What would you like to say about the importance of awards for the growth of industry?
Awards promote excellence and innovation by creating awareness for pioneering efforts. Historically, excellence and innovation have always been harbingers of economic growth.
What is the role of magazines in growth of industries specially world class brands like CIO from IDG? How can they play a good part in promoting the same?
The IDG brand is synonymous with world class market intelligence which has helped entrepreneurs and business leaders innovate by understanding their ecosystems. Reliable data and market information of the caliber that CIO Magazine has provided in other geographies have the potential of transforming the innovation cycle in Pakistan.
What in your opinion are two of the best things that happened in past 20 years that have changed Pakistan in IT industry and why?
Firstly, connectivity. With over 68 million cellular subscribers and 10 million Internet users added during the last five years, Pakistanis are much more connected to information today than ever before in our history. A recent ROZEE.PK study shows that this connectivity has led to a significant increase in jobs and industry efficiencies.
Secondly, there has been a silent human capital revolution. With the recent boom in the IT, Telco and Banking sectors, our skilled professionals have seen steep salary increases and unprecedented career opportunities within the borders of their own country. Our workforce has matured as a result of these new opportunities and our organizations have learned to value human capital more than ever before due to short supply. I believe this investment in human capital will yield tremendous dividends over the coming years.
What is the reason of Pakistan’s rapid progress in last few years? Is it because of IT policies, convergence, annual budget or privatization of industries?
Sizable investments have been made over the last few years in Pakistan’s Telecom, Banking and Real Estate sectors. And technology has been at the center of all this activity as an enabling force. IT policies such as export tax holidays have certainly made Pakistan more attractive for investors starting new ventures. Our natural assets including a relatively young consumer base of 160 Million people, make Pakistan an attractive market. But ultimately, continued economic and geo-political stability will be essential for growth.
What is the role of Government in promoting IT and Telecom Sector? What should an industry expect from a government? Which is the best policy in Pakistan’s IT and Telecom sector that you ever heard of?
Government should focus on building economic and geo-political stability – industry will thrive as a result. Visionary policies and tax frameworks are important in encouraging risk averse investors to come back to the table. Government helps most when it lets industry do more. Clearly, deregulation of the Telecom industry was one of the best moves of the decade.
Can you mention any two reasons about Pakistan being a good place to invest? Many foreign companies are investing in Pakistan. Why?
Our population of 160 Million consumers with 54% under the age of 19 makes Pakistan a very attractive under-served emerging market. This, coupled with our low cost skilled human capital, further positions Pakistan a great choice for investors. Naseeb Networksrecently became the first Pakistani Internet media company to raise venture capital from the same Silicon Valley investment funds that helped create Hotmail, Skype and Baidu. Their decision to invest in our company was in part due to the massive potential Pakistan has to offer.
In the beginning, when IT was almost negligible in Pakistan, what kind of challenges did you face to stabilize your company?
Five years ago, it was difficult to hire IT talent with the skills we needed. We had to invest in training and bringing our team up to speed on the latest technologies. We started our job portal, ROZEE.PK, initially as a way to hire programmers for our own company. Today, over 800,000 job seekers and 15,000 employers use ROZEE.PK. The site has processed 2.5 Million job applications to date. While we now have many more excellent developers trained on the latest technologies in Pakistan, the rapidly increasing demand for IT talent and its associated rising cost has posed a new challenge. However, these are signs of economic progress.
Whom do you find as a strong competitor?
One of the reasons for our early success is that there were no serious competitors operating in our target markets. In many areas, Pakistan is still an untapped market. Early entrants into verticals that have proven to be successful in other geographies will be rewarded.
Where do you see Pakistan’s IT market in the next few years
As our IT exports continue to experience impressive growth, Pakistan is increasingly being noticed as an attractive outsourcing destination. We will be limited in the near term by the short supply of skilled human capital needed to fuel the industry’s growth. We must rapidly ramp up the capacity of our educational institutions to produce a larger world class workforce in order to realize our potential.
What can boost Pakistan’s IT in the global market?
Economic and geo-political stability are imperative to boosting Pakistan’s IT exports in the global market. Perceived country risk is often cited as the main concern of potential clients exploring outsourcing information technology projects to Pakistan.
