From crafting dough flowers in her school days to running a successful jewellery business, the founder of Eventizor has come a long way. Her passion for art and creativity led her to explore the world of jewellery-making, and she has been unstoppable ever since.
Her journey with Eventizor started when she made a gajra for her sister-in-law for Eid which garnered lavish praise. She credits her sister-in-law and cousin for instilling her with the confidence to take the initiative of starting her own business. She confessed that she was definitely hesitant at first but due to the encouragement and support from family, she took the leap and started Eventizor in 2021.
As a founder from a small town in Pakistan, she faced several challenges in starting and growing her business. It was the peak of the Covid pandemic and the world was in quarantine. While other businesses struggled to shift online, the founder of Eventizor took it as an opportunity to work from home and have a clientele base all around the country.
The founder of Eventizor, now a graduate of Comsats University, was just a young undergrad student when she started her business. Living away from home, in a hostel, and running a successful business online was no more than a roller coaster ride. The now-established business had an unseen struggle of ensuring all orders were prepared and delivered on time, which required travelling back and forth every weekend. Laiba acknowledges Sadaf, her sister-in-law – the current head designer of Eventizor, for her help in keeping the business going during her university days. “I would carry the Kundan patches to Islamabad. On weekdays, I will take my classes and in between the classes, I would make the jewellery at the hostel and travel back home every weekend with all the orders ready. I would dispatch the orders from Mardan and take the next ready patches next week.” she shared.
A business which just started with floral jewellery now sells customized kundan and meenakari jewellery items. While many other jewellery stores launch a limited collection of pre-designed and manufactured pieces, Eventizor offers customized jewellery. It incorporates all your preferences and makes a unique piece just for you. The vast options in colours, designs, sizes and material offered set Eventizor apart from other jewellery stores.
A young girl from a small town achieving significant progress in a relatively short span of time is remarkable. In this process, she faced her fair share of challenges in starting and growing her business. When asked about the difficulties encountered, she pointed to managing finances as the most daunting aspect of running a business. “As I started getting more customers, I couldn’t keep a track of my finances. That was a big hustle for me,” she claimed.
In March 2022, Laiba discovered Metric, which she claims was a game-changer for her. Metric helped Laiba in managing finances, using data insights to grow the business and ensure a smooth cash flow. “I took a chance to see how it works and it turned out to be the best app that any business owner can use. All I have to do now is to enter all the income and expenses, all other calculations are done by Metric. It’s super easy to use and I can’t imagine my life without Metric now.” she stated and recommended everyone to download Metric.
Once the finances were sorted, she was on a roll in expanding and thriving her business. Her creative process for making jewellery is unique and innovative. She sources the best quality kundan and other raw material from wholesale markets and hand-designs each piece. She offers customized pieces, unique in colour, shape and design. The company now uses a variety of techniques, including die-cutting machines, meenakari, and resin, to create stunning and unique jewellery pieces.
Another of Eventizor’s huge achievements is getting a learning opportunity with RAIN. RAIN (Regional Accelerator & Innovation Network) is a global non-profit organization that is run by experienced entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial ecosystem-builders. RAIN has been serving many communities in Oregon, Washington, and Pakistan to help them build inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems and innovation economies. The program was being run in Pakistan in collaboration with the US embassy for women entrepreneurs.
More than 300 women entrepreneurs from 3 Universities applied for the program. “More than 300 entrepreneurs applied and 5 students from each university were to be selected. We were supposed to pitch and I did my pitch to Caroline Cummings, the CEO of RAIN.”, she further shared.
How was Eventizor able to win this opportunity amidst huge competition? According to the founder of Eventizor, transparent financial reports and documented business data are the critical success factors.“One of the most important factors for a good pitch is giving them your full financial report. Thanks to Metric I had all my records for the last 10 months. That is what made me stand out and Caroline appreciated it alot. That’s how I got into those top 5 students from Comsats, where we will be visiting Oregon in the US having the opportunity to meet different entrepreneurs and seeing how different startups went through their entrepreneurial journey.” she elaborated.
Eventizor, a small company of 4 employees, now plans to expand in terms of both the team and space. What sets Eventizor apart, is Laiba’s vision to empower the women of her area by teaching them skills and providing them with earning opportunities. She intends to establish Eventizor as a brand in the primary markets and expand its reach by opening stores in various cities as part of her long-term plan. With her dedication, grit and smooth and automated business operations, this does not seem too far away.
