Small-batch Pakistani shoes startup launches Kickstarter to target Arab world

In 2010, Waqas Ali didn’t know that a regular visit to his ancestral village of Okara in the Punjab region of Pakistan, and chance meeting with Hussein, a craftsman who makes traditional leather shoes, would change the course of his career.

Speaking with Hussein about the effects of the internet on Pakistani society, Ali got the idea of establishing an online store to sell handmade shoes, so as to help out-of-work craftsmen find their customers.

Since that conversation with Hussein, Ali has started a company, guided it to win prizes, expanded his sales to the Arab world, Europe, and North America, and now has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter (just yesterday) to fund the small batch, high quality work of their startup Markhor, and to expand the business to San Francisco.

Back in 2010, he recruited his friend Sidra Qasim, started the company, and moved to Lahore, where it’s easier to find high-quality material, connect with customers, and build websites. Despite the move, however, the two partners were broke, to the point where they had to do their work at KFC, taking advantage of free internet and power.

But in 2012, circumstances changed when Hometown won the Innovation Hero prize from Pashafund for Social Innovation (supported by Google), along with $10,000 USD, allowing the team to recruit more craftsmen and to buy raw material.

Since then, Ali and Qasim have changed the brand to Markhor, as part of a marketing step to expand and gain more customers. Ali explains that the markhor is an endangered goat species that lives in Karakoram Mountains of India, China, and Pakistan, Tibet, and parts of Afghanistan. It is also the national animal of Pakistan. “We chose this word because it applies to the craftsmen of our country. It is a true personification of their art and skills, which have been circulating for more than 1,800 years,” he adds.

Original article by Pamela Kesrouani

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Small-batch Pakistani shoes startup launches Kickstarter to target Arab world