“The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.” Naseem Talib aptly said. It appears true for the world; but in Pakistan the entrepreneurial spirit is weak. And those attempting to so called businesses, ventures are for making quick money.
Yes, the culture is to make quick bucks without putting sweat and blood to the businesses. Most people who moved up the socioeconomic ladder in the last fifteen years or so have made the fortunes from real estate and other asset classes. The role models for youth are those who have become millionaires without much efforts and intellect.
That is why those in quest of startups are not willing to put in the hard yards and instead looking to make quick bucks. That model is not sustainable and these startups may fizzle in thin air in times to come. And the tons of graduates from mediocre universities and colleges want to move up the management level, without putting efforts and without learning requisite skill sets.
Patience is virtue. And that is simply missing in our society. Chinese companies coming to work in Pakistan are complaining of dearth of good local talent and are looking to import labour from China. Why is this the case? What are we missing? It appears we lack on both grounds of will to work hard and innovation.
Many businesses have vacant positions but it appears increasingly hard to find good resources. There are tons of resumes for every vacancy, but not many fit the requisite job description. The problem of stunting and malnutrition is surfacing in the form of low intellect and lethargic work force.
The big companies and groups operating in businesses from decades are still working on basic products under some sort of protection from global competition. There is no innovation whatsoever in any sector that can create niche for businesses operating here to compete in the world.
We are creating millions of youth who would be jobless in years to come. The world is moving towards high end technology and artificial intelligence while Pakistan is producing glorified clerks who would not fit in the modern day world job market.
For instance, no banking company operating in Pakistan is using indigenous core banking solution; all are using foreign products. Why can tech companies at home not produce these products? The world is moving towards fintech; where do we stand? According, to experts, 30 percent of banking jobs will vanish in next five years as technology would take care.
The problem in Pakistan is that there are many senior level executives, especially in the financial sector, who are either forced retired or out of the job, looking to do their own business. Many have returned from Middle East lately and find it hard to fit in the industry. And even if they want to start any business, with capital in hand, they lack innovative ideas or fall prey to informality of the economy.
Most of the good employees in Pakistan have less than ten years of experience. It’s hard to find good fresh graduates while there are many polished senior level executive looking for work with very few jobs for them. There is a vacuum and it is going to magnify in years to come.
The system has to be molded in a way to encourage entrepreneurship, innovation and the need is to have more usage of technology at every level. The taxation system has to be rationalized; if someone returning from abroad wants to start clean business, he should be encouraged. There should be midlevel training options to learn the technology in respective industries. There should be work on war footings on artificial intelligence. Our neighbours are fast catching up with technology. Pakistan can ill-afford to miss the bus – yet again.