Unprecedented Boom in Pakistan's Technology Sector

[RiazHaq]

Unprecedented Boom in Pakistan's Technology Sector

Pakistan's technology sector is in the midst of an unprecedented boom. It is being fueled by the country's growing human capital and rising ...

www.southasiainvestor.com

Pakistan's technology sector is in the midst of an unprecedented boom. It is being fueled by the country's growing human capital and rising investments in technology startups. Digital infrastructure has expanded with over 100 million smartphones and an equal number of broadband subscriptions.

Pakistan is churning out more than 30,000 information technology graduates every year. Over three-quarters of Pakistanis in the top three metros of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad are regularly using the internet. Technology startups are on track to attract more than $230 million in venture capital investments this year, almost 5 times greater than vc investments last year. Technology exports are increasing by double digits every year, reaching $2.1 billion in the fiscal year that ended in June 2021. Pakistani freelancers' revenue grew 47% last year, the highest growth in Asia and the fourth highest in the world.

Over Half of All Pakistanis Are Connected to the Internet. Source: Google-Kantar

Pakistan has seen a phenomenal growth of 3500% in broadband subscriptions over the last 8 years . Pakistanis now own more than 103 million smartphones with mobile broadband subscriptions. In a Youtube presentation of the report, Faraz Azhar, Industry Head, Performance, South Asia Frontier Markets, Google said: “With half of its population on the internet - Pakistan is now online!"

Google Search and YouTube are the most popular Internet applications in Pakistan, according to the study. YouTube is used by nearly 90% of all internet users in Pakistan for streaming music and watching video/TV, and 38% of Pakistan's internet users go to YouTube in the research phase of their shopping journey.

Pakistan has also experienced an e-commerce boom in the midst of the COVID pandemic. 71% of Pakistani shoppers find purchasing products or services online easy, while 66% find it convenient. Another 54% find that online shopping websites or apps give personalized product recommendations, which answer common questions. Two-thirds of consumers believe that online shopping is the way forward. They say they will continue to buy products or services online after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Faraz Azhar, Industry Head, Performance, South Asia Frontier Markets, Google said: “With half of its population on the internet - Pakistan is now online! This is the first time Google and Kantar released a study to understand more about Pakistan’s internet population. But it’s not only about people getting online, this research has uncovered new insights and behaviors that show how COVID is impacting online behaviour and the digital opportunities waiting to be unlocked.”

Global Investors of Pakistani Startups. Source: Google-Kantar

"More people are coming online in Pakistan, creating a great opportunity for eCommerce businesses - if they are ready to seize it. As we see more exploration of the internet beyond social, e-retailers can capture natural cross-category purchasing on its rise, but only if they have first established themselves and their product offering in an online marketplace," he said.

Pakistan Startup Funding. Source: Google-Kantar

With expanding Internet infrastructure and rapidly growing user base, Pakistan is now seeing robust growth in venture money pouring into technology startups. Pakistani startups are on track to attract more than $230 million in funding in 2021, more funds than all the money raised by Pakistani startups in their entire history. A recent example is Kleiner Perkins, a top Silicon Valley venture capital investment firm, that led a series A round of $17 million investment into Pakistani start-up Tajir. The startup operates an online marketplace for small store merchants in Pakistan. The announcement came via a tweet by Mamoon Hamid, a Pakistani-American Managing Partner at Kleiner Perkins who led the investment. Last year, Tajir raised a $1.8 million seed round. The company's revenue has increased by 10x since its seed round.

Pakistan Technology Exports Trend 2007-2021. Source: Arif Habib

Pakistan's technology exports are experiencing rapid growth in double digits over the last decade. Total technology exports jumped 47% to $2.1 billion in fiscal year 2020-21.

Pakistan University Enrollment Growth. Source: Encyclopedia of Higher Education

The foundation for Pakistan's digital transformation was laid with the higher education reform starting in the year 2001 on President Musharraf's watch. With a huge increase in higher education funding, Higher Education Commission Chairman Dr. Ata ur Rehman succeeded in establishing 51 new universities during 2002-2008. As a result, university enrollment (which had reached only 275,000 from 1947 to 2003) soared to about 800,000 in 2008. This helped build a significant human capital that drove the IT revolution in Pakistan.

Please watch the following video presentation for more details on Pakistan's technology startup ecosystem:

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Unprecedented Boom in Pakistan's Technology Sector

Pakistan's technology sector is in the midst of an unprecedented boom. It is being fueled by the country's growing human capital and rising ...

www.southasiainvestor.com

 

[SoulSpokesman]

@RiazHaq

Good to hear that, Brof sb!

