Muhammad Ahmad Ibraheem, Usman Khan, Haroon Baig, Emperor’s Bazaar
Azhar Rizvi
From Peshawar, we have the Emperor’s Bazaar team. They were avidly competing in business plan competitions while in school. Right after graduation, they launched The Emperor’s Bazar, an online portal selling ethnic handicrafts. The team realized the potential of a large market for the stunning creations by local artisans both in Pakistan and globally. They are in the second year of their operation and have now reached break-even. I noticed them when they pitched at the Peshawar 2.0 event and later at Pakathon. Personally, I believe that it is the team that matters the most while the product or service comes later. This is a good team to keep an eye on as I am sure they will soon become a very successful venture from Peshawar.
Tale of An Emperor’s Bazaar
From the Indus Valley Civilization to the remnants of the Greek and Central Asian invasions in the northwest to Islamic and Mughal influences, Pakistan has an eclectic culture more than 5,000 years old. The artistic and cultural legacy of indigenous artisans is diverse and steeped in ethnic history. Their rugs, carpets, woodwork, brassware, leather products, precious and semi-precious stones, jewelry, handicraft and embroidered work have always been in demand in the international market.
Global handicraft exports are expected to grow at a 12 percent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) by 2019. However, in Pakistan, 22 percent of the working population employed in handicraft and related services have a per capita income of only PKR11,000 (US$108 approx.) (Pakistan Bureau of Statistics 2013-14). Dwindling tourism and outdated market mechanisms have contributed to the shrinking of the business for handicraft export market.
Realizing the need for a digital platform promoting Pakistani handicrafts in the world market, three friends, Muhammad Ahmad Ibraheem, Usman Khan and Haroon Baig decided to change things around. They developed an online portal that highlights local crafts and Pakistan’s artisans. They represent some of the finest handicrafts in the country and are working to highlight the history of the craft and the artisans.
Since they started their venture in 2014, they have been going from success to success towards their goal of putting Pakistan handicrafts on the map of startups.
In 2014, a New Zealand based Tech Blog, Brave New Coin featured Emperor’s Bazaar as the first Pakistani e-commerce startup with Bitcoin payment integration.
In 2015, they were finalists in MITEFP’s BAP Competition and inducted into the I2I cohort.
In 2016, TechinAsia named Emperor’s Bazaar with seven others as the Most Innovative startups of Pakistan.
The US State Department selected Emperor’s Bazaar to represent Pakistan in Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2016 in Silicon Valley, California.
Emperor’s Bazaar also won the Best Startup in Social Entrepreneurship category of Startup Magazine’s Expo 2016.
