Founder & CEO – My Impact Meter

Evolve: You have a very interesting profile when we look at your career journey. We are observing a working woman who has made her mark in corporate sector at such a young age and is driving switch towards the unconventional ways of business. Please our readers with your journey so far?

Ms. Kanwal Cheema: I started my career at Cisco as an Associate System Engineer in Amsterdam. That was a very interesting experience because we were 130 people from almost 59 different countries. Cisco is a multinational company where I worked for 15 years in multiple roles, regions, and verticals. Most recently I was a Global Account Director based out of Sydney.

I then became part of the founding team of a tech startup in the Silicon Valley where we raised $33.5 million in Series A funding. There, I looked after global business development and marketing. The reason I live in Pakistan is because of my passion project “My Impact Meter”. It is a social enterprise and its very close to my heart. It is a central digital platform for an individual to facilitate and track social philanthropic impact.

While I was working in Sydney, I did my Executive MBA from University of New South Wales and while at it, I also did a degree in Social Impact. I became painfully aware of the gaps in this sector, and I felt that technology was the only solution to fill those gaps. This became my ‘calling’ – my ‘quest” in life and that’s when I moved back to Pakistan to start My Impact Meter.

Evolve: What do you consider as your greatest achievement in life and what is your ultimate goal?

Ms. Kanwal Cheema: My greatest achievement – the one that turned my life around, was the discovery of self - my core beliefs, and the internal forces that shape my life. Life of this universe is billions of years and a person's life compared to that is negligible - we're like dots that disappear as soon as we appear. I wanted my dot to linger- to fade slowly after I die. I was able to consciously re-program myself into the person I wanted to be as opposed to the person I was by default. I started to internalize this discovery and started designing my life and becoming in control of myself. I realized my time in this world is finite and must be maximized and the different facets in life must be balanced. I said ‘no’ to big career breakthroughs and opportunities after this discovery – the ones that weren’t aligned to my ultimate goal.

My ultimate passion is to contribute towards creating a just and prosperous world where it is profitable to be good. I want to create a new measure of success that ensures that a person’s success is not only based on their level of monetary wealth, their education, and their title but it also based on the impact that they create in this world. Eventually, I want companies and countries to be also be measured based on their impact – not just their wealth. And that’s why I returned to Pakistan and founded “My Impact Meter”.

Evolve: That is a very ambitious goal. How do you get the courage to have this kind of an ambitious goal?

Ms. Kanwal Cheema: What gives me the courage to have such a big goal is rooted in my theological belief which goes like this: I believe that the universe can be divided into two distinct parts: The Creation and The Creator. The creation has a beginning and an end and cannot be infinite. The Creator, on the other hand, is limitless and infinite. I used to rely upon the creation but found myself bounded by the limits of that particular creation. Within the realms of creation lie my own health, abilities, skills, time, money etc. These resources could definitely be used as a means to an end, but they cannot be fully relied upon because of their limitations. However, when I started putting my complete trust in the Creator, I felt I had the potential to be limitless. Making the Creator my core and putting my trust in Him, I have been able to let go of my insecurities. I have developed an enormous ability to take risks and have been able to defeat the fear of failure. I consider this to be an invaluable asset in my quest for making a difference.

Evolve: As we know the conceptualization is as significant as brand’s identity itself. How did you come up with the name of the ‘My Impact Meter’?

Ms. Kanwal Cheema: Right now, a person’s success is based on the assets of the person, his/her degrees, his/her titles etc. I wanted to create a new secular measure of success based on the impact that one creates in the world. I wanted to be able to measure a person’s “Net Impact Worth” too rather than just “Net Worth” and that is essentially a person’s ‘Impact Meter’, hence the name “My Impact Meter”.

Evolve: So what is ‘My Impact Meter’ and how does it work?

Ms. Kanwal Cheema: My Impact Meter is an app – it is a central digital platform to facilitate and track social philanthropic Impact.

