It is always empowering and wonderful to come across success stories of young Pakistani men and women from across the world and one such example is Muneeb Mushtaq.
The young and dynamic Pakistani Canadian businessman has established several business ventures before even turning 30 while also being a charismatic public speaker and mentor for many other young entrepreneurs.
We got to have an insightful interview with the businessman and discussed how he came up with his ventures and what he thinks the post-corona world would look like.
Muneeb who moved to Canada from Pakistan at a very young age called the experience to be very overwhelming as it would be for anyone who moves to a new country and starts everything from scratch. “We had a well-established life back home in Karachi but my father wanted to move to Canada to provide us with better studies, opportunities and a brighter future,” he said.
Talking more about his family life and their support in his business ventures, he told us that family support especially his father’s has always been a huge advantage in being successful in whatever he does because it basically gives an assurance that there is somebody rooting for you and they’re going to support you no matter what. But he believes that it also comes with a caveat as well which is that they have high expectations from you but that also helps in keeping me driven and motivated to jump out of bed and make them proud.
With the current coronavirus pandemic taking over the world and bringing the global economy to a halt, we asked Muneeb how he was handling his businesses and his outlook of the post –pandemic world.
Muneeb is currently the co-founder and CEO of a Canadian tech company called Airzai, that’s introduced the world’s first smart-home diffuser called AROMA that uses premium swiss made fragrances curated by Airzai. https://www.airzai.com/products/airzai-care
“We have recently launched our air sanitiser which is not only a disinfectant but uses premium fragrances, it is very upscale and it’s not only in a disinfecting perspective. It also has high quality materials and then it smells really good,” he told us about his latest product that he looks forward to introducing into the Pakistani market as well.
How were you able to steer your business through the corona pandemic and what plans do you have for the post-corona times?
Muneeb: It was indeed very essential and important for us to survive as a company even though our factories in China were shut down and we had to be fast in order to come up with a solution that could keep us afloat.
We decided to invest in our R&D and dedicated all our resources to figure out a solution and were able to come up with a unique and innovative product called, “AIRZAI CARE” line of products, the main product being our patent-pending Air Sanitizer, which disinfects the air around you. Especially, post pandemic, when people are going to return to their normal lives, so for example someone if takes an Uber or Careem, it’s really important to disinfect that area as you don’t know who has sat before you, and Airzai which is a fragranced disinfectant not only will be helpful in killing germs but also maintain a pleasant atmosphere whether it is used in an office, an elevator or anywhere else.
Muneeb who went to business school at the University of Toronto told us that he was never interested in doing a 9 to 5 job and in his last year started his first business with his brother, Nabeel Mushtaq. They started a company together and sold it two years later.
How do you think Covid-19 will affect the global economy especially in developing economies?
Muneeb: Covid-19 has definitely had an enormous effect on the economies around the world. The main reason is it just hit people in an unexpected way and has caused the world to come to a halt so the pandemic will eventually will have a massive ripple effect, globally.
However, a lot of people are not realising the magnitude of the economic damage that’s been done so far and like everywhere else in the world it is going to impact developing countries a lot too and of course countries like Pakistan will be hit hard. But I also feel this can serve as a rare opportunity for developing countries for envisioning a way to do things differently in order to grow their economies faster as everything has come on the same level as the kind of development that was happening in developed countries, it was nearly impossible to catch up to them before.
A key learning from this outbreak is that no one can or should rely on one country as source of 90% of manufacturing so a country like Pakistan has an opportunity to focus on “made in Pakistan” products and start building up their own homegrown products, manufacturing them, rather than importing them from somewhere else. This presents a massive opportunity to have less reliance on other countries while creating a big pool of employment for locals that could help in boosting the economy.
Will the ongoing global pandemic serve as a catalyst for further accelerating a shift towards adapting a more technological approach at workplaces?
Muneeb: Yes, a hundred percent and we’re seeing the shift already as people weren’t used to doing work from home before but today that culture has grown rapidly. Companies are now more open to adapting technology because the pandemic has just created a new era where if you ask me, “I don’t believe the work places that we used to have before are ever going to come back.” There is going to be a modified version of that and when you look at applications like Zoom that went from 20 million users to almost 300 million users within three months it just shows that adoption is on a very escalated level and we’re only going to see an uptake from here.
