Maha Shahzad’s path to founding BusCaro wasn’t built in a classroom — it was built on the ground floor of Pakistan’s ride-hailing boom. A college dropout who grew up between the United States and Pakistan, Shahzad entered the mobility sector in 2013 and spent over a decade inside the companies that shaped it, holding leadership roles at Foodpanda, Careem, and Airlift before becoming General Manager of Swvl Pakistan. When Swvl exited the market in 2022, she saw an unmet need she couldn’t ignore.
That same year, Shahzad launched BusCaro from her apartment with a single bus and two co-founders, aiming to give commuters — particularly women, students, and low-income workers — a safer, more reliable alternative to Pakistan’s chaotic public transit system. The company’s premise was simple: structured, tech-enabled bus routes that prioritize safety and affordability in a country where only about 10% of people own private cars.
The bet has paid off. BusCaro now operates roughly 900 buses across Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, processing tens of thousands of daily bookings and serving corporate clients including PepsiCo, Indus Hospital, and Style Textile. Revenue has grown from $2 million in 2023 toward an annualized run rate near $8.6 million, and the company has raised over $2 million in funding — a feat achieved despite hundreds of investor rejections along the way. Notably, roughly 70% of BusCaro’s riders are women and children, a figure that reflects the company’s founding mission.
Shahzad’s work has drawn international recognition: she has been named among the top ten women in mobility globally, competed on the entrepreneurship show “Meet the Drapers,” and mentors emerging founders through platforms like She Loves Tech. For Shahzad, BusCaro represents more than a transit company — it’s an argument that safe, dignified mobility should be a baseline right, not a privilege reserved for those who can afford a car.
