From US$ 53 a month to 150 Person Company – Meet Muhammad Rohail Akhtar of Pearl Comm

“Luck always plays vital role in some ones success or failure but I believe that in my case major factor  was my honesty and devotion to my team and business.” – Muhammad Rohail Akhtar, owner of Pearl Comm Mobile Plus Pvt Ltd

Mr. Rohail Akhtar

Started his career in 1995 as a sales representative at a business directory service “Jamal Yellow Pages”, Rohail now owns a company worth Rs 150 million. The company currently has a turnover of approximately Rs 300 million, employing around 150 people.

“Job at Jamal Yellow Pages was tough. I was knocking doors to sell directory listings and advertisements. It was not so easy to bring new business. But that job taught me a key skill ‘selling’.

In 1996 Rohail got an offer from a local representative of a French telecom equipment manufacturers to work as “Commercial Manager”, a job he did for four years. During those days, Telecomms business was growing and payphone

sector was emerging in Pakistan. A local payphone company offered him a position as Marketing Manager. He knew the market that helped him expand the business across Pakistan. This job also provided him extensive travel opportuity and he managed to build contacts right at the end-user level.

In 2004, original investors wanted to pull out of the company. At that time company’s  worth was around Rs 3million. Rohail had about Rs 1 million in savings, but the opportunity was lucrative. He managed to raise another Rs 2million from a loan from his brother and bought the company.

All that shifted the game plan – Rohail was now the owner! Now was the time to put all efforts on business development to improve market share and eventually diversify into new ventures.

Strong networking helped Rohail to soon transform him business into what is Pearl Comm Mobile Plus Pvt Ltd, a company that is now lead representatives for major telecom services, partner in value added services and also runs a BPO.

Right from the beginning, the company had established a decentralized system in which each segment of Peral’s business runs as a separate entity, a model very similar to Virgin Group established by Richard Branson.


Pearl Comm Mobiles Plus Pvt. Ltd.


Rohail believes that there were two major success factors, one, his ability to develop trust with network partners, and secondly, timely diversification in to latest technology related to telecom business. In his views, his biggest marketing tool is “Trust”. His partners have been extremely supportive throughout, this bring in more business for his company. “My biggest strength is the belief of my customers in me as a reliable and professional business partner” – says Rohail.

“As an entrepreneur, you must know your business field and never think that you have done enough. Keep on learning and developing your business according to the future technology requirements.”