Aside from being the CEO of Airzai, Muneeb also co-founded one of Canada’s largest on-demand platforms called AskforTask https://www.askfortask.com which is an application for home services.
Being a young businessman, how do you manage work-life balance? How do you keep yourself motivated?
Muneeb: I’ve been a businessman since I was 17 and that is something I’ve always been passionate about. I believe in work-life balance especially for our employees but I don’t actually consider doing the things I do as work. Particularly, when you’re just starting off you have to enjoy what you’re doing and the motivation comes from pursuing something you’re passionate about.
But then as time passed, I realised that I need to actually have that literal balance and sort of find a line between the two. I figured it was important to balance the two things because money or anything is worthless without good health so you want to make sure that you are taking care of yourself.
“To make sure am staying healthy I have made working out a part of my routine and have that marked on my daily calendar so that I don’t miss it at all,” he said.
What has been the biggest realisation for you over the past few months during the corona pandemic?
Muneeb: The biggest realisation for me is that it has given us the time to understand the importance of basic things in life. “I think the world was just running in a race and this has helped in slowing things down so we can start valuing things that actually matter.”
Now what I mean by that is on a macro-level if you look at it the importance of sustainability for our planet Earth, you’ve seen how fast it is healing and that is something that has an importance not on a personal level but it does carry an importance and it’s important to understand the value of that.
On the micro-level which is in respect to an impact on our personal lives, we have realised the importance of simple things in life like meeting friends or just shaking hands. “This has helped me put things in perspective and realise that it’s not only about just doing bigger things in life for you to actually enjoy that but the smallest things in life are equally worth celebrating.”
besides your business activities you are also very active on social media and frequently post motivational content. Any specific reason?
Muneeb: I believe after you reach a certain level it’s not just about giving back monetarily but also sharing your experiences with aspiring entrepreneurs is also very important thus I make it a point to take some time out for mentoring and inspiring the youth who want to take action and create value for them. This is the reason I do motivational videos which you find on my Instagram page: @muneebmushtaq https://www.instagram.com/muneebmushtaq/?hl=en
How do you advice people to maintain a positive approach in times of uncertainty and adversity?
Muneeb: My advice would be positivity is something that is driven mentally. So, unless you are in that mindset, you’re not going to achieve it. And the way you do that is by diminishing negativity from your life.
A lot of times people tend to spend too much time watching the news, and especially in Pakistan where there is unlimited number of channels and everybody is just sitting in front of the TV, absorbing all that stuff and then that actually reflects in their life. So, you need to make sure that you assign time for that.
Secondly, you must take your time to just relax, do physical exercises and make sure that like you know you’re able to take some time for yourself to workout, to have some physical motion that you want to do in order to feel relaxed.
Muneeb has also recently written a piece on the five ways to be more Zen during Covid-19 on Thrive Global which is owned by Arianna Huffington that focuses on destressing and motivation which you can read more about here
With a shrinking job market and growing unemployment, what should be the next practical approach for fresh graduates?
Muneeb: Actually, even if the job market wasn’t shrinking and unemployment wasn’t this high, I would still have this advice for fresh graduates and that is to not rely on somebody else to offer you experience.
Generally, what you want to do is to acquire skill sets that can set you up for life and that is always changing. So, just using my own personal example where we were focusing on one thing as a company and in order to make sure our company survives the pandemic we had to firstly be resilient and adaptable but then more importantly learn new skills, learn a new industry, apply that and make sure that like you know we win at that. So, my honest suggestion and advice would be to look at what is bringing value to the world right now.
A lot of young Pakistanis move to Canada for further studies, what advice do you have for them?
Muneeb: One thing you need to realise is that you’re a lot more privileged than anybody else and it becomes your responsibility to make sure that you do whatever you have in your power to derive as much value out of it as you can. If you’ve been presented with this opportunity, don’t take it lightly and make sure that you get the experiences, or create value, or start a company, or a business, or do something that could set you up. It is also important for you to bring that skill set, that value back to your country and help the country as you owe it to your country to bring back that skill set.
