Thought Behind Things · Aug 13, 2021 · 48:48
Why Pakistan builds boring buildings and how Danyal Shiekh wants to fix it
Danyal Shiekh on leaving a family textile business to build an experiential-living apartment project on the Murree Expressway, why 3D-printed homes belong to the middle class, and why Pakistani real estate keeps mistaking ninety percent for one hundred.
with Danyal Shiekh
12 min read
Two Danyal Shiekhs and one Murree Expressway project
The episode opens with Muzamil flagging a small piece of trivia: there are two Danyal Shiekhs he knows, one a content creator and the other his guest. The guest, he clarifies, is the one running Beverly Hills Residence — an eight-storey, fifty-thousand-square-foot apartment project on the Murree Expressway near Gloria Jean’s — and a parallel startup called lamhay.com.
Danyal introduces lamhay.com almost as a side note before the real conversation begins. The platform, he says, exists so “anyone can send gifts to anyone” from inside or outside Pakistan, and the longer vision is to empower Pakistani artists. “My vision is taking the art of Pakistan from Pakistan to the world.” That sentence sets the temperature of the whole episode. Danyal is not selling apartments or paintings. He is trying to build things that travel.
From Faisalabad to Washington DC, and a reverse culture shock
Muzamil asks about the route in. Danyal is from Faisalabad, went to Beacon Hills there, then Roots DHA, then American University in Washington DC. He is candid that the DC decision was not driven by program quality. “I was always a guy who used to love comfort zone,” he says, and his father pushed him out of it. “You have not seen anything. You have not seen the world.”
What he found in DC was the opposite of the culture shock most Pakistani students describe. “Faisalabad mein already log funny hotay hain and I was a very funny guy of my group.” In DC, nobody understood his lingo. “I was like, I made a wrong decision. I think I should have stayed in Lahore, Faisalabad.” Then a familiar realisation: humour is portable. Once his sense of humour translated, he made friends, started “shining like I used to in Pakistan,” and the experience reset.
The family business he walked away from is textiles — knitting and manufacturing for American Eagle, Gap and Zara, with a US office his grandfather started and his father and uncles still run. His brother is doing a PhD in Australia; his sister just finished a masters at UC Berkeley. Muzamil notes the spread dryly: “PhD and masters from Berkeley and then construction. We have the perfect combination.”
Why not just inherit the textile business
Muzamil presses on the obvious question. The default play for a son of a successful Faisalabad textile family is to walk into a directorship and an easy life. Danyal does not pretend the easy version was unavailable. He just did not want it.
“I always had the entrepreneurial drive to start something from scratch,” he says. “I have a bigger sense of achievement that something that never existed is existing slowly. It’s like my baby.” He is careful to credit his team and his advisors — “real estate is not an easy business” — but the line he keeps returning to is ownership of the decision. “You are the decision maker. You are pursuing what you really truly wanted.”
The Marriott chapter sits inside this. Danyal worked at Marriott International headquarters as a digital marketing analyst, with a portfolio of around a hundred and fifty hotels across the Caribbean and Latin America. The discounted travel — Ritz-Carlton once a month “for not even a fraction of the price” — left a specific impression. A small spa room he visited stayed with him so vividly that the spa inside Beverly Hills Residence is a direct reference.
Experiential living, and why there is no swimming pool
Muzamil asks whether Beverly Hills is an apartment building or an Airbnb play. Danyal’s answer is a third category. “It is actually a new concept which I call experiential living.”
The problem he says he diagnosed during his USC masters was specific: well-settled Pakistani families who want a second residence in the north cannot find a decent one, and if they do it is overpriced and plagued with plumbing issues. His response is a building that serves two kinds of buyer. The buyer who wants a private family retreat gets full automation and remote camera access from Faisalabad, Lahore or Karachi. The buyer who wants a rental yield is given a documented rental program with projected numbers. “It is about creating the win-win situation.”
Danyal is direct about the trade-off he made on amenities. There is no swimming pool. “Log three-d bana detay hain pool ki and kehtay hain hamaray paas pool hai, apartment lay lo. They cannot manage it.” Pressure issues in the Murree terrain, COVID hygiene concerns and a real privacy problem all pointed away from a shared pool. Instead, there is a bookable exclusive spa — a small room reserved for a single family for a single time slot — that is a direct port of the Ritz-Carlton spa that left its mark on him. The framing he uses is simple: “Undercommit, overdeliver.”
He also pre-empts the obvious critique of foreign-name borrowing in Pakistani real estate. “Pakistan mein trend hai bahar ke naam use karnay hain. They don’t have a story. They are not inspired with and most of them have not visited that place.” Beverly Hills, in his telling, is earned. He lived in California during his USC masters. The logo is an ibex, Pakistan’s national animal. The interior themes — a rustic mountain theme and a “Hollywood glam” theme for the modern buyer — are part of the integration. The floors are named after LA beaches: Manhattan Beach, San Diego. The rooftop is Sunset Boulevard. “Its soul is Pakistan but inspiration is from California.”
The hotel-room investment trap
A short but sharp passage covers the rise of fractional hotel-room investment schemes from operators like Pearl Continental and Bahria. Muzamil sketches the model: an investor buys a room inside a resort, the original developer operates it as a hotel, the investor gets a lump sum yield and twenty-one days of personal use per year.
Danyal sees a structural problem. “You don’t have any designated space. Ho sakta hai ke agar maine room book kiya ho, woh usme main reh raha hoon. You have no power over it.” His framing is that those products are built for the investor and not the end user. Muzamil extends the thought into the resale problem: the next buyer of a hotel room is a question mark, while a tangible apartment is something you actually own and can pass on. The whole exchange is a clean illustration of the difference between a financial product dressed up as real estate and real estate itself.
Nineteen-twenty is actually eighty-ninety
The most quotable stretch of the conversation is on execution. Muzamil names the failure mode that any Pakistani client will recognise: the contractor who says “sir hum tabedaar hain” but who quietly lays a crooked line and shrugs that it is “unnees-bees” — nineteen-twenty, a Pakistani phrase for “close enough.”
Danyal’s response is the cleanest argument in the episode. “Unnees-bees is actually eighty-ninety.” The personal eye of the worker is not calibrated to what a high-end client expects. The owner who is not on site every day will inherit the gap. He visits the project regularly, watches the steel, watches the raft, watches the pours. “If the owner is not fully involved, your project will not be perfect.”
He extends this into the broader question of why Pakistani projects deliver late. The answer is not on-site time. It is planning time. “You spend ten percent time planning, you will save so much time in execution.” He uses Building Information Modeling — electrical, plumbing, architectural and mechanical layers synced — so that the pipe routing problem a developer would normally discover a year in is visible on an iPad on day one. He is clear that BIM is rare in Pakistan, and that this is exactly why he is using it.
He is also unsentimental about how Pakistani workers explain delays. “Every person comes and tells you sir, my work is compromised because dus hazaar missile and life crisis. I can empathise with that. But your work is your work. You have to deliver it.”
3D printing belongs to the middle class
When Muzamil asks whether Danyal has seen any real innovation in Pakistani construction, the conversation pivots to a part of his roadmap he has not yet executed. While in the US, he was tracking a company in Texas building 3D-printed homes — a roughly fifteen-hundred-square-foot house for around six thousand dollars in twenty-four hours. He wanted to set up the first 3D-printed housing colony in Pakistan.
