An Interview of Mr. Abid BeliPioneer of E-commerce Business in Pakistan.

Mr. Abid Beli is a Pakistani entrepreneur who has been working in this field for the past 25 years. He calls himself a ‘Serial Entrepreneur’ due to the series of various entrepreneurial ventures he has worked on over the years. He started Pakistan’s first cyber cafe named Skynet Communication back in 1997 in Karachi. He has started numerous other ventures such as Beliscity.com, Mmatcher Limited, Pocket cinema film festival, Sadia’s Kitchen, Product2brand, Political Pakistan, Heaven Tourism, Pakistani commodities, Tharvera, Youth Plugged, Bechdai, Gwadar Linkers, DailyDeal.pk and many more. His current ventures are MadJoints Studios (started in 2014), Delivery Walay and MovingAdz. His venture Beliscity.com was Pakistan’s first and world’s 22nd online shopping portal which he started in 2001. In fact the concept of many of his ventures have been the introduced for the first time in Pakistan. Though he faced a lot of ups and downs, his achievements are phenomenal, which is the reason why we thought it was important to know his story so that anyone aspiring to be an entrepreneur can learn from him.

Below is the written transcript of an interview we conducted of Mr. Abid Beli, inquiring about his background, businesses, successes and failures.

Q) What triggered you to start up your own business rather than doing a job?

I am an intermediate, and no one gives job to intermediate. And as I am a Memon, So in my community mostly people don’t think about job. The reason I started my own business was because I did love marriage which is why I was kicked out of my family, And my father in law demanded that he will get me married if I earn some money first. This is the reason why I opted to do my own business and apart from that I am not job material, I just can’t do it. I can’t call anyone my boss. I just don’t like the word. Even my staff calls me with my name or brother.

Q) Was there anyone in your family who inspired you to opt for your own business?

I would not call it inspiration but my Uncle(Father’s brother) had the entrepreneurial germs. In 1977 he was the first to bring plastic making machine in Pakistan. Apart from that he always used to do innovative things like this. My father always had a job, He first worked in a decoration company and then moved into a construction company. One of my Uncle was an educated graduate who went on to become income tax officer. I would label it as heritage rather than inspiration which lead me to start my own business.

Q) Did your education help you in anyway during your startup? What do you think is the importance of education?

My education did not help me at all in becoming an entrepreneur. I completed my intermediate with difficulty, till matric it was fine but completing my second year of intermediate was very difficult. After that I couldn’t study, nor thought about studying more. I started working with my father in his business. Even though I believe that education is important but the books that we teach our students do not have any practical implication on the outside world, many will contradict with this but it’s my opinion. No matter books are of BBA or MBA or even schooling they don’t have connection with the real life. Our books teach us how to climb on others shoulders to get success; we are never taught how to become successful ourselves. They do not teach collaboration they teach competition.

Q) How did you spot the opportunities which lead you to start your own business?

My very first business which I started after leaving my family wasn’t an opportunity, I had no money, my friend and class fellow who was doing composing work on computer at that time invited me, we had a discussion where I told him I had no money so I need a place to work where I’ll work my best . He proposed me the idea that I’ll do the composing and I will be doing the printing and after that profit will be divided between us. It was a good opportunity and within 6 months I started business of shopping bags printing and there I got good clients and was able to earn 3 to 3.5 lakhs with which I was able to marry. After 7 months, I suffered a loss in that business and I had to shut that down. The opportunity I saw after that, I was using internet at that time as well, at that time cybercafé was not the popular here in 1999 but popular in India. I have made a lot of friends throughout my life so I went to one of my friend who owned a computer shop. Selling computer equipment’s, there was a space I saw and I gave him the proposal that if you allow we can open a cyber café there , you can become the investor and I will be the working partner. Within weeks we opened the Pakistan’s first cyber café under the name of Sky-net Communication. From there once again life stared to get back on track and have continued up till now.

Q) What was your vision when you started your first venture and what is your vision now?Are both the visions aligned?

My mission at that time was to get married after earning some money. I have suffered losses but have continued moving, my vision back that time and now is that I couldn’t do one single thing, maybe it’s from God that I get bored doing one thing. My aim is to benefit as much people as possible from my new ventures. Starting from cyber café to online business to what I am doing today, I want its multiplication; people should multiply and start doing that business.

