Nothing Innovative Ever Stood Still — 021 Disrupt

On the eve of 28th October 2019, I received a message from a dear friend, sharing an invitation to the 021 Disrupt conference which aims to draw inspiration from the startup community in Karachi (yes, the metropolis of Pakistan) and its relentless need to keep moving. As a young social entrepreneur and computer scientist, her words resonated like any other typical entrepreneurial conference, that is, one which is repetitive and boring. Entrepreneurship cannot be disruptive. Can it? I carried this question with me to give me one last attempt at a conference of such a theme and scale.
The two-day conference started on the opening words of a very humble lady, Jehan Ara (who has yet to accept my request on LinkedIn — pun intended), the co-founder of the city’s flagship incubator — Nest I/O. The not so formal tone and establishment of the sense of connectivity with every attendee took me by storm. The polite voice made me eager to know what’s coming next.
The sessions that followed were informative and concise, led by industry experts in the field from ‘all over the world’, and really, I mean it. What I found even more interesting was the strict following of the schedule. Can you ask an investor to conclude his session because he is exceeding the time? Are we all equal? Haha. The sessions ranged from ‘Making high-speed internet affordable’ to ‘startup narratives and challenges’ to ‘investors sharing their ideal features of a founder’ to ‘startup pitches’ (with deals closing during the conference) to “social problems of the society”. Every word uttered on the stage opened up a completely new dialogue for community welfare and social entrepreneurship.
It was in the midst of my focus on this talk, that I took a small break for reflecting on these thoughts. I turned right, only to realize, Junaid Iqbal, CEO of Careem (Uber’s subsidiary in Pakistan and the Middle East, and a man I have always admired for his leadership skills) seated right beside me. Sooner than later, I recognize, many of the leaders of the global startup ecosystem are around us in the same room. No more of that backstage appointment to meet the investors and the notable people. They are indeed, just one handshake away.
And really, entrepreneurship is nothing but ‘disruptiveness’ and for me, the true meaning of entrepreneurship was in place — a space in the ecosystem where businesses, startups, and investors are all equal, and all is required of you is to ‘disrupt’ and dream big. I found some potential investors for my upcoming startup in financial technology (Stay tuned!), made some great friends, found some inspiration and learned some important values.
Indeed, though, I still do not know if I found the answer to my question, but I can totally vouch for one statement, “Nothing Innovative Ever Stood Still”.
