Telenor Velocity Hosts Duck Stories to Celebrate Failure and Learning
Telenor Velocity’s Duck Stories has carved a name for itself as a platform that shines the light on stories of professional and entrepreneurial failure. Through the series, Telenor Velocity aims to create the perfect recipe for aspiring entrepreneurs to learn to use failure as the condiment that gives success its true flavor.
The recently held virtual session of Duck Stories featured Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO Telenor Pakistan, and Muneeb Maayr, CEO and founder Bykea, to share their humbling stories of failures and the lessons learned from them.
Muneeb Maayr shared his personal duck story on failing, going back to the drawing board and pivoting, and then coming back with a stronger strategy to make Bykea the household name that it is today. Irfan Wahab Khan provided unique insights into the development of a positive culture of innovation and risk-taking.
Until recently even this offshore route was beyond the reach of most founders, at least those with tax residence in Pakistan.
Take pretty much any of the well-funded Pakistani startups and you will find one thing in common: their registered (parent) entities for legal purposes are almost always abroad. Be it Bykea, Tapmad or anyone else. Why? For starters, tax considerations.
It’s a fairly common practice in the business arena, especially the tech sector, to set up offshore companies in countries with lax fiscal rules. Perhaps even more importantly, let’s not forget that we are still a particularly high-risk state. So despite the much-cited population dividend, many investors aren’t still not too open to invest here directly no matter how attractive the opportunity.
Bykea admits vulnerability in its database but denies any breach
The company has now engaged cybersecurity firms for data protection SAMAA | Bilal Hussain - Posted: Feb 2, 2021 | Last Updated: 2 months ago SAMAA | Bilal Hussain Posted: Feb 2, 2021 | Last Updated: 2 months ago
Photo: Bykea/Facebook
Bykea, the two-wheel ride-hailing service provider, has confirmed that Safety Detectives helped it resolve a vulnerability in its database. However, the white hats, or ethical hackers, were not given either the bounty or recognition they deserved, it said.
âIt was not a data breach,â said Rafay Baloch, a cybersecurity researcher. âThey [safety detectives] found a loophole [vulnerability] in Bykeaâs servers leading to data exposure.” Â Â
Bykea founder and CEO Muneeb Maayr
When the coronavirus outbreak spread earlier this year, it brought the movement of people to a standstill. Flights were stopped, borders sealed and roads barricaded to make sure the virus didn’t spread any further. In a matter of weeks, airline stocks were down by more than half.
In Pakistan, too, the effect was disproportionately felt by ride-hailing companies, which saw their operations completely shut and volumes fall to an absolute zero with just one state order. Just before those days, Bykea’s Pitchbook page (a private market data portal) showed about a $13 million round, only to be taken down.