BCTA MEMBERSHIP STATUS
Active

SECTOR
Media & Entertainment

HEADQUARTERS
Pakistan

REGION OF INITIATIVE
Asia & Pacific

SDG CONTRIBUTION

EXTERNAL ARTICLES

Daastan: Digitally Reviving Pakistan's Literary Industry

Literary reformation of a society - ft. Daastan Founder, Syed Ommer Amer

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