By Hina Kiyani
ISLAMABAD: An overseas Pakistani female entrepreneur, currently residing in United Arab Emirates, has revived the love for journals and writing and her handmade stuff is receiving an overwhelming response of the buyers from her homeland.
Hiba Creations is the brainchild of Naureen Ijaz Qazi, who started her venture in 2017 with selling self-crafted papers, gift boxes and chipboard. Naureen via phone said “I gradually transitioned from gift boxes and organisers to journals, as I have always loved working with fabric”. The homespun brand operates online currently, with no physical store as of yet but it was receiving orders from United Kingdom, Pakistan and some Middle Eastern countries.
Overseas female entrepreneur revives love for hand-crafted journals in Pakistan
Naureen who is determined to soon open an offline store said, “The benefit of selling online is that the world is your customer. Insha’Allah soon an offline store will be functional as the online response is encouraging.”
She said she was eying the European market in near future, however currently around 80% of the shoppers of her products were from her native country Pakistan and majority of them were women buyers. “It will be surprising to note that housewives are more enthusiast purchaser of my hand-crafted items,” Naureen remarked.
All journals and accompanying stationery offered by this creative label are customised.“The journals are made keeping the customer’s choice in mind. All parts of it- the fabric, pages and the charms are selected according to the their preference. I share the picture of a sample and then they select how they want it” she added. “It is a very detailed, patience demanding work. It takes 12-15 hours to assemble one” the entrepreneur explained further.
Pakistanis who are new to the world of journaling have taken a keen interest in this handmade craft, which has led this home-based business to amass over 5k followers on Instagram, the primary channel from where the brand operates. Overseas female entrepreneur revives love for hand-crafted journals in Pakistan Mehrbano from Faisalabad who is a buyer of Naureen’s journals acknowledging the quality of her work said, “It was worth waiting to have such a beautiful and quality handmade journal like this.”
“This is probably the best purchase I have ever made. It’s really beautiful and perfectly organised. I love the material it’s made of and the additional little things make it wholesome” expressed Hijab, a native of Mianwali.
The business, that Qazi runs with her family online from UAE, ships orders to different customers in Pakistan and abroad who has touched over one thousand number.
“It takes at least one month time for the shipment to reach Pakistan and once it arrives in the country, it further takes 2 to 3 days for the order to reach the customer” Naureen Qazi explained.
