Ruzwana Bashir Recognized by Inc. & Newsweek for Helping Tour Operators Stay in Business During Pandemic
28 Oct 2021
Ruzwana Bashir, Co-founder and CEO of Peek.com, was recently honored by two national business publications for her leadership and the company’s innovative efforts during the pandemic. Bashir was named to Inc. magazine’s 2021 Female Founders 100 list. In addition, Peek.com just won Newsweek’s Best Future of Travel Award.
Bashir was recognized by Inc. for her efforts to help local tour businesses stay afloat when travel became almost non-existent. Peek.com helps consumers book experiences like ziplining, boat rentals and cooking classes. On the flipside, it offers booking software for local tour operators to process payments, market their businesses, manage reviews, etc.
In 2020, bookings disappeared almost overnight for both Peek.com and the small tour companies on its platform. Knowing that her clients were in trouble, Bashir began assisting her local businesses. Support ranged from helping Peek’s clients access Paycheck Protection Program loans to providing technology for contactless payments to offering workshops to show how to attract local customers instead of tourists.
“By helping them succeed, we knew that we would be able to come out at the other end as well,” Bashir told the editors of Inc.
Peek.com was recognized by Newsweek for its innovation during the company’s own pandemic slowdown. With its numbers flatlining, Peek pivoted and began offering virtual team-building events for employees of corporations that had gone remote, like Google and Nike.
“There's always opportunity in crises: Some nimble startups and tech companies flourished with new ideas during the pandemic, while some were already ahead of the game with an innovative concept,” says the editors of Newsweek about its winners.
“After a really tough 2020, it's so wonderful to be recognized … A huge thanks to the extraordinary Peek team for making this possible,” said Bashir.
In addition to her most recent recognition, Bashir has been named one of Fortune's Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs, Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business and was a finalist for E&Y’s Entrepreneur of the Year. She was also the recipient of the Founder Award given by Female Founders Alliance.
Bashir is a Young Global Leader for the World Economic Forum and previously worked at Goldman Sachs and the Blackstone Group. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she was a Fulbright Scholar, and a BA from Oxford University, where she was President of the Oxford Union.