First-time investor: how do I find the 5% of Pakistani small businesses that keep real records?
I have PKR 1–2 million to put into a small private business. No experience, so I'm keeping the ticket small on purpose.
Most businesses at this size here run on memory and a notebook. I've decided not to touch those — if I can't see two to three years of accounts, bank statements and tax filings, I'm not interested. That narrows the pool a lot, which brings me to what I'm stuck on:
- **How do I find them?** Do documented SMEs looking for investment go through brokers, accountants, chambers of commerce, listing sites — or is it all personal network?
- **How do I check them?** With documents in hand, what do you actually verify, and what gets faked most often?
If you've bought into or invested in a small business in Pakistan, I'd like to hear how you found it and what you checked before handing over money.