PESHAWAR: Students have been advised to make effective and positive use of modern technology for online entrepreneurship to live an independent life as business viability of local items is rising up in the global market.

Students have great potential for adopting online business. They are required to learn using of modern technology to launch online business.

Jahangir Ahmad and Mian Rashid had launched their own online business in 2015 and marketed popular Peshawari Chappal and shawl. They introduced their own brand under which they sold out various designs of local wearable items.

They said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had numerous indigenous handcrafted items that could attract world buyers with a slight training of youth and students.

They said that Peshawari Chappal had 2,000-year-old history with basic wear design and definition and that was the reason it had its sale index 250 million annually worldwide despite the fact it had no international brand.

“We are working on this project to boost Peshawari Chappal and shawl as ingenious handcrafted products with our Pashtun cultural identity,” said Jahangir Ahmad.

The duo while sharing their views told this scribe that taking start from Pakistan, the span of their business viability was expanded to several countries including Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, the United States, Germany, United Kingdom and France. They said that around 4,000 students were trained under their supervision.

“A package of three-week course including e-commerce, social media management and basic financial management is being imparted at our centre. Graduate students can develop their own business ideas and launch their own brand of local items. In this way, jobless young graduate can become independent entrepreneur,” said Mian Rashid.

They said that more than 400 artisans returned to the art of making Peshawari Chappal owing to its online demand globally. They added that young entrepreneurs, both male and female, could come up with innovative ideas to market their own brands of any item being produced locally.

They said that Daniel Crag, a popular Hollywood actor, recently used Peshawari Chappal in a film shoot, which was a prideful thing for them. They added that Pualsmith, a renowned British fashion designer, had been using it since long which showed that it could become a global phenomenon that would trigger huge business activities and scale up their cultural identity.

Published in Dawn, january 2th, 2023