IBA CEDIR is running two sessions on Saturday, September 26, 2026, at City Campus, IBA Karachi, pairing two very different lenses on what it actually takes to build and scale a business. The programming reflects a deliberate sequencing, grounding founders first in financial fundamentals before moving into the broader, more strategic question of what growth looks like once those fundamentals are in place.
Dr. Syed Sharjeel Hasnie will lead the first session on entrepreneurial accounting, helping founders understand cost structures and financial statements well enough to make smarter decisions before attempting to scale. This kind of foundational financial literacy is frequently underweighted in general entrepreneurship training, which tends to focus more heavily on product, marketing, and fundraising narrative while leaving the harder, less glamorous work of understanding a venture’s actual cost base and financial health as an afterthought, even though weak grasp of unit economics is one of the more common reasons early-stage businesses fail once they attempt to scale.
Shah Aun Hussain will follow with a session unpacking what growth actually looks like across distinctly different kinds of ventures, deliberately spanning examples from food stalls to fintech companies. That range matters because growth mechanics genuinely differ across business types, a food stall’s path to scaling typically depends on operational replication and unit-level margins, while a fintech company’s growth is often shaped by regulatory approval, customer acquisition cost, and platform economics, and founders benefit from understanding which growth logic actually applies to their own venture rather than applying generic scaling advice across the board.
Structuring the day around accounting first and growth strategy second gives participants a coherent throughline, financially sound before ready to grow, rather than treating the two sessions as unrelated topics. The pairing adds to IBA CEDIR’s ongoing cadence of practitioner-led sessions this month, continuing its pattern of bringing in specialists who ground entrepreneurship training in practical financial and operational reality rather than theory alone.
Follow the SPIN IDG WhatsApp Channel for updates across the Smart Pakistan Insights Network covering all of Pakistan’s technology ecosystem.


