Pakistan’s National University of Science and Technology Campus, Credit: Knowfahad /Wikimedia Commons
When rideshare giant Uber acquired Careem for $3.1billion in March, it marked a celebration of a Pakistani co-founder Mudassir Sheikha and his colleague’s entrepreneurship – a unique story of adding value to a service through smart thinking and technological interplay.
When Pakistan – which has for far too long slept over economic reform decisions – entered into a conditions-loaded deal with International Monetary Fund, it reflected a low point for a country has the potential to grow into a $2 trillion economy but sold its sovereignty just for $6 billion, a mere $2billion per annum.
Therefore, it came as no surprise when the Pakistani currency Rupee went into a tailspin, plunging to its lowest value in history, stock market confidence eroded and any budding entrepreneurs were left to run against 12% interest high stonewall.
So, what is the difference between an individual Pakistani’s success and the country’s inability to lift itself out of fiscal quagmire?
To me it is simply a matter of commonsense economics – a nation’s growth and wealth flows from its people’s growth and wealth.
Pakistani Sazgar Rickshaws being exported to Japana Photo: Sazgar Engineering Works Limited via official Facebook Page
Pakistani immigrants are a successful community, almost in every country they have adopted as their homeland. They have thrived as professionals and business owners.
But back home a majority of Pakistanis do not find avenues to succeed. But despite facing odds, highly talented Pakistanis have done amazing things with Information Technology with Hollywood and American companies buying their services.
My experience at the Wall Street and then as CEO of JR Dallas Wealth Management has taught me that it is the startups that unleash the best and the brightest among us.
The United States does not produce all the great people in the world. What it produces is an enabling environment for creativity and entrepreneurship that attracts talent, and then that talent does the rest to give it a competitive edge.
When we have many startups working across the economic sectors, it means we are going through a period of participatory economic development with a fair share for investors, employers and employees. The accumulative effect – a jump in the wealth of the nation.
In Pakistan today, what we have is a young population, craving for progress as they grow conscious by the day about wonderful development that smart nations have achieved.
Common business sense demands that the country allow new small businesses to have access to capital and help them go for innovation, be a startup, thrive and be an attraction for mega international investors and buyers.
The job should be to each and encourage new entrepreneurs to add value to their products through novel thinking, invent new ways to market their products, compete with the best and go for the top.
Careem’s novelty and distinction as a transportation company revolves around the fact that it has made a great use of the technology, that it has recruited 30 percent of women workers, that it has expanded to several countries and evolved imaginatively to offer unprecedented transport services. And it is still going for new things.
In Pakistan’s case, I believe, the first step towards troubleshooting should begin with recognition of the problem – obstacles in the way of entrepreneurial success and aspirations of the startups.
Secondly, Islamabad must chalk out a plan to finance the new business entrants through a package of incentives and tax breaks as well as recognize leaders and financial institutions that enable businesses to create and harvest benefits.
The human capital that Pakistan is endowed with is the biggest asset that it has. Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has four more years to run the country, has an opportunity to plan and execute business and investor-friendly policies that attract financing, encourages entrepreneurs and steer the country out of its balance of payment crisis.