Regards

 

[Pakistansdefender]

Nobody conviniently pointed out that when ahal leaders were in power, and when there is honey and milk flowing through pakistan rivers between the time of 2013 to 2018.
Why was pakistan importing mobile phones and now exporting mobile phones worth 1 billion dollars in this current year. Even if pakistan exports 0.5 million worth, that is good for 1st year. All the ahal officials have to copy paste indian mobile manufacturing police, put it in place in pakistan, place debris system to stop mobile phones entering pakistan and all is well and good.
Why that anusha rehman who changed finality of prophet clause from the oath rather then working on IT sector. Had she put a little bit effort into it.
The na ahal government has been able to double it in one year and we see a hope of its exponential rise atleast 4 to 5 billion in 2 to 3 years.
Why the ahal were not able to introduce remitence initiative to increase. Abhi raast system launch nhn hua, pak pay and sada pay has to come to full affect and we have increased our remitences from 22 to 29 billion dollars. That is simply by forcing banks to allow online banking and bank transfer.
Why the ahal government despite despite several amanesties were not able to increase tax collection.
Why textile industry was dying. Not only exploring new industries, textile industry is set to export 20 billion worth of exports. The first month export numbers are 1.5 billion and even if this goes on as we know how the expansion is happening and number increase in coming months, Pakistan can safely earn between 18 to 22 billion dollars from 15 billion dollars even which is higher to the tenure of the ahal government.

 

[S.Y.A]

Nobody conviniently pointed out that when ahal leaders were in power, and when there is honey and milk flowing through pakistan rivers between the time of 2013 to 2018.
Why was pakistan importing mobile phones and now exporting mobile phones worth 1 billion dollars in this current year. Even if pakistan exports 0.5 million worth, that is good for 1st year. All the ahal officials have to copy paste indian mobile manufacturing police, put it in place in pakistan, place debris system to stop mobile phones entering pakistan and all is well and good.
Why that anusha rehman who changed finality of prophet clause from the oath rather then working on IT sector. Had she put a little bit effort into it.
The na ahal government has been able to double it in one year and we see a hope of its exponential rise atleast 4 to 5 billion in 2 to 3 years.
Why the ahal were not able to introduce remitence initiative to increase. Abhi raast system launch nhn hua, pak pay and sada pay has to come to full affect and we have increased our remitences from 22 to 29 billion dollars. That is simply by forcing banks to allow online banking and bank transfer.
Why the ahal government despite despite several amanesties were not able to increase tax collection.
Why textile industry was dying. Not only exploring new industries, textile industry is set to export 20 billion worth of exports. The first month export numbers are 1.5 billion and even if this goes on as we know how the expansion is happening and number increase in coming months, Pakistan can safely earn between 18 to 22 billion dollars from 15 billion dollars even which is higher to the tenure of the ahal government.

agreed.

more can be done though, by setting up IT parks, like Arfa Kareem park and NSTP, all over the country. need to focus on electronics, and export of value added goods and services. the govt is on the right track in regards to this, hopefully they will improve with time.

 

[Ali_Baba]

Pakistan needs to clean up its education system FAST if it wants to attract IT companies - offering a 2year BSc is an absolute joke and it makes recruitment of resources very difficult as there are so many crappy variants of Degrees in Pakistan.

Pakistan needs to make its degree equivalent to global mainstream degrees of 3-4 years for Bsc, 1-2yrs for a Msc, and 4-5 years for a Phd ... and you can only do a Msc if you have a Bsc already, and a Phd if you have a Bsc and Msc with a minimum result required in your Bsc to be allowed to do a Phd...

It should not have multiple iterations of Bachelors degrees with different lengths of courses and meanings.

Explainer: What does HEC's new Bachelors policy mean for students?

The commission abolished two-year BA programmes

www.samaa.tv

HEC will not recognise 2-year BA/BSc programmes taken after 2018

The commission has written a letter to all public and private sector degree awarding institutions directing them to immediately stop such programmes

www.geo.tv

https://propakistani.pk/2017/03/17/pakistan-phase-2-year-ba-bsc-ma-msc-degrees-hec/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=pmd_oTiSWWDDO2.NBWzGka_W38IzqtEN1HP83CpK2vqUwGg-1630500145-0-gqNtZGzNAiWjcnBszQd9

HEC have made "some" limited progress in this regard but it really needs to clean up this mess.

How can I, as a UK based recruiter review CVs and candidates if the degree system makes no sense to me(and I do review Indian CVs, and EU CVs and American CVs to hire people for my teams .. ).