Our meetup of Pakistani professionals in the UK was a houseful event held at the Pakistani community center in Reading (UK). I had engaging conversations with a focus on entrepreneurship, side hustles, and investments leading to financial freedom, followed by networking. I started this meetup a few years ago, and initially, we only had representatives from the IT and Telecom sectors. Now, we have achieved diversity with the presence of professionals from the FMCG sector, banking sector, as well as a lady who participated in the UK’s local elections. I’m proud to say that NUST alumni also actively participated. While there is still work to be done on achieving gender balance, it’s a good start.
As most of the audience was in 30s 40s, one painpoint was how to obtain financial freedom and escape the pay check to pay check living?
Therefore, my talk was focused on three key points:
1. Start a side hustle or work on a startup idea that you might have. It will take time to build but now is the time to start.
2. Start investing. Build a portfolio (real estate, stocks, gold etc) and don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
3. Collaborate with the members of our group. Let’s help each other grow. Give back to the community where you live. Each one of us has a strength. Leverage on those strengths. Some of us already have businesses in IT, training and coaching, real estate investments and construction. So we can help those who want to start any of these businesses or want to make some investment.
