Meet Sheikh Asif, entrepreneur from J&K who is helping businesses during lockdown

Sheikh Asif, a young Kashmiri boy from the Batamaloo area of ​​Srinagar, was forced to drop out of school and start working in Class VIII due to poor economic conditions. The same Kashmiri entrepreneur Sheikh Asif now owns a leading Information Technology (IT) company in the UK and specializes in web designing. He also provides online coaching for entrepreneurship, digital marketing, website development, and more.

With this uncertain pandemic and pathetic state of business, Sheikh Asif has started helping businesses with his exceptional intelligence to bring business online without any charges. He believes that bringing business online not only saves business or livelihood but will also accelerate the economy of the country, which he has mentioned in all his 3 books. He has recently launched a website named soanmenu.com, where he is helping all hotels and restaurants to upload their menu on the website and get a simple digital menu in form of QR code for free. It has been precisely designed as per the covid protocols like social distancing, online orders and many others. which will not only help to generate revenue in COVID but also be a major step towards digitalization.

"Soan" is a Kashmiri word meaning "ours". So this idea of ​​Sheikh Asif will not only help in maintaining the COVID protocol, but it will also help hotels and restaurants to digitize and take their business online. This digital menu will be in the form of a QR code, which not only helps the customers to place orders online but can also choose to pay for their orders if they so desire.
Sheikh Asif too had to go through many hardships in his journey from dropping out of school to becoming an international IT icon.

Recalling memories of his challenging but successful journey, he said that his family circumstances forced him to drop out of school.

Sheikh Asif said, “I have reached this stage by overcoming many obstacles at a very young age.” He also said "In 2008 my family opposed my decision to drop my schooling in class VIII, but my father's deteriorating health forced me to stand firm on my decision.” He added, "In 2009 my father somehow managed to buy a computer for me and I started learning the basics about it, which fascinates me to pursue a career in it."

Sheikh Asif said “In those days "Tally" was the trend so I went to an institute to learn it but I was disappointed when I was treated illiterate, and also told that It was beyond comprehension, due to my low education. He further said, 

“I started working as a graphic designer in a tour and travel agency where I used to get a monthly salary of Rs 1500, which helped me survive to some extent. However, during this time, I learned other essential aspects of computers, e.g, 'Excel', etc.

Sheikh Asif now owns an IT company named Thames Infotech which is based in Manchester, UK and also has an office in Kashmir. Sheikh Asif recently won the Entrepreneur of the Year award organized by The Firebox Bengaluru. He believes that 30 out of 100 persons should be such that not only simplify the way of living but also create employment for others.

Image Credits - Republic World