How Careem beat Uber in Pakistan - Junaid Iqbal - Founding MD Careem -

Junaid Iqbal, the founding MD of Careem, comes on The Pakistan Experience to tell the story of how Careem beat Uber in Pakistan and how they sold Careem for over 3 billion dollars!

On this deep dive podcast, we discuss the investment and start up culture in Pakistan.

Junaid is an investor and entrepreneur with an excellent track record in executing growth and turnaround strategies.

As the founding Managing Director of Pakistan, he was responsible for establishing and growing the company's presence in the country. By 2017, Careem Pakistan was the largest market in the network by rides. Between 2017 and 2019, he also served as Managing Director for Careem Saudi Arabia and Managing Director of Careem Pay from 2019 to 2020.

Junaid led the turnaround and sale of Elixir Securities, a Pakistan-based global brokerage and investment banking advisory firm. Under his leadership, Elixir became the market leader in brokerage and volumes and led the secondary sale of HBL Bank, worth $1.01 bn, the single largest equity deal in Pakistan's history.

Junaid’s first stint as a CEO was at BMA Financial, where he built Pakistan’s first digitally enabled mutual fund supermarket.

Prior to BMA, he spent 5 years as a financial journalist producing and anchoring shows for Geo Tv and CNBC.

He is also the co-founder of Salt Arts, a music, art and entertainment platform.

He graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.


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Junaid Iqbal, the founding MD of Careem, comes on The Pakistan Experience to tell the story of how Careem beat Uber in Pakistan and how they sold Careem for over 3 billion dollars!

On this deep dive podcast, we discuss the investment and start up culture in Pakistan.

Junaid is an investor and entrepreneur with an excellent track record in executing growth and turnaround strategies.

As the founding Managing Director of Pakistan, he was responsible for establishing and growing the company's presence in the country. By 2017, Careem Pakistan was the largest market in the network by rides. Between 2017 and 2019, he also served as Managing Director for Careem Saudi Arabia and Managing Director of Careem Pay from 2019 to 2020.

Junaid led the turnaround and sale of Elixir Securities, a Pakistan-based global brokerage and investment banking advisory firm. Under his leadership, Elixir became the market leader in brokerage and volumes and led the secondary sale of HBL Bank, worth $1.01 bn, the single largest equity deal in Pakistan's history.

Junaid’s first stint as a CEO was at BMA Financial, where he built Pakistan’s first digitally enabled mutual fund supermarket.

Prior to BMA, he spent 5 years as a financial journalist producing and anchoring shows for Geo Tv and CNBC.

He is also the co-founder of Salt Arts, a music, art and entertainment platform.

He graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

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  / thepakistanexp1  
  / thepakistanexperience  
  / thepakistanexpeperience  

The podcast is hosted by comedian and writer, Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. Shehzad is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters in Theatre from Brooklyn College. He is also one of the foremost Stand-up comedians in Pakistan and frequently writes for numerous publications.

Instagram.com/shehzadghiasshaikh
Facebook.com/Shehzadghias/
Twitter.com/shehzad89

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
01:40 how Start Ups make money & how Careem came to be
14:25 dealing with the government & regulation
25:43 why Airlift & Swvl failed
29:44 what made Careem so nimble & staying ahead of Uber
43:50 dealing with cases of harassment, creating incentives for captains & customers
57:42 learnings from Junaid’s time at Careem, and the importance of picking the right talent and interview tips
1:14:00 why food delivery failed, data, changing ways of marketing
1:22:32 losing talent to FMCGs, Pakistan’s revenue problem, entrepreneurs solving problems
1:47:10 Q & A