The Story of Zubaid — the 19 year old Entrepreneur
6 months ago July 2019, I met Zubaid at our Judo gym, The Forge. We had sparred a few times but our conversation was limited to Judo. For some reason, that seems to be the convention with MMA gyms. You do not discuss much outside the realm of the sport when you’re there.
Anyway, one evening post our Judo session, I asked Zubaid what he did. Zubaid shared that he had just finished A levels and was preparing for medical school. I asked him how he planned to spend the break in the middle. He said I would like to intern somewhere maybe. I asked him to come over to our office the next day and I would see if I could find some work for him at Five Health.
I liked Zubaid, he had this sincerity & intensity about him that hooked me. When he came over to our office I was thinking of how I could utilize this young man’s talents in our work and the best I could think of was attaching him to one of my colleagues to help them manage health education in schools. However, I asked one question which will be crucial to this story. Zubaid, do you like gardening by any chance?
Zubaid’s eyes lit up. He said I have grown up accompanying my mother to nurseries to buy plants and now that I live with my grandmother here in Karachi, I don’t have the kind of space I would like to do this in.
That was it, I had an idea I had been holding on to for a while, waiting for the right person to execute this idea with. There are many people who appreciate plants and would like to bring them into their lives, can we make it easier for them by delivering the plants to their homes and they could order the plant online. Thus The Garden Gifts was born. Zubaid started off by delivering tree saplings & small potted plants to 72 households on Pakistan’s 72nd anniversary on the 14th of August 2019.
This initial blitz gave Zubaid the startup capital he needed. This was helped further by a generous contribution by an Acumen Fellow and an entrepreneur himself, Jawad Aslam.
Zubaid launched the website and set up the online delivery business for plants and gardening services in less than six months. Zubaid’s business has already broken even and last week when I spoke to him he was proudly telling me how he had to travel to Lahore for a family occasion and he could cover the cost of his own travel. We are working towards enabling him to be fully supporting himself very soon. This is a 19 year young man who has achieved all this in 4 months.
This coming Monday he starts his first day in medical college. All the best. I am proud of you Zubaid!
What I learn from Zubaid
- You don’t need a fancy university degree to set up a successful business
- You don’t have to be a loud extrovert to be an entrepreneur, one would describe Zubaid as a quiet person & an introvert (at least so far — let us see how university changes him)
- Sincerity and dedication to your work are key
If you wish to order Plants for your home or your office call/whatsapp The Garden Gifts at +92 301 1053190
