Startup connects overseas Pakistanis with families

App to address common issues of people residing abroad like bill payments

KARACHI:

A local startup has taken up the responsibility to conveniently connect the overseas Pakistanis with their families back home, addressing the common yet unattended issues like paying utility bills, attesting documents, etc from abroad.

Talking to The Express Tribune, InstaKin Founder and CEO Yasir Shirazi was of the view that the initiative was also contributing to the progress of Pakistan’s economy by creating thousands of job opportunities.

He maintained that mobile application InstaKin was launched “to solve real-life problems” faced by Pakistanis residing abroad. He underlined that the lack of trusted platforms in this domain was the driving force behind the startup idea.

Giving details, Shirazi revealed that he felt the need for such an application when he was residing abroad.

“Over time, l realised that every time I needed to manage tasks back home, it was a difficult process,” he remarked.

“Delays were common, from paying family bills to getting documents attested, and running other last mile tasks for family and myself,” he added.

Shirazi underlined that there was no trusted application available that could connect an individual abroad with such different types of services.

“The vision is to build a global one-stop shop platform for diaspora members globally,” he said.

Revealing the expansion plan, he said that the application would start providing services to other countries as well, terming it a global platform that had started with the Pakistani market.

The community-driven platform did not charge the users – overseas Pakistanis – any fee, he said, adding that the fee was received from verified vendors.

Detailing about the target market, he underlined that more than 28 million South Asian expatriates – in addition to 10 million overseas Pakistanis – could benefit from the application.

“Going further, around 250 million migrants globally, who live away from their home, can benefit from the services,” he said.

“The startup has more than 30 employees,” Shirazi said, adding that thousands of people across the country were indirectly employed through vendors and distributors.

“It is part of our mission to create more jobs in Pakistan and reduce unemployment,” he said.

“The platform will create more than 3,000 new jobs directly and via our vendor network over the next two years,” he revealed.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2021.

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