Is India the Silicon Valley for Pakistani entrepreneurs?
By
Rajdeep Mukherjee
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When the Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power, they introduced changes that revolutionized the Indian startup scene. These schemes even made their impact felt across the border, where Pakistani Angel Investor and VP of The Indus Entrepreneurs group(TIE), Mr. Humayun Mazhar referred to India as the Silicon Valley for Pakistani entrepreneurs.
Mr. Humayun Mazhar recently visited India on a trip to meet Indian angel investors and to better understand the startup ecosystem in India. Having recently launched his very own venture fund known as CresVentures and having invested in three startups in Pakistan, Mr. Mazhar spoke of how Pakistani entrepreneurs were looking up to India for inspiration and guidance.
In the past few years, it has been observed that the startup scene in Pakistan has started to rise, from a dormant concept to a self-sufficient ecosystem, with startups like Zameen.com taking the scene by storm. Also, startups like Popinjay has produced a series of high-end handbags that have received rave reviews from several national and international media platforms, and even in fashion shows.
The country has also seen major startups form elite institutions in Lahore and Karachi, drawing a parallel to our very own IITs and IIMs, with a government run incubator known as Plan9 hosting around eighty startups. Jazib Zafar, founder of games studio Tintash said, “Besides the Plan9 and PlanX programs, I do not know of any other initiatives or policies from the government that directly supports tech startups.” He also added, “The result is an environment that is not very friendly to fledgling entrepreneurs. For example, the State Bank [of Pakistan] requires US $2 million in paid-up capital for anyone to offer payment services,” Zafar says.
The problem of unsupportive mentality is still there, but the initiatives by the government, such as introducing incubation centres and accelerator programmes encouraged the private sector to come up with its own initiatives. Thus, the youth are being gradually introduced to the system of startups and are being encouraged along the path of entrepreneurship and innovation.
It has been seen by several eminent entrepreneurs that the needs of both Pakistani and Indian societies are very similar, and similar startups may be run in both countries. However, one must take into account the differing demands of the society in both countries, and the available infrastructure, which is simply a lot better in India. Adam Ghaznavi, a Pakistani serial entrepreneur, spoke on how the needs of both countries are very similar, but warned Pakistani entrepreneurs against directly copying Indian startups.
He explained his warning with the example of Easy Taxi’s Pakistan chapter, which used the model of Indian startup Ola Cabs. However, due to the fact that the Pakistani people were not comfortable with booking taxis via an app, and that there was lack of widespread availability of 3G, Easy Taxi had to close down.
One of the issues holding the Pakistani startup scene back is slower technological progress. The issues of limited technical or engineering institutes, a lack of trained professionals and unavailability of hardware components are issues which are prevalent in the Pakistani market, but not so much in India. There isn’t enough evidence of early employees leaving secure jobs to join startups and making it big in Pakistan. The talented mass either prefers to join a big MNC or freelance.
Mr. Ghaznavi stated that the culture of entrepreneurship in Pakistan was far behind the scene in India, and while the Government had taken steps, and foreign investments were starting to come, the startups in Pakistan face the problem of low valuations and fundraising. The highest fund raised by a local Pakistani startup has not exceeded more than $10 Million, which is quite low.
While Pakistan may continue to look up to India for guidance and inspiration in the field of entrepreneurship, it must take steps to improve basic infrastructure and other availabilities in their own country. Only then can the startup scene truly dazzle in the country.
https://in.thehackerstreet.com/india-silicon-valley-pakistani-entrepreneurs/
By
Rajdeep Mukherjee
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubscribe
When the Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power, they introduced changes that revolutionized the Indian startup scene. These schemes even made their impact felt across the border, where Pakistani Angel Investor and VP of The Indus Entrepreneurs group(TIE), Mr. Humayun Mazhar referred to India as the Silicon Valley for Pakistani entrepreneurs.
Mr. Humayun Mazhar recently visited India on a trip to meet Indian angel investors and to better understand the startup ecosystem in India. Having recently launched his very own venture fund known as CresVentures and having invested in three startups in Pakistan, Mr. Mazhar spoke of how Pakistani entrepreneurs were looking up to India for inspiration and guidance.
In the past few years, it has been observed that the startup scene in Pakistan has started to rise, from a dormant concept to a self-sufficient ecosystem, with startups like Zameen.com taking the scene by storm. Also, startups like Popinjay has produced a series of high-end handbags that have received rave reviews from several national and international media platforms, and even in fashion shows.
The country has also seen major startups form elite institutions in Lahore and Karachi, drawing a parallel to our very own IITs and IIMs, with a government run incubator known as Plan9 hosting around eighty startups. Jazib Zafar, founder of games studio Tintash said, “Besides the Plan9 and PlanX programs, I do not know of any other initiatives or policies from the government that directly supports tech startups.” He also added, “The result is an environment that is not very friendly to fledgling entrepreneurs. For example, the State Bank [of Pakistan] requires US $2 million in paid-up capital for anyone to offer payment services,” Zafar says.
The problem of unsupportive mentality is still there, but the initiatives by the government, such as introducing incubation centres and accelerator programmes encouraged the private sector to come up with its own initiatives. Thus, the youth are being gradually introduced to the system of startups and are being encouraged along the path of entrepreneurship and innovation.
It has been seen by several eminent entrepreneurs that the needs of both Pakistani and Indian societies are very similar, and similar startups may be run in both countries. However, one must take into account the differing demands of the society in both countries, and the available infrastructure, which is simply a lot better in India. Adam Ghaznavi, a Pakistani serial entrepreneur, spoke on how the needs of both countries are very similar, but warned Pakistani entrepreneurs against directly copying Indian startups.
He explained his warning with the example of Easy Taxi’s Pakistan chapter, which used the model of Indian startup Ola Cabs. However, due to the fact that the Pakistani people were not comfortable with booking taxis via an app, and that there was lack of widespread availability of 3G, Easy Taxi had to close down.
One of the issues holding the Pakistani startup scene back is slower technological progress. The issues of limited technical or engineering institutes, a lack of trained professionals and unavailability of hardware components are issues which are prevalent in the Pakistani market, but not so much in India. There isn’t enough evidence of early employees leaving secure jobs to join startups and making it big in Pakistan. The talented mass either prefers to join a big MNC or freelance.
Mr. Ghaznavi stated that the culture of entrepreneurship in Pakistan was far behind the scene in India, and while the Government had taken steps, and foreign investments were starting to come, the startups in Pakistan face the problem of low valuations and fundraising. The highest fund raised by a local Pakistani startup has not exceeded more than $10 Million, which is quite low.
While Pakistan may continue to look up to India for guidance and inspiration in the field of entrepreneurship, it must take steps to improve basic infrastructure and other availabilities in their own country. Only then can the startup scene truly dazzle in the country.
https://in.thehackerstreet.com/india-silicon-valley-pakistani-entrepreneurs/
