At the rate technology is changing, some startups and legacy companies can find it hard to stay at the forefront of it all. 10Pearls, a digital development company, is working to solve that.
10Pearls helps startups and enterprises across a broad variety of industries stay digitally competitive by providing solutions across AI, software development, data and analytics, marketing, strategy and product innovation to name just half of its dozen different service areas.
Some of their customers have been PayPal, Verizon, Coca Cola, Hilton and Exelon. With a clear grasp of the rapidly changing business landscape, they have been able to provide deep industry insights to accelerate clients toward innovation and growth.
Founded in 2004 by brothers Imran and Zeeshan Aftab, 10Pearls started as a two-person operation in Pakistan but has now grown to over 1,700 employees with offices in the U.S., Costa Rica, Columbia, United Kingdom, Peru and Pakistan.
Their global expansion was driven by a number of acquisitions. To date, they’ve completed 14 acquisitions with 2023 being their most active year of three companies. One of those was Chicago-based Inspirant Group, a boutique healthcare strategy consulting firm that operates remotely.
10Pearls values the power of in-person collaboration, so upon acquiring the Chicago company, they looked for an office space that offered both flexibility and community. TeamWorking by TechNexus was the solution.
10Pearls Comes to Chicago
In March 2024, 10Pearls opened its Chicago office at TeamWorking to largely house their virtual business unit, a subsector focused on management consulting. Erin Mohideen, the people and culture lead for 10Pearls’ virtual business unit, said it has been a valuable experience.
“I think the space is beautiful and really does allow for some excellent collaboration,” Mohideen said. “I can go in; I can work in our space; I can also go and have a coffee with a potential client.”
Since joining TeamWorking, 10Pearls has used the space as a place to welcome potential clients, provide their global leadership team with a place to gather, and host a number of charity events. They are a “double bottom line” company, meaning they care about their customers just as much as they care about the larger community.
“To be able to raise money for charities that are important to us or host organizations, for example, those that empower women in this space, it’s been amazing to bring people together in that way,” Mohideen said. “It all comes down to having the physical space to do it.”
Networking is another key aspect to their business, and the set-up of TeamWorking makes that easier than ever.
“TeamWorking was really the environment we wanted to be in,” Mohideen said, who played a role in deciding where to put down Chicago roots. “We could have our own office and our own space but still be in an ecosystem where there were a lot of people, other businesses to build relationships.”
10Pearls experienced major growth a few years ago as they focused on expanding operations. Now, their focus is to streamline workflows amongst the diverse number of companies they’ve acquired.