The constraint is honest. He is “a marketing branding person,” not an engineer. The path forward, when it comes, will be a joint venture with a serious 3D printing company. The capex of moving and training around the printer is significant, and the economics only work at volume.
The framing he insists on is the important part. “Three-d printing is not for the high elite people. It is for low to medium income people.” A fifteen-hundred-square-foot home with a proper bedroom and lounge, delivered fast and cheap, gives a Pakistani middle-income family the standard of living that an upper-class buyer takes for granted. He references the Chinese twenty-storey-in-thirty-days videos, and Chinese hospitals built in COVID, and concedes the limit: “Not every country is ready for every technology. You need the ecosystem.” For now, he is exploring prefabricated systems from China and Turkey for his next project, planned for Attabad Lake in Hunza, where extreme weather makes insulation a real engineering question.
A community, not a unit sale
A short stretch of the conversation covers Danyal’s refusal to sell through Zameen.com. He has sold forty-five percent of Beverly Hills without a dealer network. The portal call came in, he turned it down. The reason is not pricing. “First of all, I will have no control. And my goal is to make an exclusive community.”
Muzamil reads it back to him cleanly. “What you’re trying to do is, you sold a product. Product eventually banegi. Jab woh ban jayegi, when those community people use it, on its word-of-mouth you’ll do the rest.” Danyal agrees. “My strategy is word-of-mouth.” The pressure that introduces, Muzamil notes, is enormous. Word-of-mouth only works if delivery exceeds promise. Danyal frames it as the only honest path: “I want to exceed their expectations.”
He also flags a quiet hiring choice. His project architect is a woman. “Specifically in Faisalabad, har jagah aadmiyon ka bahut hota hai. Give an opportunity to the women around you and see if they can make a difference.”
Lamhay.com and the imported-phobia
The lamhay.com thread comes back near the middle of the episode. Danyal’s diagnosis is that Pakistanis under-value Pakistani art. “Yahan par log usko value nahi kartay hain — yaar Pakistani cheez hai. Imported cheez dekho. Yeh imported ka kya phobia hai?” The artists he met during COVID were good at art and bad at the business of art. He is good at branding, marketing and packaging. The platform is the bridge.
Muzamil adds a personal data point — his brother visiting from the US looking at premium Pakistani paintings priced at two-fifty or three hundred dollars that would sell for five to ten thousand in the US, and giving up only because transport was painful. Danyal’s next steps are pointed at exactly that: a US trip the following month, retail-store presentations, and a longer roadmap that takes the catalogue international. “I want to show them what value Pakistan can add to your store.”
The connection-versus-relationship lesson
A short detour, but a load-bearing one. Danyal credits a three-day conference in Silicon Valley during his AU years for one specific reframe. “Life is not about connections, it’s about relationships.” Muzamil asks him to expand for a Pakistani audience that is genuinely obsessed with LinkedIn and Facebook adds. Danyal is blunt. A Jeff Bezos follow, hypothetically, means nothing. “He doesn’t know you. He doesn’t care about you.” A business card from a conference is also not an achievement. “My achievement is what I learn from him and what he could learn from me.” Connections fade. Relationships compound.
Pakistan in 2050, and the grassroot tax
By the end of the conversation, Muzamil asks how Danyal sees Pakistan in 2050. The answer is split. On business, Danyal is bullish. “Literally yahan par itni opportunities hain, itna mazaa aata hai kaam karnay ka.” On civic life, he is not. “As a nation, I think we’re going downhill.”
He is also unsparing about the grassroot corruption that ethical operators have to pay around. Land letters held up for payment. An approval deliberately delayed past the deadline of Imran Khan’s construction incentive package because the official knew Danyal needed it. The need for a local fixer who can deal in the local idiom because a Faisalabadi outsider gets quietly milked. “If I spend time figuring out these problems, I cannot think of the next project or the next business.”
Muzamil’s closing reframe is the one Danyal agrees with. The leaders are a representation of the people, not separate from them. A nation that throws chips wrappers on the road cannot outsource the cleanup to a prime minister. Danyal closes the thought with a sentence that lands harder than its length suggests: “I think as more time passes, it should be more difficult to raise children who are ethical and who want to do things the right way. It’s not impossible. It will be more challenging.”
Muzamil wraps the conversation at the forty-eight minute mark, with a dry disclosure that the episode is not sponsored by Beverly Hills Residence — “although, I wouldn’t mind an apartment if I get to it” — and a promise from Danyal to invite him when the model apartment is ready.
Full transcript
काना खोती नज़र आता welcome back to another episode of Thought Band Things आज हमारे साथ मौजूद हैं एक ऐसे मेहमान जिनको बुराने का ख़ास मक़सद यह था कि हमने कभी construction के बारे में बात नहीं की इस podcast के ऊपर जो कि ऐसी चीज़ें जो कि essentially Pakistan की economy को चलाती है और you know Pakistan में जब हम investments की बात करते हैं, जब हम you know whenever we talk about you know, wealth creation and a lot a lot of those things तो construction and real estate is is a very integral part of it. और उसके लिए we invited दानियाल शेख. अच्छा, दानियाल शेख है but confusion है. दो दानियाल शेख हैं. दोनों को मैं जानता हूं. एक content creator है दूसरे वाले भाई हैं. He is Thank you very much. Yeah, thank you so much for being part the show. Of course. दानियाल is currently fully involved with this. I mean, he's running this project called Beverly Hills Yes. This is happening somewhere close to the It's happening on Maria Express पर near Gloria Jeans. Near Gloria Jeans. Yes. Right and उसके बारे में भी हम बात करेंगे. इसी के सात सौ दिन का एक startup भी है लम्हे.com के नाम. Yes. लम्हे.com है? Yes, that's right.
Where essentially anyone can send gifts to anyone. चाहे वह Pakistan से बाहर हो तो वह credit card. Basically, it's to empower artists around Pakistan. उसकी मेरी vision है taking the art of Pakistan from Pakistan to the world. Right. तो अभी उसका मैंने काम शुरू कर दिया है but I have a long vision for it. Challenge, ज़बरदस्त. We'll talk about that as well.
Daniel, again, for for starters, thank you so much for being part the show. Thank you. And let's start off थोड़ा सा मुझे अगर आप यह बताएं कि, you know, you're doing construction and real estate right now, tell me a little bit about your high school and उससे आगे, you know, what what's your journey been like?
