5 Pakistani start-ups powered by government incompetence

Here are a few successful start-ups that exist primarily due to the incompetent of the government of Pakistan

As of late, start-ups are emerging in Pakistan not to necessarily solve a business or life problem, but to counter the government's never-ending incompetence.

Should you meet the co-founders of these start-ups, they will tell you about how their strategy or product has a competitive advantage. However, since intellectual property is not respected and its laws are not enforced, no business in Pakistan can truly have intellectual advantage.

Here are a few successful start-ups that exist purely because the government is packed with incompetent fools who haven't the mindset to do their jobs:

1) Tune.pk

Clueless about how to block specific pages of blasphemous content on YouTube, the IT ministry blocked the whole website.

The IT ministry hasn't a clue how to block specific pages of blasphemous content on YouTube so they went ahead and blocked the whole site. That's like finding out a terrorist is hiding in Saddar and cordoning off all of Karachi so he doesn't escape.

Screengrab: Tune.pk

Read: Daraz.pk: Pakistan to see chunk of $55 million investment

But this is where Tune.pk takes over, filling the gap left by YouTube. Having celebrated its 3rd anniversary last week, Tune.pk gets over 100 million impressions per month. Granted some of their initial content was pirated (refer to IP point above) but they are routing business through ad networks that get it.

2) Technician.pk/Sukoon.com.pk

Finding skilled labour is one thing, finding skilled labor without a criminal record is a whole other challenge. More often than not, home owners unknowingly hire convicted or wanted criminals for home repair work as law enforcement agencies are far too preoccupied protecting VIP's instead of working towards preventing crime against tax-paying citizens.

Screengrab: Sukoon.com.pk

Technician solves this issue for citizens in Punjab, while Sukoon solves this for citizens in Sindh. The two websites screen each and every repairman that is registered on their online market place and ensure no one with criminal ties enters your home.

3) Darzi Express

When a customer is lied to in a developed nation more than once, they have the right to file a complaint with concerned authorities with fair trade and ethics. We don't have that here, and even if we do, they suck at following through - which is the whole point.

Screengrab: Darzi Express Facebook

So when your tailor promises the work done in a certain time frame or by a certain date you literally have two options - take his word for it or leave. And it's not like one tailor is more honest that the other - they're all in on it. That's where Darzi Express comes in.

4) Patari.pk

Thanks to the internet, it’s harder than ever today for musicians to make money off their work. Add that to the absence of enforced IP laws or respect for the arts and you have a recipe for disaster. That all said, Pakistanis revere musicians as proven by the wildly popular Coke Studio, the first and arguably the best executed edition of the programme.

Read: Growing market: TCS looks to tap into e-commerce segment

Screengrab: patari.pk

So, while funds meant for organising culture and music events are redirected towards questionable parties, musicians are left with self-funding events in order to get by. The government also ignores music labels that strike dubious deals that eat away any share the musician is entitled to. Granted, this could be because the musician has no business manager, no concept of hiring one and is all in all, a terrible negotiator. But that's the whole point of the government - to facilitate.

So when the chief marketing officer (CMO) of the largest media group sat in a pitch for replicating SoundCloud in Pakistan, with the twist for also being business managers for the artists, he couldn't walk away. In less than six months, Patari attracted (on average) over 1,000 registered users (daily), with each user spending between 20 and 25 minutes on the site (now app). The biggest market shock was taking business away from the 'untouchable' monopolistic labels by signing up numerous A-list musicians like Sikandar Ka Mandar.

5)  MandiExpress.pk

We live in an agricultural economy where supply can meet demand, but unfortunately middle-men charge superfluous prices that pretty much starve the masses that can't pay DHA prices. Farmers, in the meantime, haven't the foggiest idea what is actually being sold and are unable to plan out for the future. Where's the government? Helping hoard the produce.

Screengrab: Mandiexpress,pk

Enter stage right, MandiExpress, a business that aims to connect farmers directly to consumers and by buying straight from the source. My mom has used it a few times and has so far had an "above average" experience. Please note brown parents describe their straight A's students as "above average" too.