It all started when I was in 7th grade. I always wanted to start my own business with my friends so we can be together for work and fun. We used to organize stalls on streets during the month of August. We used to sold flags, badges, and other patriotic accessories and made good money out of it. We tasted the profits when we were very young and always talked about starting a business and become entrepreneurs. We had many ideas in the start; for example, selling shirts, perfumes, jewelry cosmetics and an infinite list of products for brainstorming. On a one fine morning, we were having breakfast in the college cafeteria when I discussed a coaching center idea with my friend and unexpectedly he liked the idea.
After a long time we both were on the same page. But the next question was, from where we are going to raise funds for that? After few brainstorming sessions we decided to discuss this idea to few more friends and when we put the idea on the table in our group, three more friends were ready to join. Goosebumps! We pooled in some money and resources and started working on the business plan. We launched it, marketed it but didn’t get a good response from the students. We finally decided to shut it down because it was being impossible for us to bear overhead costs every month.
We lost a substantial amount of money in that venture. After few months, Ovais (my co-founder) came up with an idea to start an eCommerce website like daraz.pk and I was also desperately wanted to recover the losses and I gave him a go ahead. We just invested the time in that idea and started developing the website and that website was never completed. We were not clear headed at that time on what to sell, in other words, it was a fear of failure that never allowed us to launch that website.
We had few meetings over it but both of us were quite most of the time. There was some emptiness inside, we wanted to do something but we were unable to overcome fear. Our last hope lost when the lockdown was imposed in March 2020 and decided to buried all those ideas we had in mind. We were having a few telephonic conversations weekly due to social distancing. Just after a month, we saw a boom in the ecommerce sector. For the first time in life we witnessed a massive online shopping of even fruits, vegetables and groceries. We scheduled frequent telephonic calls, talked several hours, and I proposed the previous ecommerce idea, but Ovais was one step ahead of me. “Rather than finding investors and spending on the products and marketing campaigns, lets help other online stores in their delivery process”, he suggested.
The Aha moment! We discussed the idea with our teachers, they did not only encourage us but also guided and offered their support. Dots were connecting in the right direction and finally in June 2020, we launched QCL (Quickster Courier Link). In the process of finding the right IT guy, our very own friend Umar Yousaf joined us, he not only developed the digital assets but also invested in the company. Initial few months were really difficult but with the family and friends support QCL is now covering the entire city of Karachi and planning to expand to 750+ cities in phase two. Don’t loose hope ever. Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. Entrepreneurs have to go through the darkness in order to see prosperity in life.