Q) Did you have any partners when you started the business? In your opinion, Is it a good thing to have partners or bad?

Yes I had partners with me when I started my printing and cybercafé business. But after these two businesses I never worked again in partnership. I think one cannot work without having partners, but it is also very important to have good partners with you in a business, for good partners money never matters what matters to them the most is good relationship and values, if your partners main schema is about making money then the partnership will never last. The only partnership that is long lasting is when your main mission is to attain respect and goodwill and when you work for the overall welfares of others.

Q) How much time did you invest in your business at initial level and how much time do you invest now?

I spend a lot of time working on my business in the starting and even today. I only sleep for about 7 to 8 hours a day the rest of the time I am always working.

Q) Do you think it is important to have a huge capital for starting a business?

Not at all! I don’t think it is important to have a huge capital to start a business the history of all my businesses is an example for that. I have started all my business with a zero capital or you could say I have started all my business from minus. I never looked back on those people who did wrong to me and cheated on me in my business because if I would have focused on them I would have left behind. I have my full faith in ALLAH and I always keep moving without caring about those people. This is one capability I have in me from ALLAH. I never cared about the capital and one reason for that is you don’t need money for online business if you know the tricks e.g.: belicity.com the business which I started online, I started it from my home from my own computer. I did the email marketing of the products. I gave a list of products to people through a software name Emailing World although it comes in spam now. I got orders on that email and used to buy the products on credit from there because of my friendship and then I sold those products keeping my profit on them and clear all my dues. Just like this I did almost all my businesses on my PR and never on capital. In beliscity.com project I had a loss of about 40.8 million in 2008 and kept paying of this loss till 2015, so basically even after the loss I kept moving and people used to talk about me that I never stop and I keep trying new things new businesses so these people don’t know about me or about my life. And since it is my life I know what to do and what not to do, I know my problems so I never cared about what people say or think about me. You don’t need a capital if you have a strong business plan with you.

Q) How did you manage to have such a huge network? Did you have any platform for building this network?

I have been making friends since the very first day of my life. I am still in contact with my school friends. Lately all my school friends had a meet up at California pizza and we were so pleased and happy to see each other and since we were so excited and being very boisterous they shifted us to a separate birthday party room, so basically it is very important to enjoy every moment with your friends and family, and to be mentally present while talking to someone and enjoy each and every moment and give proper attention to the person you are sitting with, that is how they develop a sense of credibility about you and would love to meet you again in the future. The reason why I have lots of friends is that I give proper attention to people and never try to make friends with the intent of any personal interest from them.

Q) Did you need any kind of financial or emotional support from other people?

No, Not the financial support but yes I took emotional support from my wife, she helped me a lot even after so many losses she didn’t go anywhere. Even now she is with me, she supported me in all my problems and matters. Emotional support is very important for any person, its example can be that, for 14 years I had relations with my parents only on phone. I used to be afraid before starting any venture or when I get losses. Since 2013 when my relations with my parents got better again, now I don’t get afraid because I have the prayers of my parents with me, so now I don’t get afraid even little bit. Now I have emotional support in my mind that I have prayers of my parents with me, before I only had my wife’s prayers. Secondly if you make good friends then even your friend’s support is with you. Every person need someone in his life because no one in this world started walking right after birth. Nurse gives a child to his parents, then the parents teach the child how to walk. There is always someone supporting you at every point of life. Even when you die, someone takes you to the graveyard. So every person needs some kind of support at every phase of life.

Q) What are the strengths and weaknesses of your ventures?

Weakness of my ventures are that, it is at a very slow pace because of less funds. We are moving slowly and we have no hurry. Strength is that the ideas are different and we are capturing people and they have no other options so they come towards us. Although we have our competitors but thankfully we have such USP (Unique Selling Proportion) that client prefers us.

Q) Tell us about your vision of 100 startups?

In 2013 I planned to do 100 startups, it happened like that when a bubble of entrepreneurship came in Pakistan so people used to call me for startup mentorships and judging for different competitions. They used to fail the other individual person no matter how brilliant his idea is. They used to reject it if the person is alone and not in team. In one competition a boy came up with the idea of rickshaw advertisement. He got dishearten that he failed although his idea was very good. I offered him to work with me with 30 % his share and 70% my share. He agreed on it. So we started a startup by the name of moving ads. So, since then I thought that why not help other children who have such ideas. Just like that I started my aim for 100 startups. At this moment we are at 21. Goal is that 100 families should settle because of me and further it will become 200. So I think it’s enough for me.

