Kashmiri youth, a school dropout, becomes owner of UK-based company

A school dropout from Kashmir has become an inspiration for the youth of the valley.

Sheikh Asif, who was born in the Batamaloo area of Srinagar, is now a proud owner of an IT company based out of United Kingdom.

Asif's mom had a dream to see her son become a doctor, but she was shattered when Asif decided to drop out of school and pursue his own dream to become an IT expert.

Supported by his father, Asif started his own company - Thames Infotech - in Manchester city of UK after a colleague provided him a rent-free space.

However, the starting phase was testing for Asif as he struggled to get a single client for almost one and a half years.

Asif changed his luck when he retained a client who had initially just ordered a company logo from him.

Since then, Asif's company became one of the top IT companies in UK and even received numerous top service provider awards.

But concerned about his home state, Asif came back to Kashmir in 2018 and set up his office in the valley.

He also started online classes for interested students who want to pursue a career in web designing and digital marketing.