Pakistan
=
Silicon Valley Part II
– By Imran Owais Kazmi
– Chief Thinking Officer, Synergize Group
– imran.kazmi@synergize.org 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
ATTRACTS
investors
 A strategy that
RETAINS investors
 A strategy that
creates CONSTANT
hype 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 Ops
Cost per
Priority Media Tool Source 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