Basically, I am from फैसलाबाद. Mhmm. I was in Beacon Hills, फैसलाबाद. Then I went to Roots DHA It was not because, कि यहां पर ऐसा कोई program था जो मैं कह रहा था यार this is the best university for that. It was more about comfort zone. Right. So I was always a guy who used to love comfort zone. Right. तो my father also taught me कि यार, you need to leave comfort zone. You have not seen anything. Right. You have not seen the world. तो it was a very good experience. I went to American University in Washington DC. Right. And वहां पर जाते साथी was a reverse culture shock. अच्छा. So, फैसलाबाद में already लोग funny होते हैं and I was a very funny guy of my group. ठीक है. मैं वहां गया हूं, no one really understood my lingo. Right. So I was in a reverse, you can say I was in a bad culture shock. I was like, I made a wrong decision. I think I should have stayed in लाहौर, फैसलाबाद. वहीं पढ़ लेता I would have been happy. But then I realized, after some time कि there is a universal tool, there is a universal weapon which I have, which is sense of humor. Right. तो वह जब वहां जाकर मेरी accustom हुई ना, then I made friends, I got comfortable. I started shining like I used to in Pakistan. Right. तो that was, the journey of getting to America. Right. And you're from फ़ैसला बाद. So are you, आपका खानदान जो है, वह textiles इतनी मुंसलिक. Textiles से ही है. अच्छा. हमारा knitting का business है and we manufacture clothing for a lot of big brands. American Eagle, Gap, Zara. हमारा US में भी office है. That's my family business. Right. My grandfather started it. अब मेरे father और मेरे दो चाचूs में fully involved हैं. Right. Do you have siblings? Yes. I have an older brother. Is he involved with the textile business as well? No. He's doing his PhD in Australia. Oh, very interesting. Yeah. He just went completely on the academic route. But he went to US as well. Then he went to Australia, and I have a younger sister. Right. She just finished her masters from UC Berkeley.
Wow. Yeah, तुम्हारा सबका. So, PhD and masters from Berkeley and then construction. Yeah. So, we have the perfect combination. Yeah yeah yeah, very interesting. Yeah. And so, didn't go आपने pursue नहीं किया textile को. बड़ा एक तो normal होता है ना कि यार मेरे अब्बा का business है. Yes. वह मैं तो चुप करके जाऊंगा, director बनूंगा business के अंदर और easy scene है. Why did you choose the different route?
There were multiple reasons. एक चीज़ थी, I always had the entrepreneurial drive to start something from scratch. अच्छा. तो I have a bigger sense of achievement कि यार something that never existed is existing slowly. Right, that's your vision essentially. That's vision. It's like my baby. Right. It is not our baby. Right. तो our का भी फ़ायदा होता है और आप जो चीज़ें ख़ुद से करते उसे आपको confidence होता है that I'm creating something. Right. And इसमें then you make the decision. I have a really good team and I have a really good group of advisors. Right. जो मुझे guide भी करते हैं. Real estate is not a easy business. But एक होता है यार, you are the decision maker. You are pursuing what you really truly wanted. Right. यह चीज़ थी. And in The US, I used to work for Marriott International headquarters. Right. वहां से, like,
पता है कि क्या होने वाला है, वह दस साल बाद की game देख रहा है, तो दस साल बाद तो this space will be, like, blowing up. बिल्कुल ऐसी है. And जो अभी आपका, you know, with with what? With this Beverly Hill residence. Yes. इसमें is this more like a
apartment to live in या is this more of a कि Airbnb वाली fields It is actually a new concept which I call experiential living. Okay. And experiential living का main मक़सद है कि people are experiencing something in Pakistan which they have never had before. Right. For example, मुझे USC में मेरे masters program में ख़ायती बात के entrepreneurs का काम एक problem ढूंढने का solution निकालना. There was a problem I saw in the market. Families who are well settled, who want to buy an additional residence, are looking for a decent place in the North. अब north में जाएं, you'll have many issues finding a decent place for families. And if you find something, it'll be very expensive. कभी plumbing issue आ जाएगा जाएगा. तो मैंने उस दिन vision बनाई कि यार, I want to create an experiential living, project. तो these are residential apartments for sale and they will always also be available for rent, some of them, when the project is complete. मेरे पास दो किस्म के बाहर हैं. एक कहते हैं यार I am buying it for my family. Why should I give it for rent? No problem, it is yours. मैं इसमें full automation दे रहा हूं cameras लगे में. अब फ़ैसला बाद लाहौर, कराची जांच भी आपने लिया. अपने app से देख सकते मेरे apartment को use तो नहीं कर रहा. Right. I want to give that ease and comfort to the client कि यार, you have a property it is well taken care of. Right. It's fully maintained, fully cleaned, fully serviced. Right. And कुछ clients होते वह कहते यार, why should I not give a ton rent? That is, मतलब ideal for me कि मैं कभी कभी जाऊंगा लेकिन rent पर हूं. तो उसके लिए मैंने पूरा एक rental program बनाया हुआ है. I have given them the numbers. I have given them the expected rental yield. So it is about creating the win win situation. Right. It is not about serving one client. क्योंकि आजकल एक नया, system भी आया उस दिन someone called me, Pearl Continental को कई बेहरिया का project है. Essentially, कर कर क्या रहे कि वह यह कहते हैं कि, you know, you, buy out a property. Yeah. And then the the original seller essentially runs it as a resort. Yeah. And वह यह कहते हैं कि जी आप property में invest करें और यह एक hotel room की तरह service होगा और उसकी आपको G G lump sum amount होगा. You are allowed to visit 21 Days a Twenty one days a year. But there's अभी जो Disney वालों का बाहर नहीं होता था वह हां, उसका replicate वाला जो है. हां जी, हां जी, हां जी. But there's a problem in that model. For example, you have a hotel, you have a room in the hotel. Right. You just have a room in the hotel. You don't have any designated space. Right. हो सकता है कि अगर मैंने room, book किया हो, वह उसमें मैं रह रहा हूं. हां. You have no power over it. Right. Your that is for the investor. I am making for the end user. Right. I am making for those families, for those people who want to enjoy it. And also I am promoting nature living. Right. Because I am from फैसलाबाद. जब मैं इस्लामाद move हूं इस काम के लिए, मैंने देखा है nature and your environment plays a big role. Right. So when people have a vacation residence, which is not too far from इस्लामाद and it is at the gateway to the north, they will come very often. यार life में इतना stress होता है, business का, बाकी चीज़ों का, personal life कुछ भी हो सकता है. This apartment I I want it to be a hope कि यार you come there, you relax, you can do your work. Wi Fi है, four g signal आते हैं, सारी चीज़ें I want to unwind. Yeah.
Absolutely. क्योंकि a lot of times यह farmhouses का concept चली जा रहा था बहुत ज़्यादा और farmhouses मुझे नहीं लगता कि उस तरह से उसकी उतनी utility, farmhouse की utility सिर्फ एक होती है कि जब आपके बच्चे property को कहते ना कि अपना पैसा दबाना. Yeah. वह बड़ा complicated है because the next person who is supposed to buy a hotel room is a big question mark. Whereas a tangible property is a tangible property and then it can be sort of resold and Exactly. You own it, yeah. Absolutely. अच्छा so, यह आपका I mean, the reason why जब मैंने आपको reach out भी किया था and I remember आपने Facebook के ऊपर यह Beverly Hills का यह share किया हुआ था. Yes.
