Branding Pakistan

SYED ASIF ALAM
An American journalist who recently visited Pakistan wrote in an incredulous tone about the progress Pakistan is making in technology field. The silent turnaround has put Pakistan as one of the fastest growing cellular industry along with rapidly growing and out performing Karachi Stock Exchange in the limelight of corporate managers worldwide. 

The positive tone was seconded by a Harvard Business School analysis on "Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) opportunities in Pakistan". The report mentions 30 percent savings in costs as opposed to India along with infrastructure advantage of high speed connectivity in all the major cities at competitive rates. 

The report goes on to appreciate the high quality real estate as less expensive then other offshore destinations with premium commercial offices space available in the best locations in the major cities like Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. The government has also designated areas for software and IT companies in the three major cities, following the pattern in the United States and India. 

This along with attractive tax and regulatory incentives that are being offered by the government to develop the IT sector is the catalyst to the booming business. Information and Technology Ministry is advertising a fifteen year corporate tax exemption for companies in the relative fields, a 100 percent foreign equity allowed in IT sector along with 100 percent repatriation of profits, 0 percent custom duties and tariffs on import and seven year tax holiday for venture capital funds; all moves in the right direction. So what it is that is holding our growth at light speed?

The answer is simple - image of Pakistan. Just last year, in spite of all the positive vibes and enormous growth of the industry in Pakistan, a major American textile giant pulled its plug from outsourcing in Pakistan, instead taking the business to China; rational was that the senior managers felt uncomfortable to travel to Pakistan. The image problem not only affects the outsourcing business; it affects all the businesses that are linked with Pakistan. Few months ago, I attended a dinner in honour of the rice exporters who had come from Pakistan specifically for a rice trade fair. All of them wondering why they were second to the Indian rice exporters even though the quality of their rice is better? And as unfortunate as it sounds, it is all because of the image problem we face as Pakistanis in the Western world. 

According to Rafi Shikoh of DinarStandard, an e-research site that focuses on Muslim businesses, "More than 100 Pakistani BPO service providers are making a run for this market." It is fair to assume that the number can easily be doubled if not tripled in coming year if we were to look at the logistics and rationale of large supply of qualified labour, a better English accent, lower wage compared to other BPO destinations along with decent infrastructure - only if it was not about the perceived environment! 

Though the GDP is growing with Karachi Stock Exchange outperforming all the others, the image problem remains the biggest impetus to take the Pakistan Technology industry (or Pakistan's businesses in general) to the next level. 
Branding Pakistan remains the biggest challenge not only for the government but for Pakistani businesses. Engaging the western media and corporate America in proactive manner to help create a better understanding of Pakistan, its people and society is the biggest trial we face as a nation. The onus is on us to negate the typical stereotype of Pakistan as flawed state and present Pakistan that is largely hidden from the public eye in the West. 

This false impression is mainly fuelled every now and then by western media, prejudiced by the political goals of special interest groups that gives this suspicion that Pakistan comprises nothing but men beating women, children forced to work, religious extremism, some decadent madrassahs. Pakistan's rich cultural heritage, architectural marvels, passion for sports, great music productions should be showcased. Marketing a complete Pakistan in its own way will complement the enormously talented Pakistanis in technology and further the business industries in Pakistan. 

Pakistani government and the IT industry within Pakistan deserve credit for paving way for solid and viable infrastructure. Both the parties need to make sure that the image of Pakistan is altered in short course to take full advantage of the immeasurably big market that is up for grabs. The potential is infinite for Pakistani companies to embrace $131 billion global market of Business Process Outsourcing that includes customer support, purchasing, credit and collections, accounts payable, accounting, help desk support, information technology support and other administrative and support functions.
I was at an IT seminar on Wall Street last month. Pakistan came up and one of the CIO responded, "We are watching Pakistan closely turning into a prosperous and vibrant place to do business and hope that it becomes safe and secure soon for us to start investing in what seems to be a gold mine for IT managers."

We have already excelled in Labor and Infrastructure. Let's work on improving and re-engineering the environment so that we can eliminate the client's cynicism about Pakistan and Pakistanis.