Our main customer segment is the donor, who is called 'Impactor' on the platform. Anyone who wants to donate and then track their donations and measure their impact can download the app from google playstore or Apple Appstore.

It is like a mall of NGOs so you can donate to your favorite NGOs through the app. It is also an “Ecosystem of Impact Services": You can add beneficiaries (these are deserving people who we call Impactees) or you can choose impactees that have been verified by NGOs. You can then gift grocery or education vouchers to them. Once you gift the service, the impactee gets a tracking ID on their phone. The Impactee can show the tracking ID at any supported grocery store or school near where they live and get the gifted service. The commercial service provider (Impact supplier) gets paid through the app. By ensuring that the impactee gets the service and not the cash, you get the reliability and assurance that your money is being used for what it was intended.

You get Impact credits for every donation you make, hence “Impact Meter”. You also get badges and levels based on the impact credits you have. So, you can keep setting a higher bar for yourself. It is also a social media of impact so you create your profile and just like you add friends on Facebook, you can add other impactors as "Impact buddies". Impactors can see each other’s' impact activity, overall impact and can share beneficiaries with each other.

Evolve: You have served in diverse habitat with multifaceted roles over the past years in Technology, marketing and consulting firms; please share your views about people, and the companies you have experienced so far?

Ms. Kanwal Cheema: This is a very loaded question. I’ll try to summarize a few quick learnings. When I started my career in Amsterdam, there were people from 59 different countries in my cohort. I learned that although people are from different cultures, backgrounds, and experiences, intrinsically they are very similar. They experience pain, love, happiness in very similar ways.

When I came to Pakistan, I was the only woman in Cisco Pakistan and the only woman engineer in the Cisco Middle East and Africa region at the time. Whatever wrong I did, everyone knew (laughs). There were very few women engineers especially in the field of networking in the region and I remember I had to do CCIE (which is a very tough Cisco certification) just to prove that I am technical, and I know my stuff! Thankfully, times have changed and now I see a lot more women in tech! However, there is still a bit of an unconscious bias when it comes to women in tech and that has to change.

When I moved to Sydney and started traveling the world in a global role, I had the opportunity to interact with some amazing folks from all over the world who have made a name in their field– and I found that the most likable were the ones who were humble despite their achievements. The people who inspired me the most were the ones who were after a larger purpose in life and were on a quest to make an impact rather than just spending their life in the pursuit of money, fame or power.

Evolve: What are some of the challenges you as a female Entrepreneur have faced and how did you overcome such situations?

Ms. Kanwal Cheema: I spoke about the challenges that we women face in a seminar full of ladies in leadership positions and they all lighted up and agreed that they face the same challenges.

Some men (not all) in leadership positions are ok to become guardians and mentors if they perceive that you are less successful than them. But, as soon as they perceive you as their equivalent or you become as successful, then suddenly their insecurities wake up.

Similarly, I’ve had people be very generous and extend support only to find out that they have unethical or indecent expectations. I now very bluntly clarify expectations upfront if anyone is extending any kind of support. Lastly, I feel that women are judged more for their appearance, clothing etc than for their intelligence or leadership qualities which is very unfortunate.

Evolve: Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs (OPEN) world’s premier entrepreneur network; being a President of this organization that operates globally, you have been in substantive terms with North American Entrepreneurs. What is your take on the extensive opportunities you have accomplished and now you would feasibly endow towards Gen Z?

Ms. Kanwal Cheema: I am the president of the OPEN Lahore chapter. There are 14 chapters of OPEN in different cities of the world consisting of Pakistani origin founders. The 300+ members of OPEN have had 12Billion dollars in exits from their companies and startups. So overall, OPEN is a very amazing network of some of the most accomplished Pakistanis from the world over. We work closely with the OPEN SV chapter because the real value is in bridging gaps between the entrepreneurs in Pakistan and Silicon Valley.

