Do you have the courage to ask phuppo not to send crockery as present on your birthday and get you something you really want.....
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Do you have the courage to ask phuppo not to send crockery as present on your birthday and get you something you really want? If yes, then Just Because might be the right tool for you to plan your wedding gifts. Shafaq Sewani and Kashaf Jamal, the co-founders Just Because, are all set to revolutionise the way gifts are exchanged in Pakistan. With “get the gifts you want from people you love” as their core message, Shafaq and Kashaf worked diligently on their idea under the guidance of Jehan Ara at The Nest i/o, a technology incubator, and launched their startup in May 2018.
Kashaf tells Us more about their startup and how it promises less stressful, more joyful weddings in Pakistan.
The spark
“In 2014, Shafaq and I were completing our Masters in Turkey. At the same time, Shafaq was also planning her wedding in Pakistan. Our friends in Turkey got really excited and since they couldn’t make it to her wedding, they wanted to contribute to the wedding in some way. They asked if we had a bridal registry where they could check out what gifts the couple wanted from their guests. We told them we don’t have anything like that in Pakistan. That’s when we really thought we should work on this.
“We all know typical Pakistani weddings are huge. Families have to get furniture, appliances and other necessary items for the couple. On an average, more than 500 guests are invited to a wedding; and they all bring gifts for the couple. So why not make sure whatever they get for the couple adds value to their life. Otherwise, we just end up giving things that are either discarded after some time or are just dumped in the store.
“After coming back to Pakistan, we got busy with corporate jobs but then we got back to it. After a lot of research, and spending time at The Nest i/o, we were finally able to launch our website.”
About the team
“Currently, it’s just me and Shafaq. We both come from corporate background and our area of interest is investment banking. And yeah, we also have a graphic designer who helps us out with social media management and design collaterals for our events.
“We really want to bring young enthusiastic individuals on board. So we have interns all year round. We offer a three-month internship programme to anybody who is interested in learning about the start-up culture.”
How does it work?
“Just Because is an e-commerce store that allows couples to create wish lists on our website and communicate their gift preferences to the wedding guests.
“Before launching our website, we conducted extensive research to make sure whatever we offer to people is the best. We talked to couples and shortlisted different categories of items commonly required by newlyweds. So if you check the website, you will see not everything is there and it’s because all the items in categories are highly curated.
“Along with that, when we take a vendor on board, we personally go and check out all the stuff they have; after we are satisfied with the quality, we pick up items that would appeal to the target market. We also keep in mind the budget of a regular guest. Not everyone can afford a gift worth Rs 10,000 or 20, 000, so we also have items that cost less than Rs 5000.
“We also have this option where couples can create a profile page for themselves. It could be personalised in any way they want. They can add messages for their guests or put up interesting pictures. Then they can go and select the items we already have on the website and include them in their wish list.
“Today we see that young people are more interested in experiences so we have a special category for that as well. Some friend can give a dinner for two or suppose the couple is planning to go to Turkey for their honeymoon, someone could gift them a hot balloon ride.
“And through our website they can also make out smaller packages of different things they can do at their honeymoon so that the guests could contribute to that.
“Another thing we do is let people come and contribute whatever amount they want to get a certain item that costs Rs 20, 000 for instance; if someone’s budget is Rs 3000, they can only contribute that amount. And other guests can keep adding to that. If some amount is left at the end, the couple can manage it themselves to get that desired product or experience.”
Slow and steady wins the race
“We are quite new in the market. We launched our website in May 2018. And since Just Because is about changing the mindset, it gets a little difficult for people to make sense of this start-up.
“We want people to look at wedding gifts differently. People are embarrassed to ask for gifts they want, but what we don’t realize is guests will be more than happy to get you something that you would cherish all your life. We even take feedback from guests who always say this saves them the hassle of thinking what impressive gifts they should buy for the couple. It even gets easier for friends and family living abroad to get wedding gifts for their loved ones in Pakistan. We just need to stop assuming that guests would really mind if we share with them our gift preferences.
“So yeah, it’s been a slow process as we try to market our brand, but soon we will pick up pace.”
Challenges
“The biggest challenge is lack of channels through which entrepreneurs could connect with technology experts. When we were working on the idea, we knew what we wanted from the website but since we are from finance background, we had no idea how to develop it. We really wanted someone who could design a user-friendly website and also understand our business. Later on at The Nest i/o we were introduced to different technologies.
“Second challenge is our market which in general is very stubborn when it comes to trying out new things. It takes a lot of time and strategy to persuade people to try out the brand you are promoting. As an entrepreneur, you will have to struggle if you are trying to introduce something new and it has to do with changing the mindset of the society.”
The road ahead
“In order to engage with a wider audience, our strategy is to add more features to our website.
“Planning tools on the website will help couples and their families plan weddings efficiently. We also want a budgeting tool through which users could track their wedding expenses.
People will be able to order invitations online and if they can provide us with the names of the guests, we will get them printed and delivered. For this purpose, we are also planning to introduce a guest list manager.”
- Tooba Ghani
