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Pakistan = Silicon Valley Part II – By Imran Owais Kazmi – Chief Thinking Officer, Synergize Group – [email protected] and www.synergize.org – Cell +97150 5845962 and UK +44 750 9184690
Pakistan
=
Silicon Valley Part II
– By Imran Owais Kazmi
– Chief Thinking Officer, Synergize Group
– [email protected] and
www.synergize.org
– Cell +97150 5845962 and UK +44 750 9184690
Skepticism
If we are negative, we can find fault with God!
If we are positive, God helps us find a way through ANY problem
Lets seek His help: Lets be POSITIVE
Problems
Try to retain Pakistani‟s with knowledge, the ones flying abroad to work for world level companies, they can contribute a lot in the development of Pakistan
But they need a VISION, and setting up greater bandwidth or more ISPs is not enough for them. They want MORE
Get FEEDBACK, a lot of people close to you say a lot of things behind your back, find out those things before a rumor becomes truth
Foreign investment scenario
Net USD 19.5 mn (Jul-Sep 00-01), SBP– US –1.3, UAE –3.9, Switzerland –3.4
– Saudi Arabia +5.7, UK +5
DFI by Industry (Jul-Sep 99-00), SBP– Transport, storage & communication +5 mn
– Net USD –113 mn
Result– “Low levels of Fx reserves have necessitated
declines in c/a deficit … negative impact on growth of economy” (MoF Report on the net)
Pakistan SWOT
Strengths
Attractive professional service cost
Professional s/w and h/w experts
Raw Market
English language
Proximity to Europe, Gulf, Asia, Africa, China
Govt support & incentive plan ???
Reasonable operation cost
Globalization
Educational Institutes & Universities
Weaknesses
Infrastructure
International monitory restrictions
Limited IT/Mobile penetration
International propriety rights
Connection cost
Time perception
No organizing body
Opportunities
Universities and institutes
Abundance of expertise
Lucrative industry: High industry growth rate
worldwide
Worldwide shortage in professional staff
Economics of scale for investors
Existing Companies / single efforts
IT Zones to glorify leaders
Threats
Economical instability
Inadequate infrastructure
Substitutes - other countries/regions
IPR
Connection cost
Time element
Pakistan: The obvious reason
People think IT business can only be done successfully in a „spacecraft‟ environment; in Pakistan, we believe the opposite is true:
Infrastructure, Abundant supply of talented yet inexpensive IT labor.
Scenic beauty and a link with nature that gives you the much needed CREATIVITY and INNOVATION to be the LEADER in today‟s cut throat IT business world.
It‟s all in here, Pakistan is the place everyone‟s going to for an obvious reason.
Objective
What do „foreign investors‟ want
What can we offer to meet their needs
How can we offer it
Lets offer it to get REAL money moving
our economy and future forward
What do investors want?
Stable policies
Enforcement of law & order and IPR
Infrastructure for business needs
Proximity to markets / supply sources
Simplicity: „One window operation‟
Hype and innovation
Incentives
Entertainment
What can we offer?
Stable policies/law & order/IPR: MAYBE
Infrastructure for business needs: MAYBE
Proximity to markets / supply sources: YES
Simplicity: „One window operation‟: YES
Hype and innovation: YES
Incentives: YES
Entertainment: MAYBE
How can we offer it?
A Strategy that ATTRACTSinvestors
A strategy that RETAINS investors
A strategy that creates CONSTANThype and innovation to attract more and more investors
Attracting Investors
Government Sector Effort– Create implementation / coordination point
– Rename cities/zones in „a tribute to IT entrepreneurs‟. Invite CEOs to inaugurate:
• Microsoft Town/Integration City-Karachi
• Macromedia Town/Designer City-Lahore
• Nokia Town/Cellular Hub-Islamabad
– Macro and micro level marketing to promote the zone/cities par excellence
Private Sector Effort– Setup „Internet Cities‟ in all major towns with
bandwidth and infrastructure
„Silicon‟ Valley Part II
City renaming/Zones Plan
– Invite CEOs of top firms to „inaugurate‟ –
Bill Gates for Microsoft Town and so forth
– Launch with pre advertising and a mega
conference
Parallel work
– Setup Internet Cities with private sector,
convert one building each in major towns
Operational Mechanism
A regulatory body is recommended to
organize and facilitate scattered individuals
and organizations in our country
A website will be created for eg:
www.thebestinit.com; it will be an IT Auction
House. Buy, Sell, Browse IT by country
focusing on Pakistan resources
Local & international s/w & h/w firms will be
invited to register and invest
Marketing Mechanism
Silicon Valley Part II will be advertised in:– Newsweek/Times/Fortune/WSJ
– Net banners on msn, yahoo, tech sites
Launch via International Conference– Hold IT Future 2002 Expo in Pakistan
– Invite best firms and academicians internationally to speak on mobile commerce/3G, trends
– Invite best firms to put up stalls on their products and services
– Publicize the event in international media
Why Investors prefer Pakistan
Advertise heavily in papers and net: Budget USD 400-800K. More Juice, More Taste!
