No wonder Q mobile has destroyed market of other brands just like samsung and htc did it of nokia with the advent of smart phones in Pakistan.
Dear Mr. Zeeshan you are doing a great job. Keep going
Who else can give you Quad-core smartphone in this competitive price?
Good luck Zeeshan.
Hey guys what is so special in Q mobile . not its price not quality not a popular brand name nothing it has , in my class when our teacher snatched a boy who was using the mobile so sir was saying in the funny mode that i shall sell this mobile at the same time a girl said sir it is Q not more than 1500 when you sell it so she insulted him infront of whole class i always says that china mobile = Qmobile here is nothing special in Qmobile even its touch ,its application supporting and all the thing if compared with nokia ,samsung,sony and other brands . they are just spending their money on advertise and nothing d.
Well, if I have money to invest, I would be the most successful CEO of entire world.
Good for him I suppose, put Q Mobile needs to put more effort into its products - it's essentially just a distributor for cheap Chinese knock-offs of major brands like Samsung, Nokia, HTC etc.
And the first thing they need to do is make sure that all their phones have a registered IMEI number, otherwise all your contacts and personal files (pictures, videos etc.) can be accessed by anyone if it's stolen or lost. I lost my Q Mobile and when I called to block the phone's IMEI number, I was told that it was unregistered.
Q mobile and quality (of workmanship) is an extremely lofty comment. In local market this phone is better known as disposable set. Once a problem happen it is better to dispose it off.
Re-branding a few Chinese mobiles may have worked for him, but he should have put some efforts to give it a proper brand name unlike "Q" mobile! its a biggest turn off when you buy a mobile. Apple, Nokia, Sony, Samsung ... and Q . its name more in line with a mobile operator rather than a mobile device! Good luck. article just doesnt have enough depth about the company and products and what made it so special about CEO?
Not a good article in terms of content. Would have been much better if any interview or similar discussion would have taken place with the CEO.
This country needs educated entrepreneurs. Its time to let go of the seth sahibs.