Q) What was the motivator that kept you thriving?

My first motivation was marriage. Because my in laws had asked me to either do graduation or to start some business so that I could rent my own house. I could not study, so I said that I cannot study further, so I can try starting up my own business and asked them for 6 month time. Then, Allah helped me and I made good money in the duration of 6 months. After that the motivational level kept changing. Like when I had my first son, I thought of bringing him up in a better way. And I have this belief too, some people agree some people do not, that son and daughter always bring good in life. When I said this once, a speaker criticized that it means whenever there is a problem, one should give birth to children. I replied to him that it is your approach, I have just said that whenever I was in crisis, my newly born children have always brought good fate with them. And because of that my business had always flourished; you can perceive it as anything you want. So, firstly my motivation was marriage then it shifted towards the better future of my children. Now the motivation is that to do something from which the people can benefit and Alhamdulillah people are benefiting from that. So motivation keeps changing.

Q) What is your current motivation?

Hamariladli, my new project is my current motivation. It is about that even today, some families are there who become upset when a girl is born in their family. They either divorce their wives or throw the new born girl in trash or some kind of jhoola. I experienced this in my life some 10 months ago. So, I thought about working on this issue. I never do anything in hurry; I keep it on hold because everything has its own time. When the appropriate time will come, I will launch the project. A young girl named Komal came to me as a manager at my “Deliverywala” project. She shared her life experiences with me and she also experienced this thing when her parents felt that if she were a son, their family would be in a better condition. So, I discussed this project with her. I told her that this is my dream project, if you wish to work with me in this, we will launch this. So, my current motivation is for the good of the girls who are thought as a burden on their family. We intend to mentor their parents. We will help the girl financially too from her birth till she gets settled; whether it is her marriage or business startup, we will stand with that girl and her family. The girl will live with her family and we will support her. Along with this, we will try the parents of that girl to get some job or start some business to find some ways for earning. The aim is to tell those parents that the girl was born to you, for this reason we got connected to you and your lives changed; so the burden changed to blessing. And then those parents will become our brand ambassadors. For this project to start, we need money and I cannot ask for donations, so we need to do some more work on it. We have also launched a fund raising event, stand-up comedy competition, in January. So, my motivation now is that I have to do a lot for “HamariLadli”.

Q) Who are your role models?

I have always had 2 role models from the very beginning, 1) Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) and 2) Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. And there is one lesson that our Quaid left behind which has been the bottom line of my life. It is that “ I make the decision first and then make it right!” I’ve been applying this quote in my life and it has always helped me through my journey.

Q) What is the most important factor in your life?

One thing that matters to me is respect, money never mattered to me in life because I have seen a lot of money in my childhood. I had seen a life where whatever I had wished for, I got. And then I also saw a life where I used to hide from the conductor of the bus so that he does not stop me for the bus fare. Then I again saw a time where I took my children and family for Hajj and Umrah via 1st class plane ticket and resided in five star hotels. And then I again saw the crisis where I did not even have money for my children’s education fee. So, I had several ups and downs in my life, which removed the love for money from me. And those who say that money is necessary; it is necessary only for the daily needs. And if you have extra money than that, that is not yours, but of someone else.

No, I have gained enough respect Alhamdulillah but I will not give it all up because I have to feed myself and my children. I do not need more money. Allah has given me enough again that I have no tension about it. In 2008, when I incurred loss of four crore eighty lacs, I had an option to flew to America and never return. I would have easily gotten American visa within 24 hours, because I already had investor visa for Dubai; I had my house and office there. But because of me, at least 40 to 45 shops would have to be shut if I flew and after that I might not be able to come back to Pakistan. But I returned to Pakistan and then I invited all of the people, had food with them, had ice cream and then told them that I have incurred a loss and then promised them to return their in 2 years. Because of some governmental issue in our country, many businesses went to a downfall so it took me 7 years instead of 2 years to return their money. But Alhamdulillah, whenever those people meet me or talk to me, they give me enough respect. Anyone who talks about me behind my back, also remembers me in good words; this is a big achievement for me.

Q) Which was your most successful venture?

