Allyson Kapin opens her recent article in Forbes as, “The Next Steve Jobs will be a Woman”, and given the recent surge of women led tech startups, the statement does not seem very farfetched at all. According to Kaufman Foundation, women led private technology companies are more capital efficient, achieving 35% higher ROI and 12% higher revenues than the ones led by men.

Story is not so different at NIC Peshawar where around 60% of all the investment and funding raised by startups, has been raised by female led startups. Besides that these female founders have also won a number of startup and innovation competitions across Pakistan. These amazing Boss Ladies are proving to the world that women of this region are equally capable of running successful businesses in the most effective, efficient and smart manner.

Hira Irshad, CEO of Aprus Technologies, joined at a later stage but accelerated the startup in a very short time. The startup raised an investment of more than PKR 100 Million besides winning two Pasha Awards and bagging second runner-up position in Pakistan Startup 2019. On the other hand Dukandar.com, with a husband and wife founder duo, caught attention of the International e-commerce giant Qareeb and got acquired for PKR 36 Million.

Tutors gateway, another startup with Uruba as founder and CEO, also secured an investment of PKR 50 Million.The social impact of these women led startups is also phenomenal. Khawateen Rozgar Services (KRS) has helped more than 400 women to land in their dream jobs. At the same time Sub-Health, a health tech startup with a female CEO, is completely transforming the health care system in the region. These are just a few examples among many other innovative young women who are contributing heavily in region’s social and economic development. These women are not only providing for themselves and their families but also setting up a ground for many more to follow their footsteps.