Interview of an Entrepreneur

Presented to;
Sir Muhammad Ibraheem
Presented by;
Usman Ashraf (2017-MBAE-017)
Hassan Ahmad (2017-MBAE-018)
Daniyal Naseem (2017-MBA-019)
Entrepreneur’s Name: Muhammad Younas

Organization Name: Hunerkada College of Visual and Performing Arts

Address: Lahore Campus 39N, Model Town Ext. Lahore

1. What was your key driving force to become an entrepreneur?

After completion of my studies I joined an organization as an employee. After little experience I

came to realize that the possible career-path which was visible to me comprised of gradual
increments based on my performance which could barely correspond to general inflation trends
of the time. That meant I would not be able to transform my status in the society considerably by
following that career path. On that I came across idea of becoming an entrepreneur which would
allow me to utilize my knowledge and abilities to the maximum, and also according to my wishes.

2. How did the idea for your business come about?

When I decided to do my own business, I evaluated the opportunities in the market. At that time,
the education in the fields of textile and fine arts had just started to expand. I also realized that
education in those areas was not common and only few private organizations were in business in
addition to formal, bigger institutes in government sector.

3. How did you come up with the name of your company?

As I decided to get into this field, I started study of the related market in depth. I also contacted
some of my friends who were attached with the fields of arts and design. In this way I came across
to Mr. Jamal Shah towards the way, Islamabad. I discussed the prospects to establish the idea of
the college in Lahore named Hunerkada. In this way, the idea of Hunerkada College was became
alive.

4. How did you raise funding for your venture?

We adopt various methods to raise funding under Hunerkada platform:

 Students Tuition fee from BS (4 years degree program)

 Certificate & Diploma Courses
 Govt Of Punjab Funded Program (Punjab Skill development fund)
 Prime Minister Youth Skill development fund (NAVTTC)
 Projects with Public and Private Sector.

5. How did you build a successful customer base?

Initially we started with diploma and certificate courses. We had a dedicated team of art and
design teachers who worked very hard. From the very first day, our motto was dedication to this
 field. Our initial batches after passing out really helped spread the name of Hunerkada as an
authentic brand in this field. Our fine arts students after passing out were successful in
competing with those of bigger partners in the industry like NCA and Punjab University. Their
standard of knowledge and skill impressed the professionals
At the same time, we offered such programs which were a real need of textile industry of Pakistan,
which had just started to take off.

6. How did you market your business? And what are the tactics that have been successful?
We marketed our business by all possible means. These include

(i) Holding periodic workshops, seminars etc. to involve the general public of Lahore area
(ii) Organizing periodic theses displays at well-known and renowned places of Lahore like Al-
Hamra Arts Gallery
(iii) By inviting professionals of this field in our thesis displays and other such occasions
(iv) Whenever we had to send our students and staff to visit thesis displays and workshops at
other institutions, we took care of our branding by using banners and badges
(v) We printed and distributed the copies of our theses displays and workshops to the key
figures of the industry
(vi) We promoted our institution on print media on a regular basis which was dominant media
at that time
(vii) We started vigorous marketing campaigns to maximize the admissions

7. What is your strategy of maintaining a competitive advantage over your competitors in the
industry?

In the beginning Hunerkada was focused towards short courses and diplomas. Soon we found it
as an opportunity to start undergraduate degree programs in affiliation with Baluchistan
University. That gave us a competitive advantage over other small-scale colleges in Lahore which
had started offering similar short courses. Not only our profile got better, but also the standard
of faculty improved a lot. The experience of university level programs helped us refine our
approach towards short courses, which also underwent through a revamping process to become
the ones unparalleled by other institutions.

8. Where do you see your business in next five years?

Presently, Hunerkada with an experience of over 20 years offers a blend of programs with unique
and contrasting features. On one hand, it offers diploma programs in various subjects in
collaboration with Punjab Skill Development Fund (PSDF) and NAVTTC. On the other hand, it also
offers programs at both undergraduate degree and certificate and diploma levels. We are in a
process of getting our short courses and diploma programs accredited with TEVTA and NAVTTC
to make them acceptable world-wide. We foresee to expand our current operations by improving
our facilities and our offerings according to future needs of the changing world. The new lines of
e-commerce, cloud marketing, and global businesses will certainly gain importance in our
portfolio.