Daastan
Daastan
Making book publishing accessible, economical and transparent for authors in Pakistan through an inclusive supply chain and digital marketplace.
BCTA MEMBERSHIP STATUS
Active
SECTOR
Media & Entertainment
HEADQUARTERS
Pakistan
REGION OF INITIATIVE
Asia & Pacific
SDG CONTRIBUTION
The Impact Goal
Pakistani book publishing company, Daastan, joined Business Call to Action in December 2020 and made a commitment to publish 500,000 book titles, either through digitization or preservation, while providing 10,000 direct jobs and creating 50,000 indirect jobs through its supply chain by 2025.
The Market Gap
One of the challenges in the publishing sector in Pakistan has been non-transparent processes and informal work. In this market, individuals who have skills and are willing to work are faced with limited opportunities as most businesses are traditional offline enterprises. In 2020, COVID-19 exasperated this situation further creating unprecedented job losses.
The Business Solution
Daastan's solution regulates its publishing services' operation and makes it public, automated, and transparent. Being a tech-enabled platform allows Daastan higher flexibility in terms of scaling and lowering operational costs. What makes Daastan's platform unique is its inclusion of unemployed skilled individuals who are registered and vetted to be a part of Daastan's supply chain. Through this model, Daastan has standardized the quality and cost of all services which allows them to pay fair wages to their service providers while enabling economic growth.
Publications & Multimedia
Daastan featured on Neo TV Network's Idea Croron Ka show
Daastan's coverage on Voice of America Urdu