Pakistan is good at measuring how many women start businesses but not how many of those businesses survive. Mahe Zehra Husain, a technology entrepreneur and author, argues that this gap distorts the country’s approach to women’s entrepreneurship. Speaking to Business Recorder about her new book, “Women Rising: A Practical Guide to Building a Business You Love”, she said starting a business should not be treated as the main achievement. The more important question, she argues, is how many women build businesses that last and work for them.
Most institutional support is designed around launching businesses. The Kashf Women Entrepreneurship Award has eight main categories, including awards for digital innovation and sustainability. However, the sustainability prize rewards climate resilience and environmentally friendly practices, not whether a business is still operating five years later. None of the categories asks whether a business survived, became profitable or is still running.
Government statistics follow the same pattern. According to Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan, chairman of the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme, the number of beneficiaries of the Prime Minister’s Youth Business and Agriculture Loan Scheme has risen from 71,000 to more than 271,000 in two years. In February, women accounted for 11% of beneficiaries, compared with a target of 25%. In August, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told parliament that more than 104,000 young women had received Rs29bn in financing under the scheme. These figures show how much money was lent, but not what happened to the businesses afterwards.
Ms Husain also argues that Pakistan’s idea of an entrepreneur is too narrow. Discussions often focus on founders who can leave their jobs, invest their savings or spend months developing ideas. Many women, she notes, support whole families or care for children and elderly relatives, so they start with whatever resources they have. A small, stable business that gives a woman more control over her time is no less entrepreneurial than one pursuing venture capital, she argues, even though a culture focused on launches and rapid growth rarely recognises that kind of success.
She does not claim that her book can solve structural problems. She says a workbook cannot overcome inequality. Access to capital, legal support, mobility, childcare, technology, family expectations and social networks all strongly affect who can start and sustain a business. Her book, she says, focuses on areas where entrepreneurs do have some control, such as understanding their business models, defining their goals and identifying their resources and weaknesses.
She also warns against blaming individual entrepreneurs for failures caused by wider problems. Sometimes, she says, the solution is not working harder but gaining access to finance, legal advice, mentors, networks, childcare or better policies.
Her list of what makes a business sustainable is deliberately practical. It includes financial literacy, correct pricing, understanding customers, creating repeatable systems, managing cash flow, negotiation, hiring, delegation and knowing when to change direction. These achievements rarely attract publicity or awards. She also argues that women need support that continues after the launch, warning that a strong Instagram presence and lots of attention do not necessarily mean a business is healthy.
Her own definition of success has changed. When she was younger, she measured success through achievements, titles, recognition and the size of her company. She is now more interested in the quality of life that surrounds those achievements. She says the book reflects years of trial, error and changing her mind, and is not a formula. Its purpose, she says, is to give women the tools to define success for themselves.
Her argument leaves policymakers with a clear gap to fill. Pakistan counts loans, launches and awards, but it does not track how many women-led businesses are still operating, profitable and owned by their founders five or ten years later. Until it does, officials will know how many women started businesses but not how many succeeded.