Wajeeha Zamir - An Entrepreneur and Social Activist

by Majid Ali
(Peshawar, Pakistan)

Wajeeha Zameer is a young female entrepreneur from Peshawar offering her services as a lecturer at Abasyn University, Peshawar. She runs her own business under the name of "Plan 2X". She is the first female wedding planner from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Venture: Plan 2X
Owner: Wajeeha Zameer
Location: Peshawar, Pakistan

Wajeeha Zameer - An Entrepreneur and Social Activist - Interview

Q. What drives you?

A. My name is Wajeeha Zameer currently residing in Peshawar. My father belongs to Peshawar while my mother is Punjabi. I had really an amazing experience throughout the excursion of my career. From very early of my age I had been really interested in fine arts and creative things like sketching, painting, decoration, and writing.

Q. How did you get here and how long have you been in this profession?

A. My family never wanted me to pursue my career in fine arts. The reason was they considered it a futureless career, and I was denied to take arts as my primary goal.

I had always been really good at decoration at weddings in my family. My family members used to take my advice because they thought that I was good at it. I was involved in it but felt shy to express it to my family that I want to make my career in event management.

I never wanted a career in engineering or medical field, and my family thought that I wasn't interested in studies. Still I was denied to go for fine arts.

I did my bachelors in mathematics. Obliviously I had to do my masters in mathematics, but by then my family realized and told me to choose whatever I wanted to choose for my career. And I did my Masters in Business Administration.

Along with MBA, I got all the facilities and opportunities that allowed me what I wanted to choose and do for myself. I have always participated in debate competitions during my educational life.

I won the Pakistan Debate Competition and scheme competition organized by KPK; I got the second position in that.

After graduation from MBA, I started my own startup "Plan 2X" which is a wedding planning business. Obviously, my family and everyone supported me for taking such steps, but it is working well.

Actually, it's really hard for a female in Pakistan especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to pursue their career in business or social activities. It doesn't mean that you can't do anything for yourself or your society.

Q. What has been your vision and what do you most love about your work?

A. As a female, you will face lots of impediments in your way, but you will have to believe in yourself and go through it.

I have been part of the provisional youth assembly, and we did multiple campaigns for women empowerment by arranging seminars at FAST, Bannu, Kohat, DI Khan, and many other universities.

Consequently, many girls applied and successfully gone for foreign scholarships. We got a lot of love and positive feedback from girls in all these universities, they really appreciated our struggle.

Q. What do you think is your biggest achievement throughout your professional journey?

A. During my career, it's an honor for me that I got an opportunity to work with Arfa Kareem and Ali Moin Nawazish on Step up student counseling. We used to arrange online Skype meetings and used Pring portal. It was used for educational awareness. By that time we got 20,000 followers and got coverage from British Broadcasting Chanel (BBC) as well.

I had been a certified British Counsel facilitator for 4 to 5 years. I have been part of social activities for educational awareness. I have admitted 50 children myself in school, those children who were denied to attend the school by their parents.

I have arranged multiple events for organizations like Tourism Corporation and Directorate of culture. One of the events was worth 20 million rupees sponsored by Tourism Corporation.

It's an honor to be selected as the first and only female in commonwealth youth counsel sponsored by Queen Elizabeth.

Q. What are your current projects and what do you plan on doing in the near future?

A. For the upcoming World Youth Forum Egypt, I have been selected in the marketing category.

I will always owe my gratitude and thanks to Abasyn University for their support. I really appreciate their efforts in multiple events of my career.

Q. A word of advice you would like to pass on to other women struggling with their start-ups?

A. In the end, I will conclude with a message to all my female fellows that giving up on your dreams will not help. If obstacles frighten you, then I am sure stepping out of your gateway will be a hard thing for you.

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