[23rd January, 2019] It was a brilliant discussion between the Hon. Federal IT & Telecom Minister Mr. Khalid Maqbool & professionals / entrepreneurs from the IT sector. I briefed the Minister on the happenings in the entrepreneurship landscape of Pakistan. He & his team loved the concept of a show like Idea Croron Ka & have shown interest to help support & scale it more.
The Minister in his meetup with our extremely able representatives from the industry, remained very receptive to ideas & jotted down points being put on the table for further action.
Two threads were discussed in the conference. First were the industry issues:
- ease of doing business needs to be improved
- we need to build and brand Pakistan better
- visa facilitation services for both inbound and outbound need to be improved
- need to focus on innovative companies as tech is multiplying at a faster rate rather than traditional industries such as textile
- increase availability of internet by ensuring everyone has access to it especially in remote and rural areas
- tax imposed on IT industry need to be reduced
- Government to use its influence to support marketing efforts of companies on a global level.
Secondly, the problems in academia were highlighted:
- encourage Local research in respect to IT Industry
- need to work with HEC to improve polices such as introduction of blended learning policy
- Degrees in specialized IT fields like IoT, AI need to be introduced
Pakistan's IT sector has phenomenal potential; yet there is dire need to have IT professionals who've come full circle to get more involved in policy making.
I thank all my friends from the industry who took time out to come over & contribute to a very fruitful discussion.