e-commerce portal

Imran Mujahid is a dynastic and motivated entrepreneur as his grandfather setup Rafiq Watch Company in 1947 which needs no further introduction. Imran, however professed the pulse of the time and created 7Star.pk in 2012, an e-commerce portal to sell watches and giving new dimension to his hereditary business. Imran shared his entrepreneurial journey with Technology Times in a recent interview

an e-commerce portal to sell watches

Tell us briefly about yourself?

Muhammad Imran Mujahid: I being from the third generation in this business had a greater responsibility to handle the matters in a progressive manner. However, lack of specialized technical IT education made it difficult for me to be a part of this race.

After the completion of my matriculation and then I-Com from the city of Faisalabad, I joined my family business of wrist watches in year 2000. Faisalabad was always a smaller market for our product and I wanted to have more attention of the public towards our products.

I always thought to be a bigger businessman with a better standard of services and products and a distinguished name in the market.

How you plunge yourself into e-commerce entrepreneurship?

Keeping in view the demands of the 4th and 5th generation business, we decided to enter in the online field of selling. It is very easy to say what we are doing now but it took a lot of struggle and hard and continuous work to reach this point. Failure was never a hurdle or an obstacle in my way which always enforced me to try and try again. Although I was not a professionally educated person for this field which created a lot of problems for me also, my passion completely changed the way I think.

Where do you see yourself after 5 years?

I live my life on a day to day basis and try to remain in high hopes to face every challenge of the present and the future. However, what I believe is that a targeted destination restricts you to think further and move further. I always believe to work and work harder. The only key to success is the blessings of Allah and continuous and untiring struggle by one. All the success of one is by the Almighty Allah. However, the way the world is changing, I hope we will set the new standards of product quality and services.

How you recognized the need of creating an e-commerce portal i.e.7star.pk?

Failure was never an obstacle or hurdle in my way. The changing needs of the time took me into the online field in year 2008. I tried and tried and tried. I made a lot of mistakes but never given up keeping in view that the world is rapidly changing its conservative attitude to the modern. Business attitude was also taking a turn in those days and I am very happy to say that we were the pioneers in the online original wrist watch business in Pakistan.

At what level you want to take your 7star.pk, being an entrepreneur?

Sky is the limit and Allah has blessed me with everything in my life. The only thing I keep in my mind is to work in a proper manner with zeal and devotion and leave the rest to Allah. I work for the quality and not for the quantity. So, it does not matter to what level we take 7star.pk, the thing matter is what place others give 7star.pk in their books.

How 7star.pk has changed the trend of shopping in Pakistan and to what extent?

Pakistan is a pretty juvenile market for online sales yet but the way people are thinking onwards is far different from the past. What I can say is that Rafiq Watch Company or 7 Star Watches was always a local name of the market but 7star.pk has changed its status of a retail outlet to the global sale point.

Our quality product was unknown to the remote areas of the country where people always remained in search of a quality watch and its service center. 7star.pk has changed the way people think. Now buying an original wrist watch is just as easy as ordering a tasty cheese pizza. Saving of time, fuel and effort thus encourage the buyer to spend money online rather than going to a physical sale point.

How did you manage to cope with the difficulties that hindered you in attaining your objectives, both professionally and psychologically?

Psychological impact of the failure is more devastating than professional. As I had no specific computer education so it was very difficult for me to handle problems and difficulties at times. By the grace of Almighty Allah, all the friends from the IT world helped me a lot to cope with the problems. I also wasted a lot of money in all these experiments but all ended well.

Can a small e-commerce business also be setup with small capital?

One of the reason e-commerce stores are getting the attention of the modern day businessmen is that an e-commerce sales setup can be established by a very little working capital in comparison with the physical sale point. Most of the modern day e-commerce businessmen do not maintain physical stocks of the products they sell thus involve a least amount of finances in the business with a higher rate of returns.

What factors do young entrepreneurs must take care of before setting up an e-commerce business?

Ambition to take an overnight flight is the major reason behind many unsuccessful IT professionals and businessmen. Remember, every success story has a long dark side which is never visible to the general public. What I consider is that success is like planting a seed with your hand, take good care of the plant and let your generations enjoy the fruits of the tree. So, stay cool with the positive approach and a steady and a mature behavior towards your job or business. If you consider these points in your mind, yes, future is all for the electronic and cyber businessmen.

What future of cyber entrepreneurship do you see in developing countries like Pakistan?

Time has gone a long way. The third world as well as Pakistan has also gone through various seasons of cultures and technology. Most of the products we eat and use in our daily life such as washing powder, toothpaste, tissue papers, shampoo, mobile phone, computers, burger and pizza were more than a fiction a century go. It was all a matter of time which changed the dreams to the reality. The world has become a global village and nobody can say he or she is isolated in the modern time. So, the future is all about technology and whoever will utilize the resources in a better manner, the future will be his.