Registered firms be given benefits including:– No fixed investment requirement
– Free links/banners on website for investors, charge rest
– Organize exhibitions
– All inclusive 10% tax on all work
– Virtual park formation, not location but registration dependent
– Lucrative incentive plan for investors
IT Future Seminar Topics
IT related– The IT crash, can it boom again
– Engines of IT revival
IT Multi dimensionally– The Computer controlled home/office
– Wired business, creating a unified database
Mobile related– 3G/Mobile ICT future
– Wireless control of home / office appliances using Bluetooth/SMS/WAP
– Database, web design, security in handhelds
Entertainment/Incentives
Foreigner only pubs in 5 stars
Tourism itineraries for visitors
Visits to IT educational institutions
Shortlist investors in US, Asia, Japan, Korea, Australia
Invite heads of Fortune 500 with spouse for 3 day visit to Pakistan, fund their, hotels / visits appx USD 1000/person
Invite top 10 firms in IT, mobiles CEOs all expenses paid
Enabling local environment
2MB in Dubai internet city costs Dh 800 or USD 250,
in Pakistan it costs USD 15,000! How to tackle this?
Setup ISPs in „Internet Cities‟. Multilink with an ISP
GPRS for mobiles
BOI Committee - marketing/Govt contribution
Encourage local companies to participate in program
Promote prizes for students to encourage creativity
– Encourage companies to sponsor school projects
MoST organized International level IT/Telecom
Magazine and Exhibitions
Clear pitch
Create a list of FAQs:– All invitations to go out in the name of the Minister
to signify importance of investors for us
– IPR
– Bandwidth
– Labor and operations costs
– Government support
– All contact points to communicate standard pitch to investors
– Create ONE TEAM within govt to sort out investor related problems-discover Champion in each deptt
What does it cost? Q1 OpsPriority Media Tool Source
Cost per
prospect Total Spots Total USD
1 Internet Banner Yahoo 0.020 1 10,000
1 Internet Banner Yahoo 0.030 1 15,000
1 Internet Banner Yahoo 0.030 1 3,000
1 Internet Banner Yahoo 0.030 1 3,000
1 Internet Banner Yahoo 0.030 1 3,000
1 Internet Banner Yahoo 0.030 1 3,000
1 Internet Banner Yahoo 0.030 1 3,000
1 Internet Banner Hotmail 0.030 1 7,500
1 Internet Banner Hotmail 0.030 1 7,500
1 Internet Banner Fortune 0.030 1 3,000
1 Internet Banner MSN 0.040 1 20,000
1 Total 11 78,000
2 Press Newspapers Daily Dawn 0.009 3 10,431
2 Press Newspapers The News 0.006 3 6,620
2 Press Newspapers Daily Jang 0.001 3 12,036
2 Press Magazines The Economist 0.091 1 69,000
2 Press Magazines Fortune 0.103 1 104,800
2 Total 11 202,886
3 Press Magazines Wall Street Journal 0.042 1 81,279
3 Press Magazines Time Magazine 0.103 1 82,000
3 Press Magazines Time Magazine 0.047 1 192,000
3 Press Magazines Time Magazine 0.027 1 20,069
3 Press Magazines Time Magazine 0.168 1 52,550
3 Total 5 427,898
4 Press Newpapers Arab News 0.078 1 4,126
4 Press Newpapers Asharq Al Awsat 0.028 1 6,665
4 Press Newpapers Kuwiat Times 0.800 1 28,000
4 Press Magazines South China Morning Post 0.096 1 10,202
4 Press Magazines Nihon Keizai Shimbun 0.025 1 74,675
4 Press Magazines President Magazine 0.059 1 15,217
4 Press Magazines Maeil Kyungje 1 21,541
4 Total 7 160,426
Grand Total 34 869,210
Synergie‟s role
Can do one window operation for the Government of Pakistan
Invite, entertain, retain and motivate investors
Government liaison single point so investor oblivious to internal inefficiencies/ red tape
Marketing campaign development and implementation
Total project responsibility
Lets move it further!
Important Note
All above strategy and plans can be
successful only if we start work on it right now
All of its worth is in first mover advantage
If any country starts it before us (especially
India already equipped with IT efficiencies
with a good software reputation) our all efforts
will end up in smoke