And, you know, when I initially messaged you तो मेरा सबसे बड़ा पहला सवाल दिमाग़ में आया था why Beverly Hills? बिल्कुल सही. That's a valid question. Right. I'll I'll I'll answer that. Basically, Pakistan में trend है यार बाहर के नाम use करनी है. Mhmm. बहुत सारे बाहर के नामs हैं जो real estate में लोगों ने use किए हैं. They don't have a story. Right. They are not inspired with and they have most of them have not visited that place. Right. I used to live in California. Right. I went there for my masters and Beverly Hills was a place very close to my heart. मैंने वहां जाकर बहुत learn की है. वहां का architecture, का interior design, वहां के लोग, वहां की mountain living, Hollywood Hills की Drive. That was a very special time of my life. I wanted to make a piece of California and Pakistan. Right. तो अगर आप इसका note करें, इसका नाम Beverly Hills ज़रूर है because I'm inspired from LA. But इसका जो logo है, that is Ibex. Yeah. This is a national animal of Pakistan. Right. So, इसकी soul is Pakistan but inspiration is from California. And that inspiration, does that reflect in the architecture and the interior as well? Yes, exactly. बिल्कुल करती है. I have introduced two themes. Mhmm. From timeless to time driven. Okay. For example, you are a mountain lover. You want to have a rustic theme. I have it for you. There's a person from a city who loves modern and luxury. I have introduced Hollywood glam for them. Right. It is not simply modern. Hollywood glam is more about freedom of expression. Right. For example, आपकी जो shirt का color है, light pink, I would say. इस color की chairs हैं Hollywood glam में. Right. People cannot have those in फ़ैसला बदलाहौर. They cannot daily use them. Right. But this is a place to fully unwind and be yourself without having outside noise. Right. तो इसका जो पूरा concept है, वह पूरी integrate हुआ project में. Even के जो मेरी floors के names हैं, they are the names of the beaches of LA. अच्छा अच्छा. Manhattan Beach, San Diego, बहुत सारी ऐसी चीज़ें हैं. तो हर floor का नाम हम numbers नहीं रखे हुए हैं. Right. It is the name of a a place Right. In And one more thing जो उसकी rooftop है, I have named it Sunset Boulevard. अच्छा. Because LA is incomplete without that और इसका जो view है ना, आपका एक panoramic view of sunset है. अच्छा. तो it all it all made sense and I was inspired by it so I wanted to truly integrate it. Is there a pool in the in the apartments? There is a exclusive spa. Pool नहीं है, I'll tell you why. Right. Pool इसलिए नहीं है. लोग three d बना देते हैं pool की और कहते हैं हमारे पास pool है, apartment ले लो. They cannot manage it. वहां pressure issues होते हैं. मरी में. देखिए, you have to see the terrain. Have You to see your environment before committing to something. If I make a commitment to my client, I want to exceed it. Don't want to disappoint them. Undercommit, overdeliver वाली बात है ना? Yeah. So, के बजाय I am making an exclusive spa. ठीक है. It will be, really fun spa and it will be bookable. For example, you are visiting with your family. Right. Only you are allowed to be there. It is your own spa for those two hours, whatever the time slot will be. उसकी working अभी in process है. Right. Pool is pool का common concept है, सारे बैठे में. एक तो COVID, diseases and privacy का बहुत issue है. बहुत सारे pools हैं जिसमें आदमी जाती हैं, औरतें नहीं जाती. उनके बाकी आदमी.
Believe यह भी मसला होगा ना कि वहां पर अगर आपने pool रखना भी है तो it has to be central like it has to be a heated pool as well. Heated pool as well. And that heated pool, again, the infrastructure required है उसके pumps होते हैं special, उसके heating systems होते हैं. तो spa का यह,
कि you can unwind, you have a little space and it's just yours for that time. Right. Pool का यह आप फिर, लोगों को इतना privately दे नहीं सकते, पर everyone has to come. And what about servicing in terms of the, कि साफ़ रखना, सफ़ाई करना, यह? सारी services included हैं इसमें. ठीक है. उसकी एक fee type हां month होगी. Per होगी और वह, मैंने अपने सब buyers को बताया हुआ है. उसमें क्या होगा? They'll just pay, for example, two bed की एक fees है दस हज़ार. They'll pay that per month and they are comfortable. Whenever they go, they know my apartment is clean and I am fully enjoying my time there. I don't want them to come and figure out, यार, यह's fine हो गई. Right. That is my failure. So so so very interesting. You're 26 years old, and you're getting into this entire this huge project.
Can you... चले मुझे अब तो समझ तो आगे का बनाना क्या चाह रहे हैं? जी. Why this तो? I mean, you were working at Marriott. Yeah. You know, you could have worked in, like, you could have been creating a hotel और restaurants and hospitality में बहुत सारी चीज़ें हैं. बिल्कुल सही.
क्या मतलब what was अगर आपको याद हो कि क्या वह क्या सोचती है, क्या दिन था जिस fab ने कहा किया नहीं, apartments बनाने हैं मैंने मरी के रास्ते में. When I was working for Marriott headquarters, मैंने project पर काम किया था. उसका नाम था Room of the Future. Right. So I was working with Samsung and Legrand. It's a French company. मिलकर बनाया था IoT integrated room. For example, if you're staying at Marriott Karachi, they will say, मुज़मिल, welcome, all that stuff. Yeah. If you forget a charger there and you're staying in Islamabad, they will say, मुज़मिल, last time you forgot your charger, this time please make sure to take it. They use your data to give you a personal experience. उस दिन मैंने कहा, यार यह Pakistan में चीज़ें क्यों नहीं होती हैं? Why do we have all boring hotels, boring apartments, real estate में, सारी buildingएं खड़ी हो रही हैं. No one really cares about the concept. मैं अपनी मेहनत की concept पर, marketing पर. I wanted to create a landmark of Pakistan and the beauty of this place is it is located on Murray Express पर जहां Gloria चिंता ने देखा है. वहां से millions of tourists pass by. Mhmm. गुरु नारान, to go to Murray, to go to any place of the north, ओंदा वग़ैरह. जिस तरह बुर्ज ख़लीफ़ा में बुर्ज ख़लीफ़ा is a landmark of Dubai. I want कि यह एक landmark हो हमारे north का. Right. इस पर मैं proper, lighting plan की हुई है. It will be, it will I want to add this to Yes. Pride of the
expressway से? Yeah, Main Expressway पर ही है यह. और यह कितनी building है? Spain उन्होंने बनाया वाला? Mhmm. यह, it's a one store it's, one building, but it is eight story. Hot building. Yes. It. It's 50,000 square feet. Very nice. And eventually you're going to expand on this as well. Once this is complete, you're going to Yeah. Are you going to continue with the construction side of things? Yeah, do you think To be honest, I I really like the business. It is very challenging.
I would say इसमें challenges बहुत हैं, problems बहुत सारी आती हैं. But if you look at the end goal, if you look at your dream, it keeps you going. Right. Depend करता है आपका dream apartment बेचना है कि landmark बनाना है. Experiential living introduce करना है कि, महंगे apartment बेचना है. It's the way you think. तो फिर I think, your goal you'd
you go closer to your goal every day. Right. And then you're also in the process of launching this other lamy.com business. Yeah. Tell me a little bit about that.
