Pakistan’s digital creators are ready for the global content economy

Workshops, roundtables, keynotes, and panel discussions brought together top global creators, industry executives, and major platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Meta, and X to Dubai earlier this month at the 1 Billion Followers Summit. Framed as a business and economic forum for the creator economy, the summit positioned creators not just as entertainers but as emerging enterprises, investors and cultural exporters. For marketers, platforms, and financial stakeholders, the event underscored a clear message: the creator economy is maturing, and with that come new expectations around scale, sustainability, and monetization.

Much of the agenda focused on the structural challenges creators face as they attempt to build investable businesses. One of the most direct sessions, “Why Creators Can’t Get Funded,” unpacked a reality many creators underestimate.

While audience size and engagement matter, most creator-led startups fail to pass early funding stages due to weak business fundamentals, unclear revenue models, and over-reliance on personal branding. The discussion reframed creators as founders who must think beyond content metrics and toward governance, product-market fit, and long-term value creation.

Within this global context, Pakistan’s presence stood out, signalling the country’s growing relevance in the international creator economy. Pakistani creators did not appear as outliers, but as participants engaging confidently with global conversations around storytelling, finance, and influence.

Pakistani creators did not appear as outliers, but as participants engaging confidently with global conversations around storytelling, finance and influence.

-Sara Danial

One of the most resonant sessions featuring a Pakistani voice was led by Ayman, a Chicago-based book content creator with 1.2 million followers. With five years of experience building a loyal audience around romance and fantasy literature, Ayman spoke on “The Women Turning Stories Into Movements.” Her session focused on how women creators are redefining leadership and influence by building communities rooted in authenticity rather than permission. The discussion was centered on breaking stereotypes within content niches, using storytelling as a tool for cultural connection, and converting personal passion into collective identity. The focus was how soft power, when paired with consistency and purpose, can translate into real influence in the digital economy.

Another strong Pakistani presence came from Nameer Khan, Founder and CEO of the MENA Fintech Association and climate fintech platform Fils. His session positioned creators as emerging financial actors who can participate in global markets, rather than remaining dependent on advertising cycles.

Creators from Pakistan and the diaspora are increasingly operating at the intersection of culture, business and finance. They are not just exporting content, but ideas, communities, and business models that resonate across borders. For brands and investors, this presents an opportunity to engage with a market that is young, digitally native and globally connected.

From a business and communications perspective, the 1 Billion Followers Summit reinforced several critical trends. First, the creator economy is no longer experimental. It is institutionalizing. Second, platforms are converging with finance, technology, and policy, creating new ecosystems of value. Third, creators who succeed will be those who professionalize early, understand capital, and build beyond themselves.

For Pakistan, the implication is clear. As connectivity increases and creators gain global visibility, there is a growing need for support systems that include education, funding access, and strategic mentorship. The summit showed that Pakistani creators are ready for that next stage. The question now is whether local and regional stakeholders are ready to invest in them, not just as voices, but as viable businesses in a rapidly evolving global economy.

—Sara Danial is an independent writer from Karachi.