A few years after graduating from university, Talha Izhar found himself in an uncomfortable and unforeseen situation. Over the course of the past few years his friends had slowly trickled out of Pakistan; some had left for higher education, others had been offered jobs, while the rest had simply joined their families in pastures new. Izhar, who worked as a software consultant at the time, wished to make more social networks but did not have the time or opportunities to do so. Unaware of events and meet-ups happening in his home city of Karachi, he was not in a position to make new friends or acquaintances.

For Izhar, this barrier to information turned out to be far more intriguing than he initially envisioned. While not exactly teeming with cultural activities, Karachi is still an urban metropolis of approximately 20 million people and a significant middle class segment. There is significant interest in the food and entertainment industry but a lack of awareness sometimes prevents event organisers from reaching as many people as they would like, with Facebook being the primary social network used to promote events.

Inspired by social networking site Meetup, Izhar quit his job to start work on a new app which he hoped would help facilitate offline group meetings. The venture, titled Jus’ Plan It, aims to carve out a niche in event planning and community meets by giving an overall listing of activities happening nearby. “Unless you are invited to an event on Facebook, it is difficult to find out exactly what is happening nearby,” Izhar tells Tech in Asia. “We want to give individuals and businesses the opportunity to attract a wider audience.”

Jus’ Plan It team

Group chats

How the app works is fairly simple. Initially you have the option of either creating an event or browsing through existing ones in your geographical location. If you choose to create an event, you can set it as as invite-only, or public, where anyone with the app can view it. The events can also be filtered according to their category, such as meals, film screenings, outdoor activities, travel plans, shopping trips, and parties. For public events, the app allows organisers to advertise their meets to all users within a maximum radius of a hundred miles and also gives the number of available users in the specified range.

Izhar is quick to explain that his venture is not simply a clone of Meetup. “They [Meetup] are focused on interest-based communities while we help our users plan and create events more effectively with friends and family,” he says.

The most intriguing feature of Jus’ Plan It is the option for a group chat among all an event invitees. Akin to a WhatsApp group chat, the feature allows users to converse freely and send images to one another but does not give away personal details such as their phone numbers. For Izhar, this will be crucial in evoking trust and camaraderie, as well as allowing organizers to relay crucial information in the case of any unforeseen circumstances.