Are there technology startups operating in Pakistan?
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Asked by Question Bot05/Apr/20151 answer
1 Answer
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Faisal Khan
Answered 05/Apr/2015
First of all, that's a very presumptuous statement to assume the country being trapped in its own politics. Isn't everyone? if you disagree, then I beg to differ.
There are literally 1000s of startups in Pakistan. A day does not go by when I do not encounter online/offline a person who is not wanting to start up their own business, etc. The entrepreneurial spirits are high.
However, if startups are only equated with IT (a wrong assumption), then no doubt, we are much less. We do have a lot of startups, but most of them keep under the radar, make their money and carry on. Not everyone in the space is looking for an acquisition or an exit. Most are happy to startup a business, and then make it into something for the 2nd generation, i.e. keep working hard, go through a couple of up and down cycles, grow, expand, and hand over the reins to a new management. A lot many IT starts of the 80s and 90s are quite big power houses of today. Not everyone strives to be a Google or an Infosys (such luck and hard work is limited to a few), but with what we have in the country, the human resources (considering there is a lot of brain drain, a lot many freelancers who work for themselves) we make good use of the remainder.
There is a lot of work being done in farming, alternative energy, renewable energy, water sanitation, water filtering, drip irrigation, sustainable housing, microfinance, vocational training, medicine, food services, animal farming, etc. that are a direct result of startups entering this arena. In almost every case, IT is the enabler.
If media started paying attention to such positive side, you and the world in general would hear and see a very different side of Pakistan. Unfortunately, good news is bad news, and only bad news is good news as far as the populous media is concerned (worldwide).
There are literally 1000s of startups in Pakistan. A day does not go by when I do not encounter online/offline a person who is not wanting to start up their own business, etc. The entrepreneurial spirits are high.
However, if startups are only equated with IT (a wrong assumption), then no doubt, we are much less. We do have a lot of startups, but most of them keep under the radar, make their money and carry on. Not everyone in the space is looking for an acquisition or an exit. Most are happy to startup a business, and then make it into something for the 2nd generation, i.e. keep working hard, go through a couple of up and down cycles, grow, expand, and hand over the reins to a new management. A lot many IT starts of the 80s and 90s are quite big power houses of today. Not everyone strives to be a Google or an Infosys (such luck and hard work is limited to a few), but with what we have in the country, the human resources (considering there is a lot of brain drain, a lot many freelancers who work for themselves) we make good use of the remainder.
There is a lot of work being done in farming, alternative energy, renewable energy, water sanitation, water filtering, drip irrigation, sustainable housing, microfinance, vocational training, medicine, food services, animal farming, etc. that are a direct result of startups entering this arena. In almost every case, IT is the enabler.
If media started paying attention to such positive side, you and the world in general would hear and see a very different side of Pakistan. Unfortunately, good news is bad news, and only bad news is good news as far as the populous media is concerned (worldwide).