Basically मैंने COVID में note किया था कि, every business in the world was badly affected. Some were, affected in a very positive way. मैंने बात note की थी कि जो Pakistan का art है, हम इसको सही तरह value नहीं करते. सही है. इससे मतलब इस तरह की similar चीज़ें या इससे मतलब यह I think is बहुत अच्छी हमारे art. मैं Mexico जाऊंगा, वहां जाकर ले लूंगा. यहां पर लोग उसको value नहीं करते हैं यार पाक्षतानी चीज़ है. Imported चीज़ दिखो. यह imported का क्या phobia है? I don't understand. Why can't you make top notch thing in Pakistan? Mhmm. तो मैं कुछ artists से मिला था, and a problem I found was they are good artists, but they don't have the means to scale. Right. They're bad businessmen essentially. Yeah. And I'm not an artist, but I'm a good business marketing branding person. So I create lamhi.com. Right. Lamhi.com is a platform. Basically, I'm working with few artists, जो products बनाती हैं, and I sell them online for them. I have a contract with shums. I'm working with them as well. I do their product perfection. Right. I do their packaging, I do their branding, marketing, Facebook ads. So अब लम्हे.com Spanish मज़रूर के घर में भी है. अच्छा. So it is a it is a dream,
मेरे दो dreams हैं. And I'll be doing exports from this as well. So if Yes. If, let's say, पाकिस्तानी from The US wants to buy a painting. I mean, I remember मेरे भाई आए हुए थे तो वह इधर हम लोकर से लेकर गए and he was like shook कि paintings in The US are like $5,000,
10 बिल्कुल. Thousand
और यहां पर जो है जी आपको ढाई सौ तीन सौ dollar में बड़ी premium painting मिल रही है. बहुत आराम से. और, you know, obviously उसका connectivity भी थी because a lot of that represented his culture and he wanted to get that but वह उसको transport करना was such a huge hassle कि he let it go. Exactly.
मेरा dream, मेरा vision इसलिए है I want to take the art of Pakistan from Pakistan to the world. अभी I'm doing in Pakistan. Right. I have it in the road map कि मैंने इसको future में expand करना है. मेरे US में भी कुछ retail store से बात चल रही है. I'm going next month. I'm giving them a presentation. Right. तो I want to show them what value Pakistan can add to your store, to the world as well. Right. Yeah. Makes a lot of sense. मुझे थोड़ा सा चलेगा ना वह यह आपके जो core businesses हैं वह तो we've we've sort of understood. Yeah. Again,
आपने जब बोला textile वाली चीज़ कि, you know, textile में आप नहीं गए और आप eventually इन businesses की तरफ आए. Yes. So run me a little, run me through the process. You know, eight hours में आप आपने graduate किया, आपने graduate कर के, आपने बाहर US चले गए? Yeah. US में were you, like,
focused on कि मैंने business करना है eventually जाकर? I had a sort of, always a feeling. I want to be a businessman. Mhmm. But I did not know what exactly, and business has a big umbrella. I did not know what exactly I want to go into. Right. IT है, marketing है, branding है, accounting है, क्या है? जब मैं AU में था, I considered that university a platform for me to launch myself. Right. I went there first semester, I failed a class. अच्छा. My dad was very How's your class थी? Economics की, microeconomics की. और major क्या था वहां पर आपका? Business was my degree, and my focus was marketing. Right. My dad was very pissed. He's like, I'll send you abroad and you fail a class, and I did not know what to say. That was, like, actually that was not my failure. That was, that ignited a spark in me कि यार, failure क्यों नहीं देखना? Failure से उठना कैसे से देखना? उसके बाद I started making exponential progress. I tell you, for example, was a member of the entrepreneurship club. Right. When I graduated, I was the president. Right. तो वह जगह ना मेरे लिए एक journey वन गई from a follower to a leader, from failure to success. Right. तो वहां पर जाकर, I really had the time and platform to know myself truly and had the opportunity to be fully involved.
Right. How do you see the difference in in in the culture of, you know, high schools जो आपने Pakistan में किया? Yeah. और जो आपने America में जाकर experience किया था. College. हां.
वहां पर I would say it is more about the experience and the exposure, not about the grades. Right. Grade is just a letter on the resume. How can a grade or GPA define me? Right. What if I'm a good artist but I have a two point o GPA? Right. Will you not give me a job? That is a wrong concept. और यह UK में ज़्यादा ऐसे होता है. UK is more grade focused. Right. America is experience focused. Right. मतलब America में मैं DC में था. मुझे एक conference मिली, मैं Silicon Valley चला गया. वहां पर तेरे लोगों से मिला, वहां पर I realized life is not about connections, it's about relationships. I could only realize that through that conference, through that three day. अच्छा, यह बहुत important point इन्होंने raise किया इसको ज़रा थोड़ा सा आप explain करें हमारी audience के लिए because Pakistan में ना हमें लगता है कि हम Facebook के लोगों को add करते रहेंगे तो Yeah. तो हमारा ना बड़ा seen on हो जाएगा. बिल्कुल. For example, एक एक I think एक obsession है लोगों को. यार मैंने मुझे Jeff Business ने follow कर लिया. For example, कर लिया मैं कह रहा हूं. हां. He doesn't know you. He doesn't care about you. Yeah. So you have no link to him technically. But this LinkedIn connection, Facebook connection means nothing in my opinion. I think the true meaning is the relationship, is the conversation. Right. जब मैं किसी conference पर गया हूं, मुझे किसी का business card मिल गया है. That is not achievement. Yeah. My achievement is what I learn from him and what he could learn from me. Yeah. आपको confidence होना चाहिए कि आप भी अगले को सिखा सकते हो. हां. तो मैंने यह अपने वहां experience में और Silicon Valley में conference run की थी. वहां पर realize किया, it is more about the relationship, not a connection. Right. Connection is temporary and will eventually fade away. Yeah. Relationship will grow and
बिल्कुल बिल्कुल. So so, you graduated from there. Yeah. You
started working at the at the Marriott. Yeah. I wanted to start the career myself. I started working for Marriott headquarters. Right. As a digital marketing analyst. Right. I had one fifty hotels in my portfolio. Basically, मैंने उनके digital marketing करनी थी. US के सारे No, मेरे पास था US में but my region था Caribbean, Latin America. So I had lots of fancy resorts. Oh, very nice. And वहां पर discounts Did you go to these resorts as well? Yes, I went to these resorts. यकीन माने Ritz Carlton I used to go every month for not even a fraction of price. Right. तो यही मैं जो spa की बात कर रहा हूं, Ritz Carlton में I went for a massage. Right. It was a small room and the experience you get and the impression it still has on me is mind blowing. Yeah. तो मैं वैसा स्पाह बनाना चाह रहा हूं. हां. तो मैं यह जो project है ना, यह ऐसा नहीं मैंने वापस आकर एकदम काम नहीं शुरू करना.
