Pakistanis who made it to Forbes '30 Under 30' Asia list

This year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list recognises seven Pakistanis for their contributions in various fields, ranging from technology to media. Forbes describes them as “changemakers in 10 categories who are transforming their industries”. Syed Ismail Syed Ismail, cofounder of Karachi-based Saraaf. — photo courtesy Forbes Listed in the ‘consumer and enterprise technology’ category, Syed Ismail cofounded Karachi-based Saraaf in 2021 to “digitise commodity sourcing and bring more transparency to it”. The company is set to launch a mobile app for “businesses sourcing materials such as onyx and cotton from Central and South Asia, with real-time pricing, shipment tracking, digitised contracts and live chats”, Forbes notes. In 2024, Saraaf also secured a $5.3 million investment commitment from Shark Tank Pakistan. Founders of Plouton AI Sarfraz Shahid Hussain (L) and Muhammad Furqan Karim Kidwai (R). — photo courtesy Forbes Muhammad Furqan Karim Kidwai and Sarfraz Shahid Hussain secured a spot in the ‘finance and venture capital’ category for having co-founded Singapore-based Plouton AI. The venture was described as an “agentic automation platform that helps midmarket companies automate finance workflows”. It “uses auditable browser-based agents to run finance workflows, such as invoicing, payroll processing and month-end reconciliation, within existing tools like Xero, QuickBooks and Excel”, saving companies from buying costly software. According to Forbes, Kidwai “saw how finance teams in many emerging markets still rely on spreadsheets and emails”, prompting him to launch a fintech company. The two Habib University graduates had previously also co-founded fintech startup YPay Financial Services, which offered an app for people to invest digitally in mutual funds. Maheera Ghani Maheera Ghani, a P...

Original source: Dawn Pakistan