May 1st, 2024. It’s a public holiday here in Pakistan. Maybe that is why staying home and working from my home office feels normal.
Eight years ago, I left a steady job and career in Finance (wishful thinking) to join the family business in Karachi. The business was going through some rough patches, but I believed it would fight back.
And it did.
But my eight years here were never consistent. The business was never stable. I did not get the chance to earn as much as I thought I would. Let me dive deeper into the issues that led to this demise.
Reasons To Fail
Political Instability is one of the biggest reasons. When PML-N was in power, it was pro-business, the dollar was stable, importing was easier, and people were generally happier. Since Imran Khan came to power, doing business has become harder every year. When Imran Khan’s government was toppled, things got much, much worse.
Pakistan’s currency devalued, creating uncertain business conditions. When I joined the business, the Yuan was 15 per Yuan. That was in 2015. In 2024, it was 40. Eight months ago, it was 45. Our business is completely reliant on importing goods from China. This pricing instability caused us to make bad decisions.
Rising value of the dollar meant the cost of living got beyond control. The working population’s wages remained constant yearly while the cost of living tripled. When you are selling jewelry, which is a luxury, this means bad news.
Market Saturation by big box retailers led to a heavy price war. Karachi is dominated by these retailers, which control over 90% of the retail market. They do business directly with China now, cutting out the middleman. This was detrimental to our business. We did pivot our business to launch our brand in 2019, but Covid meant we had to drop this idea. The remaining 10% is super price sensitive, which meant the lowest-priced offer survived.
There are many smaller reasons like China being closed off for four years, which meant a lack of variety, the deteriorating conditions of Karachi as a city, the difficulties in importing due to stricter controls, and the general negative sentiments of the population.
What The Future Holds
Honestly, I wish I knew the answer to this. At the age of 33, I feel relaunching my Finance career would be difficult. I will have to start as a fresher, which will be tough as I have two sons and a wife to look after.
I have enough savings to survive a year, and then it's all gone. After eight years of hard work, I am leaving the business empty-handed. And my family terms with my dad aren't great at the moment, so I can’t turn back either.
The way forward is a little difficult.
I plan to work on SEO, meta ads, and Google ads, as I have been working in this industry for the past two years. I might also offer my services as a writer to the finance industry, as I am well-versed in SEO, copywriting, and Finance.
I am thinking of launching this Substack as my portfolio.
Today is day 1.
Let’s see how it goes.