33-year-old Pakistani designer and entrepreneur, Zain Naqvi, has been affiliated with the Pakistani startup ecosystem since 2014. Currently working as the co-founder and Head of Design at Alter, a local platform that aids creators and companies from emerging economies connect with collectors (of digital collectibles and NFTs) the world over, the company made headlines in 2021 after it auctioned off one of Pakistan’s most well-known, viral memes, the 2015 ‘Friendship ended with Mudasir,’ for 20 Ethereum tokens (a whopping $51,000).
Ever since Naqvi’s foray into the Web3 space, the designer has worked on Ape Harbour, the world’s first metaverse shipyard and is currently involved in a project which is reimagining some of the apes part of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), including curating one of the biggest exhibitions of NFT and digital collectibles in the country, set to take place early next month. Additionally, Naqvi’s work has been featured in a number of international publications, including the Venice Biennale’s Imago Mundi Project.