Pakistan’s 1st and the world’s 22nd online company that I launched in 2001, Beliscity.com. Till 2006, the monthly turnover/sales was around 1.5 to 1.75 crore; which is even greater than that of daraz.pk or others today. On the basis of this I shifted to Dubai, and there too I was the first one to purchase dotcom license, and then I incurred loss in the same country too. At that time, my most successful venture was Beliscity.com, and now it is Delivery Walay (courier company).

Q) What advice would you like to give to young entrepreneurs?

Whatever religion you belong to, have faith in God. He tests us in various ways and if we face disaster, that is because of our own mistakes. The difference is that when we face disaster, we drift away from God, and when we are being tested, we come closer to God. And whenever I had incurred losses, I have become closer to Allah. And so Allah tested me by giving a lot and then by taking everything away from me. So firstly whatever religion you belong to, have faith in that. My second advice would be that never even think of harming anyone else. If you think of harming anyone, you would surely be harmed yourself. Thirdly, if someone has harmed you or deceived you, then never look back at it again, just forget it and move forward. Although, it is very difficult, but just forget it and move on. A small example is that when I had a huge loss of Belicity.com, a lot of people used to talk a lot behind my back. A very close friend of mine once overheard some people in a market who were talking about me. He called me from there and told me everything. He said that they all are talking rubbish about you, why don’t you do anything. I said I do not have enough time to waste on what they are saying and then reply them. What would I argue with them, I know I have made a huge loss, so there is no point in arguing, Instead, I can focus on my business and return his money. In this way, he will be happy and will talk good about me again. 3 weeks ago, my same friend returned from Dubai and came to see me, he was really shocked to see this set up now because he had seen my crisis for 8–9 years. He was very happy to see all of this. I asked him if he remembered the day when he called me in that market and asked me to reply those backbiters. I asked him if I did right at that moment by not replying them and focus on my business. He said yes I did right by not wasting my time on them; he just could not understand why I was not replying to them. So, whoever harms you, do not waste your time on him, move forward instead, never of think of harming anyone and whoever you have belief on, have faith in that.

Q) In the end, what would you advise our young students who are afraid of entrepreneurship and go for a job instead?

The one who is scared should not come in entrepreneurship and the one who is not scared should come in entrepreneurship and continue without being scared. Because our living and food is predetermined, so you will not die of hunger. And the money you require for your lifestyle after fulfilling the basic necessities of life depends on your efforts. So it depends on you, live with fear or without it. If you want to live with fear, so by the end of month, you will receive salary in your account; stay happy in it. And there is no harm in doing job too, because if one will do job, only then the businesses will flourish; if everyone starts their own business then who will work in it. So, the one who is scared, keep him for the job, and the one who is not scared, make him start the business. But the need of hour for this country is to set up new businesses. In 2011, I was invited as a guest speaker in a university’s event; I said there that Pakistan does not have enough jobs, so it is better for all of the students to start up some businesses. In that event, some HR managers were also present. A lady among them, pointed out at me and said that one speaker has said that Pakistan does not have enough jobs, it surely has. Some time ago, the same lady was saying that there are not enough jobs in Pakistan and we need to focus on new business startups. I had already predicted that in 2011. The reason is that I am a Memon, and in our markets (cloth market or plastic market, etc.) we used to take our younger siblings to some relatives’ or friend’s shop and ask them to teach younger ones some work and pay them daily some rs.100 or rs.500. And the shop owner would easily agree and keep the younger ones for the work and teach them and pay them without any problem. But today, it is impossible to practice this, because the shop owner would say that it is difficult for me to fulfill my needs with this business, how would I pay this younger one. So, this is the change, and it is because the shortage of new business. Businesses are down; they are increasing, but on a very slow pace. Moreover, the skilled jobs are required today, but back in the simpler times, no skills were required, just the practical work. So there is a difference; there are no jobs. You have to start new businesses to provide new opportunities, like “Careem” and “Uber”. They are a huge example; because of whom many people who used to earn 17 to 18 thousand easily earn around 1 lac today with respect. So, you have to introduce new businesses via new technologies in this country, if you have to see it prosper. And secondly, collaboration; this is not the time for competition. The better you collaborate, the more good it will be. Otherwise, fight; you will fight and the consumer will take benefit and you will bear loss.