CxO Interview – Zouhair Khaliq, Founder & General Partner Teamup Ventures and Co-Founder at Teamup Group
Tell us about yourself and how you reached where you are today.
After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant from the UK in 1984, I returned to Pakistan and spent around nine years working in various finance roles at PWC, ICI, and Mobilink. In 1993, I had the privilege of being employee #1 and a founding member of Mobilink, where I served as CFO and played a crucial role in establishing the Finance, Treasury, Human Resources, and IT functions. In 1997, I had another fortunate opportunity and moved to general management with Motorola in the UK.
During my time at Motorola, from 1997 to 2002, I served as the Head of Operations for the EMEA Region, overseeing operations in Pakistan (Mobilink), Jordan (Fastlink), Lithuania (Omnitel), and Egypt (Mobilink), which I also helped launch. In 2002-2003, after leaving Motorola, I took on the role of Group Chief Operating Officer at Orascom Telecom. During this tenure, I played a key role in launching Tunisiana in Tunisia, restructuring Djezzy in Algeria, and Mobilink in Pakistan, as well as Mobinil in Egypt. Additionally, I played a part in restructuring a USD 1.6 billion corporate debt, arranging the sale of operations in Jordan, Syria, Yemen, and Central Africa.
We also pursued mobile licenses in Iran, Sudan, and Ethiopia, albeit without success. However, we successfully launched mobile operations in Iraq in April 2003, just after the fall of the Saddam statue in Baghdad. In June 2003, I was asked to return and lead Mobilink as CEO, as the Telecom Authority had served it with a notice to shut down within 60 days due to poor quality of service.
With a new team of highly talented individuals, we turned the company around, growing the customer base from 1 million to 32 million and increasing revenues from USD 80 million to over USD 1.4 billion, securing a 45% market share despite tough competition from Ufone, Telenor, Warid, and Zong. This transformation led Mobilink to become one of the five fastest-growing companies in Asia in 2006 and 2007, and it became the largest private sector company in Pakistan, a position it maintains as Jazz today.
In 2009, seeking further challenges, I moved back to Cairo to serve as CEO of Orascom Holding. During this time, I successfully negotiated a USD 1.1 billion tower share deal and played a part in launching mobile banking in Pakistan, Egypt, Tunisia, and Italy. In late 2010, with Orascom’s sale to Vimpelcom (now VEON), I took on the role of Chairman of the Executive Committees of the Boards of Warid Telecom and Wateen Telecom from 2010 to 2014. During this period, I focused on restructuring and refinancing both companies, facilitating the merger of Warid with Mobilink, and enabling Wateen to continue as an independent local company. From mid-2014 to 2015, I served as Managing Director, Mobile Development, at the GSM Association in London. In this role, I managed a USD 150 million fund to seed technology-based startups, promoting mobile money, mobile health, mobile utilities, and other innovative solutions across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, and Africa.
In 2016, I decided to “give back” and returned to Pakistan to establish Teamup with my Co-Founder. Together, we set up the National Incubation Centre Pakistan, a public-private partnership involving Mobilink (later called Jazz), the Ignite Technology Fund, and the Ministry of IT & Telecom. The center’s mission was to incubate, train, mentor, and support technology-based startups in various sectors such as Fintech, Agri-tech, e-Commerce, e-Health, e-Education, e-Logistics, and more.
Over the last seven years, we have successfully incubated nearly 300 startups, generating over 20,000 jobs and millions in revenues, with many raising further investments from angel investors and venture capital firms. Today, I am proud to serve as the Founder & General Partner at Teamup NIC and Teamup Ventures, a VC fund established at the DIFC in Dubai. This journey has been both challenging and rewarding, and I am grateful to the Almighty for providing me with numerous opportunities.
How do you see technology changing our lives?
Interviewee: Technology has become an integral part of our lives, and in Pakistan, with over 195 million people connected through mobile phones, and around 88% of households having access to mobile technology, the potential for economic growth and transformation is truly remarkable. The growth of technology startups in the last 6-7 years, addressing business models in areas such as e-commerce, fintech, agri-tech, e-health, e-logistics, e-education, and more, with over USD 830 million invested by venture capital funds, has convinced me that our economic growth and prosperity will be technology-driven. These new technology-based businesses hold the key to solving many daily challenges and generating hundreds of thousands of new jobs, addressing the needs of our population.
What is your Vision & Goal?
Interviewee: I have long believed that the youth of Pakistan possesses enormous talent, innovation, and a strong work ethic, which should be recognized and encouraged through enabling legislation, favorable taxation policies, and incentivizing both local and foreign investors to support technology startups and scale their solutions. With approximately 65% of our population below the age of 30, digital natives who quickly adopt new technology regardless of their educational background, it is close to my heart to provide platforms and avenues to enable their success. I envision a future where young entrepreneurs drive the technology ecosystem in Pakistan, creating transformative solutions that benefit the common man and foster economic growth and prosperity.
Moreover, Visit CxO Global FORUM or CxO News Live for all the latest updates.