यार जो आपका construction का जो staff है ना जो work ठीक कर रहे है? उसको concept नहीं है lineओं का? बिल्कुल. Experience का? वह line पूरी लगाएंगे, टेढ़ी कर देंगे क्योंकि sir देखें उन्नीस बीस तो है. हां, बिल्कुल ऐसी है. मेरी जो पूरी ज़िंदगी की अब OCD और aesthetics है ना वह मेरी तबाह होगी. बिल्कुल. So, how do you reconcile with that? Because I know that if your vision is from The US Yeah. तो पाकिस्तानी construction तो is everything
वह कहता sir हम ताबिदार हैं. आपके साथ हैं बारह बजे तक. They take pride कि हम ताबिदार हैं. हां. यार why don't you take pride कि I did the job better than you expected? Yeah. यहां पर एक तो, I think, जो लोग इस चीज़ को execute करते हैं, उनका personal eye is not perfect. Right. वह टेढ़ा है वह कहेंगे, ठीक है, क्या हो गया? उन्नीस बीस, उन्नीस बीस. उन्नीस बीस. उन्नीस बीस is actually eighty ninety. But उन्नीस बीस is वह कहते हैं थोड़ा सा यह. हां. इसमें I have to be fully involved in the project. मैं regular जाता हूं. कुछ steel हो रहा है, कुछ steel वन रहा है, raft चल रही है, everything. You have to monitor it yourself. Yeah. If the owner is not fully involved, your project will not be perfect. अंदर क्या होगा? आपको कुछ नहीं पता. और interior में it will be कम करते हैं, execute करते फिर. Execute foreign exchange. यार, you spend 10% time planning, you will save so much time in execution. Yeah. तो the reason why a lot of projects are delivered late, उसकी वजह भी है कि मान ले कुछ चीज़ें बाद में चलती हैं. वह बाद में involve होते हैं. So if you are involved from full day, you have to be on your toes and your team contractors, they have to know that this guy will, find the problem if we create a problem. Yeah. तो it is a big challenge but it is the way, things work here and I have to fix it by being super vigilant and and अगर अगर लाना मुझे अच्छी आंख दी है are you talking about my marketing team in office? No no, अच्छा अच्छा. The workers, the contractors, the workers. No, I'm working with a contractor. Right. He's building the project. तो वह उसके under आते हैं subcontractors. But मेरा एक अपना वहां है engineer resident engineer. Constructors
में पाकिस्तान हैं beyond मैं beyond उसके beyond this project बात कर रहा हूं. ठीक है. Construction में Pakistan में have you found any innovation in in the past few years?
Yes, आस्थास्तारीय. Basically, मैं US में inspired था three d printing से. ठीक है. I wanted to create a three d printer and I wanted to create the first three d printing colony of Pakistan. यह मेरा plan था. I was working with a company दिया, मैं उनके CEO से मिला था. वह, they had, just made a model house. $6,000, twenty four hours, your home is ready. Right. अंदरा सौ से fifteen hours. छोटा घर, छोटा घर. It's like अंदरा सौ is like an apartment? हां, it's like apartment size. It's not a huge house. मतलब आठ महाले का plot है उस पर घर बना दो सौ हां हां, बिल्कुल. तो मैं उनके साथ काम करना चाह रहा था but they were so busy in Ecuador I want to be aware of construction technologies. तो I think Pakistan construction technology में काफ़ी उस तरह से पीछे. But यहां पर चीज़ें आ भी रही हैं. Right. Example prefabricated stuff आ रहा है. हां हां. The next Have you explored prefab by the way? Yes, prefab को मैंने explore किया है not for real estate, for hospitality. Right. Because आपने अपना customer भी देखना है. अगर उसको आप traditional घर नहीं देंगे ना, traditional department नहीं देंगे. वह कहेंगे आपने यह क्या? मुझे कचरा भेज दिया. Mhmm. So you have to understand your client. तो I am exploring prefab technologies. इसमें काफ़ी सारी चीज़ें आ गई हैं. China इसमें काफ़ी आ गई है, Turkey में बहुत चीज़ें आ गई हैं. I am exploring them for my upcoming project. वह हम plan कर रहे हैं अठाबाद lake पर, हुंजा में. Right. Yes, तो वहां पर, मैं prefab में जाऊंगा. They are one of the vendors. हमने, उनसे मतलब कि quotations वग़ैरह उनसे हम discuss कर रहे हैं. The thing is इसमें depends आप कहां पर काम कर रहे हैं. अगर आप फ़ैसला बंद कर ना रहे उसमें आपको insulation का इतना बड़ा element नहीं होगा. हुंजा में extreme weather होता है. Right. So I have to look for prefab not just saves time but also which is the perfect insulation for those, times environment. Right. तो उसकी research का design is in process. तो next project, इंशाला will be at अठाबाद Lake उनसे. Right. And three d का जो जिस तरह आप करना चाह रहे हैं for example, would that be कि you'd like to set up a facility that can start to construct build houses for other people या you would Three d का basically I would want to do a joint venture with a successful three d printing company because I am not from a engineering background. I am a marketing branding person. So I would want to join hands with someone who has the vision to create affordable homes for Pakistan. तो फिर मैं उनके साथ मिलकर I would want to do a joint venture. Right. They are creating, I'm selling and we are serving a niche market. Right. How do you see the the,
middle class housing market? Because I feel like कि there's a huge push towards upper middle and upper class. बिल्कुल है जी. उनके यह बड़ा आसान है.
उनको standard of living provide किया है. उनको standard of living provide किया तो three d printing यही मक़स है. Three d printing is not for the high elite people. Right. It is for low to medium income people. पंद्रह सौ square foot आपका घर है, bedroom है, lounge है. It is made, in a good amount of money and a good amount of time. Right. And you're giving them a standard which you have been enjoying your whole life. Right. That is achievement. Yeah. Three d printing I'm I'm been working on for low to middle income people. Income people. क्योंकि छह हज़ार dollar यह अब यह cost था यह Ecuador की cost है या US की cost है? यह US की cost थी यह Texas में बनाया था. Now I'm sure it's a little higher. जब वह उसको करेंगे, export करेंगे, वहां की duties पड़ेंगी, वह सारी चीज़ें होंगी. अच्छा नहीं, I would think it would be lower because there are छह हज़ार dollar, छह हज़ार लेकिन उन्होंने printer move करना है. The printer was made in The US. Have to transport the printer. The printer is huge. ठीक है. So आप कह रहे कि CapEx उसका महंगा होगा? Yes. ठीक है? और it would make sense to move it if there's a big project. Right. या हज़ार घबरनाना है. हां हां. तो printer की cost भी divide होगी उस तरह से. Right right right right right right. हां, वह तो that's going to be. वह तो पता millions में और climb है. और उसकी training का मसला है. It's not like I have an idea, मैं three d printer लेऊं. उसके engineers special software है, training है, वह it would take a lot of time to have that in Pakistan. आपके mind में ऐसे settle है जो आपको तंग करते हैं यह apartment. यह मैं आपको एक elite बंदी की बातचार हूं. हां. तो I think for low to middle income high raises which are three d printed, which are made from prefab materials, which are quick execution, ऐसा करना चाहिए. It should be a win win situation. हां, नहीं because there are, we see a lot of these videos from China जो कि जी बारह बारह, पंद्रह पंद्रह story की building बनाती एक महीने वहां पर हो रहा है काम. वहां पर three d. उन्होंने COVID में hospitals बनाए हैं. हां. 20 story in thirty days. Yeah. So it is it's not like it's not possible, but I think not every country is ready for every technology. -हां, that's true. -You need the ecosystem.