As part of OPEN, we have started initiatives to create programs for budding entrepreneurs from Pakistan. One of the programs is OPEN Startup Connect started first by the OPEN Silicon Valley Chapter. As part of this program, we connect startups from Pakistan to investors and mentors in the Silicon Valley and we even take some of them to the valley for a 14 day trip.

Evolve: You have initiated company ‘Alplaar Consulting’, a company that deals with B2B Sales, marketing and partnership strategy. In your perspective, how far it is successful in making a mark among the rest?Ms. Kanwal Cheema: That is a company through which I and my team provide consulting services to some multinationals and global companies around the world. We also provide consultancy to VC backed tech startups. It is important to me because it funds My Impact Meter.

We provide consultancy related to B2B tech sales and marketing - how to build a viable sales strategy, sales process and close multi-million-dollar deals. Moreover, we help in building a global channel strategy and design the channel program.

Evolve: As we all know that you are an eminent edition to CEO CLUBS WORLDWIDE – Pakistan Chapter. How do you cope with this recognition and how would you disburse your expertise over the subsequent years?

Ms. Kanwal Cheema: I am happy to be part of the CEO clubs Worldwide and I think it is an amazing platform to network, meet and learn from some of the best CEOs from around the world. It is also a very good platform to create new business opportunities and avenues and expand one’s business to a global level. I am very excited to contribute in any way I can to this network in Pakistan and in the region.

Evolve: Is there a particular kind of project that you would really like to create/make in IT Sector, but haven’t been able to do yet?

Ms. Kanwal Cheema: Honestly, my passion now is “My Impact Metet”. If I can digitalize charity and bring transparency, trust, visibility, equitability, and simplicity to it at a global level, I will consider this an achievement. And if I’m able to create a new motivation system that rewards individuals, companies and countries and measures their success based on the impact that they are creating and the good that they are doing, then I will have achieved my life’s goal.

Evolve: Do you think Pakistan lacks in providing to its economy whether its business opportunities or IT Sector, which hinders our economy to flourish?

Ms. Kanwal Cheema: This is also a loaded question because there are so many things that Pakistan can improve to increase investor confidence. I have had the chance to speak with Pakistani origin founders and businessmen from all over the world and some of the themes and recommendations are repeated over and over.

There are the obvious ones like the law-and-order situation, the instability, the economic unpredictability etc.

But then there are some specific ones as well especially as they pertain to the IT and Tech industry because let’s face it – that’s where the real buck is in the future. Pakistan needs to have consistency in its policies especially the ones related to tax, repatriation of funds etc. IT industry had a tax holiday till 2025 but then, when the government changed, a tax regime was imposed.

Also, policies around foreign currency retention for investment coming into Pakistan are not conducive to attracting investment. Because of foreign exchange unpredictability and rupee being in a constant downward spiral, not being able to retain foreign currency means a significant portion of the value of the investment is lost within days.

Furthermore, there is no single window operation for businesses and tech startups and dealing with multiple government authorities is quite cumbersome.

Lastly, when the interest rate is in the north of 15%, why would I want to take a risk and invest when I can earn 15% just by keeping my money in the bank? Of course, keeping money in the bank doesn’t help either because the inflation rate is north of 30%.

I know I’ve painted a bleak picture above but then again Pakistan does have a lot of opportunity as well given that we have the 6th youngest population in the world. Also, the smartphone penetration in Pakistan is quite remarkable. Plus we are a nascent, unsaturated market at the moment, so innovative ideas to create simplicity and frictionless experiences for the population leveraging technology can most definitely work in Pakistan. The government just needs to be more supportive and create a safe and reliable environment and policy which is conducive to innovation, investment, and entrepreneurship.

Evolve: What are your thoughts on print media around the globe and what would you like to say to the readers of Evolve Business Publication?

Ms. Kanwal Cheema: As much as I love to snuggle with a book and still enjoy the paper and ink magazines and books, there is no denying that digital media has really started to dominate. I would urge that Evolve Business Publication should also have a strong digital presence.