According to a post by Aljazeera, Pakistan has been one of the last untapped markets for startups and even though the growth has been significant since 2018, there’s still paucity of startup resources, economic health and a viable infrastructure of growth in the country. Tech industry is even more lacking, as per United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s(UNCTAD) Technology and Innovation Report, out of 158 countries, Pakistan ranks 146 in terms of technology and development. The good news is that in recent years there’s been a steady increase in the number of startups and it has gathered interest from investors across the world.
A somewhat concerning aspect is the disparate gender gap in startup founders. Pakistan is ranked at 153 out of 156 countries, for its gender gap according to the Global Gender Gap Report. Of the disproportionately few startups founded by women only 1.56% are technology based which makes female founded technology startups an extreme rarity but rarity does not mean non-existence, we as a nation have many people who are not only driven and daring but tech smart enough to compete globally. Maham Haroon is such an inspiration for many women specially in Pakistan that want to start their own startups especially in tech.
She started a tech startup, KuberSignal, as a solo founder at the junction of cyber security and Artificial intelligence, that aims to protect data privacy of the individual and further creates tools and services to help combat growing cyber threats.
Note that in 2019 Pakistan was ranked the 7thworst country for cyber security and the qualified workforce for cyber security in Pakistan is very scarce. What makes Maham standout is not only her numerous qualifications in highly specialized fields such as Cyber security, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Robotics but her belief that everything is “figure out-able” and just requires the first step. She has had an impressive career as the recipient of the President’s Gold Medal in Robotics and AI from NUST, a Computer Science degree with focus on Machine Learning Research from UMass Amherst in USA, a certification in Business from Isenberg School of business in the USA.
She has recently also achieved the prestigious certified Ethical Hacker certification, from EC-Council, an internationally recognized institute, for which she scored above 95% collectively in the two rigorous exams. Educational achievements aside, Maham has also served as a thought leader and guide in her various roles and has been an invited judge and industry expert at various international awards including the much coveted Globee Cyber Security World Awards.
In a data driven world, her vision of having a user-empowered and safe internet is something we need more of. We also need a safe internet, a tech smart Pakistan and individuals who believe in themselves and aren’t afraid of taking on difficult tasks because very often failure is only another chance to succeed.