-Yeah. You need obvious देखिए, मैं बड़ा simple साफ करता हूं. आपका तुर्की का चक्कर लगा है? Yes. आपने उनकी
हर एक उसका concept और design है different है. यहां पर traditional चीज़ें use हो रही हैं हम तक. हां, यहां पर वह यह जो आज हमारी ink है वह वह यह जो कि आज से पांच सौ साल पहले भी बनती थी यही ink बनती है. There is no innovation in that. Yeah. For example rooftop जो हम design कर रहे हैं Sunset Boulevard, इसमें मैं turkey system के लाने की कोशिश कर रहा हूं. वह retractable है जिस तरह मदीना में आप जाएं मज़ीद नब्बी, अब button तो माहें umbrellas बांध हो जाती हैं, button तो माहें खुल जाती हैं. That is like true innovation और यह turkeys में बहुत आ गए हैं. Mhmm. तो कुछ चीज़ें ऐसी हैं जो मैं locally source कर रहा हूं. But some things which are automated, वह मैं बाहर हूं. वह automatically बाहर से है. Because I would not want to risk something. Obviously, उसका वह है नहीं. और फिर उसका maintenance, ecosystem. फिर आपको एक आप अच्छी company से काम करो ना, फिर they give you everything. Right. What were your parents' thought when you decided कि अभी मैंने real estate में जाना है? शुरू में they were like, नहीं यार, मतलब you stay in फ़ैसलाबाद. We have a successful business. This should be the way. You should join, grow it, things like that. But, they were my big supporters as well. They said यार, you want to do something different? Do it. I'm with you. And they are based in फैसलाबाद नौ. तो एक वह भी होता ना बेटा छह साल बाद घर आया है, फिर इस्लाम बाचला गया. So why don't you hold hands of things which are successful around you? Yeah. Textile में कोई नई चीज़ कर लो अगर तो हां, but एक आपका dream दिल में फंस जाता ना और यह दिमाग में फंस गया था. तो फिर आप उसके अलावा ना you don't really settle for something else. For example, अभी project शुरू हुआ है. अभी उसकी पहली flow आज उसकी pouring है first lab की and we have sold 45% already. Without any dealer network. तो इस new मैं I am setting a new era of marketing जो मुझे suit करता है. Right. For example, ज़मीन.com came to me. They said, आप हमारे साथ, काम करो. We'll sell your apartment. I said no because the thing is, first of all, I will have no control and मेरा goal है कि मैं एक exclusive community बनाऊं. बंदा फैसलाबाद से, को मुल्तान से, को गुजरावाला से, क्रची से, अच्छी अच्छी families हैं, इकट्ठे रह रही हैं.
I'm making a community, not selling apartments. So essentially what you're trying to do is कि भाई आपने एक product बेची. Yeah. Product eventually बनेगी. जब वह वन जाएगी, जब उस community के लोग उसको use करेंगे तो उसके word-of-mouth पर वही शायद आप अपनी My चीज़
my strategy is word-of-mouth.
Right. To be honest, that is the most successful. That's a delivery base as well, right? Like, that's a that's a lot of pressure on you to be able to deliver what you promised. Exactly. Or probably over deliver what you Yeah. I want to exceed their expectations. Right.
And, उसके बाद मैंने पूरी planning की हुई है. It is not an easy job. Making a three d It's not an easy job at all. Making a three d is very easy. Yeah. अपने materials दिखाने, high res वगैरह, whatever हो जाती है. Executing is the real challenge. Yeah. But अगर आप कोई sourcing set हो, आपका dream is in place, it keeps you going. Things fall in place. मैं time spend करता हूं planning में. Right. जब plan करो ना तो things fall in place. I don't go into execution right way. Right. Yes. How much time did it take for you to plan this? It took me over a year, I'll be honest. वापस आकर एक तो मुझे, reverse culture shock बहुत लगा था. हां. मुझे वहां सिखाया था America में, early is on time. हां. On time is late, and late is not an option. Right. यहां पर किसी plumber के दो बजे का time है, वह कहेंगे चार बजे आ गए. Surgical हो गया है. वह कोई आ गया था, पुप्पी का बेटा आ गया था. Like, excuses which don't make sense. Yeah. Everybody pushes there like कि यार मेरी ज़िंदगी में यह मसला चल रहा है जिसकी वजह से मिल गया ज़िंदगी में मसला चल रहा I can empathize with that. Yeah. Separately? Yeah, separately. But your work is your work. Yeah. Have to deliver it. You have to deliver it. वह हर बंदा आए और आपको आकर कहेगा कि sir मेरा work इस वजह से compromise हो रहा है because दस हज़ार missile and ठीक है, you listen to one person. But then if you have, like, 500 people working, 500 people have 500 different problems. बिल्कुल. तो होता क्या है कि more often than not, all you're doing is figuring out the problem and the work is not just being done at all. बिल्कुल ऐसी है. And एक problem आती है जो मैंने देखा real estate में. Developers three d बनाती हैं. They want to sell it, have money and make it from their money. मैंने इसमें time, marketing, branding concept पर पूरा skill लगाया so the person, my client, has a true image of what they'll what they'll get. I'm using a system. It's called BIM, Building Information Modeling. Pakistan में बहुत rare है, बहुत कम use होते हैं. इसका फ़ायदा क्या होता है कि आपकी electrical, plumbing, architectural, mechanical, all pipes, all wires are synced. ठीक है. आपको जो साल बाद पता चलना है यार यहां से pipe नहीं गुज़री, I have it in my iPad today.
If you Her
name is, शतिता. She's from लाहौर. अच्छा. And I wanted कि my project architect is also a woman. Right. यहां पर specially मैंने फ़ैसला बाद में दिखाया. हर जगह ना आदमियों का बहुत होता है. हां. Men men men. Give an opportunity to the women around you and see if they can make a difference. Right. So, my project artist is a woman. Do you think you'll ever go towards, like, a society? Like, a like a bigger जी, Would
you ever go towards a society apart from high rise?
Yes, in the future I have a plan. But अभी I wanted to focus on this because if you can make a want start somewhere. An apartment building is very challenging. Yeah. आपकी piping, यह वह, ऊपर नीचे floor, it is actually more challenging. Society is easier. अच्छा. Society, if you're making a low rise, you have less problems, ज़मेरा नोज़ की. I want to go through all the problems.
अच्छा. तो yeah, and specially high rise in the mountains is extremely नहीं उसमें उस तरह से यह है ना कि buy in आपका थोड़ा है. तो आपके पास एक अरब दो अरब रुपया buy in का हो फिर आप You need a lot of money for that. बिल्कुल.
