Speakers at Pakistan Entrepreneurship Summit 2010 held here on Saturday have called for building the rural economies through promotion of entrepreneurship across the country, redirecting the focus to the smaller towns, apart from fostering entrepreneurship to ensure better results.
The Summit jointly organised by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and IGNITE was aimed at accelerating the economic activity in the country that has gone down due multiple internal and external challenges.
The speakers maintained that entrepreneurship is engine of growth for Pakistan's economic development and to sustain progress, the people need to be encouraged and trained to think out-of-the-box and be prepared for constantly developing innovative products and services.
The LCCI President Shahzad Ali Malik was the chief guest while the Chief Executive Officer Bank Alfalah Sirajuddin Aziz was the guest of honour. The other key speakers included CEO SMEDA Anwaar A. Khan, CEO TUSDEC Sohail Ahmad Khan, Chairman Pakistan Tobacco Moeen Afzal, CEO SR Consultants Dr Shahid Raza, Rector UMT Hassan Sohaib Murad, CEO Bank Islami Hassan A. Bilgrami, Dr Aamir Matin, CEO CISCO, Amer Qureshi, Business Advisor, Possibilities and Chairman Skill Development Council Pakistan Rehmatullah Javaid.
The speakers were of the firm opinion that the entrepreneurship is an incredible force to bring the country out of economic mire, hence, need of the hour is to foster entrepreneurship to ensure better results even in tough times like Pakistan is facing at present.
They said that a little focus towards this particular area could do miracles for the country's economy. They said: "It was essential to build the rural economies through promotion of entrepreneurship across the country, redirecting the focus to the smaller towns. These rural and suburban towns need to be engaged and encouraged to create more jobs, better economy and eventually better life style. "According to them, Pakistan's majority population comprises of youth, and young people should stand up, lead the economic activities, create jobs and make significant contribution to the economy.
They said that innovation, strong vision, and commitments are the key elements to touch the zenith. They said that it was very unfortunate that less than two per cent of the entrepreneurs are trying to provide economic opportunities for the entire population. "The world is full of challenges and uncertainties. We cannot begin to control all the trends and issues that affect the success of our communities.
Vision is about being intentional because the path to the future is not straight, but a clear and powerful vision moves a community into its future within an environment of challenges, unforeseen opportunities and undeserved crises," they said.