Entrepreneurship in IT sector: CIPE, P@SHA initiate plan to boost youths' participation

The Centre for International Private Enterprises (CIPE), a non-profit affiliate of the US Chamber of Commerce and Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT and IT-Enabled Services (P@SHA) have initiated a stakeholders' dialogue, entitled 'Entrepreneurial Opportunities for Youth in the IT Sector'.
The objective of this initiative is to look at the impediments/ entry barriers for young entrepreneurs in the IT sector and to determine whether there are any legal/regulatory reforms that are needed to improve entrepreneurial opportunities. The CIPE and P@SHA brought a group of IT entrepreneurs, aspiring students and startups together in Karachi on Monday and will repeat this session in Lahore and Islamabad later this month. Moin Fudda, Country Director of CIPE, said that CIPE's main focus is to improve private sector participation in policy reforms. He said that such entrepreneurship initiatives are vital for the economic development of Pakistan where creation of job opportunities via small businesses is an important driver for growth and wealth distribution. He said that CIPE would work with P@SHA to develop recommendations through stakeholders' participation in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
Participants agreed that, for IT services providers, the initial cost of starting up a business in Pakistan is as low as Rs 200,000. However, in the longer run, issues such as absence of mentoring, access to knowledge, quality human resources, retaining core team members, lack of a payment gateway, mishandling growth and lack of understanding of local laws and other legislative issues can be the major causes for inability to prosper and continue in business. They said that local community focused-research, case studies and trends are also needed for technology companies to build stronger business cases in front of customers and investors.
Growth in Pakistan's IT sector continued even during the challenging economic situation which the world had faced the past few years. The size of the ICT sector is estimated at $2 billion, with growth in double digits each year. Interestingly, the average age of IT companies in the country is anywhere from 1 to 8 years and most companies are owned by entrepreneurs in the 25-40 years age group. However, despite better start-up opportunities in the IT sector, after completing their studies, 95 percent of students focus their efforts on looking for a job, and do not explore entrepreneurship as a career.
Ms Jehan Ara, President of P@SHA, said that creating exposure for local companies and talent is one of the reasons why P@SHA conducts and participates in multiple products, services and ideas-based activities. She said that P@SHA ICT Awards, P@SHA Launchpad, Microsoft-P@SHA combined catalyst program for students, the upcoming P@SHA and Google initiative for startups, Asia Pacific ICT Awards, the PSEB Incubator program and the multiple business plan competitions where P@SHA is a collaborator. These are all opportunities for young entrepreneurs to create and build marketing collateral for their customers. They also represent tremendous opportunities for networking and receiving feedback from judges and sponsors about a new product or service which in itself is as valuable as the prize money.
Jawwad Farid, CEO of Alchemy Technologies, while moderating the discussion, raised points such as importance of developing understanding of the local business environment, legislative challenges and formal agreements. He said that, compared to twenty years earlier, the range of opportunities available today are far more for a fresh graduate to start a technology business, from online platform for pitching and sourcing for work to the wealth of information available about product development, launch, marketing and pitching a business. Senior Programme Manager of CIPE, Hammad Siddiqui, also spoke and announced that the next two events in this series are the event in Lahore on May 4, and in Islamabad on May 10, 2011.