उसमें different options होती हैं joint venture के. ठीक है. A person मुझे पिछले दिनों reach out किया है. This I have a lot of land. You're good in marketing and branding. You take care of that. This is my land value. ठीक है. So joint venture का मसला ही होता है. Joint venture एक होता है ना एक ने पैसे लगाएंगे ज़मीन दी. हां. JV for me is joint vision. That is very difficult. Right right right. मेरी vision और उनकी और होगी. वहां clash आता है. हां, वह कहेंगे यार बस बस जो Right. That's where I live in Islamabad. It's a beautiful community. उन्होंने golf course, वह लगता ही नहीं पता Pakistan में है. It is out of the world. Yeah. And that is the reason why he was able to grow. Like, सौ और societyयां बनी हैं. ऐसी है. जिन्होंने,
like, is
really missing. Yeah. That should be the core, I think. Yeah. लेकिन एक problem यह आती है, जैसे मलिक राज़ाई is also very connected. Mhmm. There's a lot of power as well. Right. You also need to be very connected to get your way around. Because मैंने देखा है, यहां पर ना grassroot level पर बहुत corruption है. Right. मरीक़ ज़मीन मेरे नाम पर, मुझे letter नहीं देंगे. केंगे जी, मतलब pay or something. That is not how things should work. Yeah. If I spend time figuring out these problems, I cannot think of the next project or the next business. यहां पर मुझे यह थोड़ा सा होता है. एक है ना concept, ease of doing business. There's a lot of teas as well. So, कितना ज़्यादा आपको experience में यह teas आया है? For for this particular project? I'll be honest. It was at every step. Transformal गए. वह कहते हैं जी, देखिए ethical businessman का ethical way से काम करना becomes so difficult He's like यार ok, इनको मतलब जान छोड़ा उनसे. Approval लेना था. इमरान खान launched a construction incentive package. उसके लिए the deadline was कि आपने December 31 को project approve कराना है. Approval में मसला डाल दिया. कहते जी आपको thirty first वाला देंगे. Because he knew I need before thirty first. Things like that, then you have to be very connected, then you need a local person, एक local बंदा hire किया हुआ जो local चीज़ें deal करता है. That's not how it should be. That's not how it should be and it's quite sad So, the threat part for you? मैंने कभी complain नहीं की उस पर. मैंने उसके बगैरी solution निकाल ली थी. अच्छा. But the problem is कि आप हर दफ़ा आपको solution नहीं मिलेगा. Right. अभी मैंने एक local बंदा रखा हुआ है जो local language बोलते हैं. अब memory में जाऊं ना as a फ़ैसलाबदी. They will say यार इसको तो हमने छोड़ना नहीं है. तो बाहर से आया हुआ है. How can we make him successful? He's selling our land and they don't, see the value of employment. उनकी चौकीदार, उनका खिल को बेटा, rooftop में. He can be a chef. Think big. हमने मरी में we have some more land as well. मैं road बनवाई. वहां पर पहले taxi जाती थी ढाई हज़ार रुपए में. टूटी फूटी road थी वह. तब से बनाई है दो सौ रुपए लगती हैं and the people start fighting. They're like आपने मेरे से गंभाई, मेरे से गंभाई. People think very small. Yeah. And I think, I honestly think there should be a department in the government which supports businesses कि यार आपने land ली है, यह clear है. हां. कल को यहां stay नहीं होगा, कुछ चीज़ नहीं होगी. I think नियत है करने की. But जो आपने बात की ना नीचे level पर, ऊपर से announce हो जाता है. हां. नीचे trickle down करते उसका effect, it dissolves.
पूरी comic corrupt है ना sir? Yes. मसला यह भी तो थोड़ा सा है कि inherently हर बद्दा corrupt है और वह कहता है हुक़मरान corrupt हैं. बिल्कुल ऐसे है. The fact is they are a representation of you as well. बिल्कुल ऐसे है. Until and unless we decide. वही वाली बात है कि it's maybe it's education, maybe it's the fact that, I don't know, I mean, maybe people have gone through so much shit that they Yeah. They tend to push that shit now to other people as well. बिल्कुल सही. But then उसी के alternative के ऊपर, there are a lot of young people who are now coming in and trying to challenge बिल्कुल our system as सही. We're at the forty eight minute mark. Forty, forty five minute. Art galleries? The sky is the limit. Right? Yes. You'll be a successful and a powerful man. How do you see Pakistan of of 2050? Yeah. You know, when you're there and when your kids are growing up in that time?
I see it as very problematic, to be honest. Because I think, to be honest, इमरान खान is a honest man. Right. I think he's a good leader. He has done some really good things, जिसका सबको effect, सबको result सबको नज़र नहीं आता. Right. I think if a similar leader comes, positive trajectory can continue. Right. And I'm not saying के, the leader makes, the only difference. We as a nation, जैसा आपने बात कहीं ना, we are crowd people. Mhmm. We're not a good nation, I think so. जब तक हम ख़ुद ठीक नहीं होंगे, अगर मैंने chips खाएं और मैं road पर फ़ेंक दूंगा, what can इमरान खान do? Right. You'll not know that. I have to clean it up, I have to be responsible. I think people are not playing role as individuals to make their country better, to make their community better, to make their society better. तो मुझे तो यह, the it doesn't look that good. You don't you don't think so? I think there are some good things but there are some really bad things too. What do you think about people around you जो कि, I mean, you know, we talked about,
hello, we talked about पंजवादव. जो इस तरह के आपको कुछ nodes नज़र आ रहे होंगे, नौजवान nodes जो कि आगे अब कर रहे हैं. वह वह challenge कर रहे हैं. वह कह रहे हैं नहीं यार. To be very honest, I mean, feel like ten years ago when I would have this conversation, I was around 20 at the time. And the overwhelming response was, you know, our leaders are dumb and stupid. And, you know, we were, हम तो सारे, सब बेचारे थे ना. हर बंदा बेचारा, ग़रीब बेचारा था. बिल्कुल. और हमारे leaders मुल्क को खा गए. Yeah. Ten years down the line, I see a lot of people having this realization that you have कि listen, like, maybe we got to change as well. Exactly. I think we have to work on individual level.
जो आपने लोगों की examples दिए हैं, they're successful businessmen. I think business wise this country is booming. Right. Literally यहां पर इतनी opportunities हैं, इतना मज़ा आता है काम करने का. Challenges भी हैं but मज़ा बहुत आता है. But as a nation में बताता As a nation, a socially. जो values होती हैं. हां. मेरी बात सुनिए यहां पर लोग कहते हैं पांच वो तीने में आज पड़ेंगे, यहां पर कहते हैं लोग, my prayer is my religion. I think religion is what you do between the prayer. Right. It is the way you deal people. तो मुझे यहां पर business wise I think this place will boom, economy will boom, things will go well, hotels resorts helicopter flight, seaplane I have all these feelings. But as a nation, I think we're going downhill. Personal values. Mhmm. Do you do you think you're you'd,
you know, you were raised in a certain way? Do you think you'd raise your children in a different way?
I think as more time passes, it should be more difficult to raise children who are ethical and who want to do things the right way. Interesting. Yeah. Very powerful words. It's not it's not impossible. Yeah. It will be more challenging.
Makes a lot of sense. Daniel, thank you so much for being part of the show, for sharing all the insights. I wish you all the very best for Beverly Hills Residence as well as lamhay.com and any other project that you start in the future. Thank you. Just a side note, this podcast was not sponsored by Beverly Hills Residence. Although, I wouldn't mind an apartment if I get to it. Yes. I will invite you when my model apartment is ready. I'll definitely come and pay that a visit. But anyways, feedback भी लेते हैं, guest recommendation भी लेते हैं, different conversations भी करते हैं, articles भी यह करते हैं, you can join that as well. But anyways, this was सय्यद मज़हबेदाज़नज़ेदी. You are watching ThoughtBand. Thanks. Thank you so much for watching, I'll see you in the next one.
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