|
getPakistan.com
announces the launch of free IT OR Technology courses on the Internet
- July 28th
PAKISTAN
SOFTWARE EXPORT POTENTIAL - July 16th
July 28th, 2000
getPakistan.com
announces the launch of free IT OR Technology courses on the
Internet
Houston,
Texas-(Business Wire)- June 28, 2000- getPakistan.com, a leading
Pakistani portal providing services and content to its users around the
world announced the launch of free web based information technology
courses today. This new feature represents the company’s commitment to
bring quality content and services that not only entertain people but
also help them progress in their careers.
“Since
the formation of getPakistan.com our objective has been to bring quality
content and make the web a meaningful medium for people” stated Abdul
Kundi, President and CEO of getPakistan.com. “In Pakistan, good
quality education is unavailable to a vast majority due to financial
constraints and shortage of quality institutes. Even for those who can
afford it, the courses are outdated and do not give a true insight into
latest technological developments. Our free web-based education service
gives them a chance to develop their skills in relevant areas of
technology. With decreasing Internet access costs anyone who has the
desire to learn can do it.”
This
service can be accessed from the web site at http://www.getpakistan.com
About
getPakistan.com
Founded
in July 1999 getPakistan.com, Inc. is one of the leading Pakistani
portals. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas with
representative office in Pakistan. getPakistan.com provides variety of
content for different user segments. The company has a team of in-house
content providers and web designers to keep the content fresh and
interesting. The company also outsources content from third parties. The
company intends to gradually introduce e-commerce for its users to
procure quality goods and services. Quality service in all its endeavors
is the objective of getPakistan.com
PAKISTAN
SOFTWARE EXPORT POTENTIAL -
Pakistan and Gulf Economist
Jul 10 - 16, 2000
ISSUE # 28
Chicago based software
company wanted to hire programmers from Pakistan
Mr. Abdul Quayyum
Khan Kundi.
CEO getpakistan.com Inc.
Jul 10 - 16, 2000
These days software
export is the talk of business circles. Every business house is
exploring the possibility of starting a software house. Government is
announcing incentives, banks are initiating venture capital companies,
institutes are holding seminars, and youngsters are enrolling for
software courses. It seems that suddenly Pakistan will becomes a leading
source of offshore software development. But is it the reality? Are we
really moving forward to become a competitive source in the IT industry.
All this activity will definitely produce some results but it will not
make Pakistan a destination of choice ???. Let us analyze the situation.
Economic &
Political Stability:
Since its inception,
Pakistan has never attained a stable political environment for a
sustainable period. This changing leadership resulted in volatile
economic policies adversely effecting business. We saw this scenario
again when General Mussharraf took control. If this government is able
to institute a framework that would ensure continuity in policy, it will
be a milestone in itself. Like any business software industry is also
not immune to changing policies. Putting in place a broad and well
thought off IT policy will go a longway in establishing Pakistan on the
road to Software export growth. Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman is known for his
result orientation. His presence is already felt and the results have
started coming.
COUNTRY IMAGE
Pakistan is getting a
lot of negative media from international press, which is way out of
proportion from the actual situation. Pakistan is perceived as an
underdeveloped, poverty-stricken country with disrupted production and
low education level. The government does not have enough budgets to
embark on a media campaign. It is more a job of public relations than
advertisement. Personally I believe our ambassadors can play an
important role in building the country's image by working closely with
the media. Government should appoint ambassadors with extensive public
relations experience. Retired professionals from advertising, news and
television with international business experience can prove to be a good
resource to achieve this objective. Recently I was invited to an IT
seminar where ambassador of Pakistan was a keynote speaker. Most of the
attendees were scientists and engineers who had no interest in regional
or domestic politics. It was a good forum for the ambassador to
highlight the government strategy for the IT sector. Although the
ambassador spoke well but she spent all her time speaking about politics
and the foreign policy.
EXPATRIATE
PAKISTAN
India and China have
used the network of expatriates to gain access to business. As quoted by
Wall Street Journal there are 974 software companies headed by Indians
in US Sillicon Valley. Most of these companies assign their development
work to subsidiary backhome. The other side of the coin is, a person
will not risk his career to assign work to a low quality vendor. We need
networking forums where Pakistani IT exporters can be introduced to
expatriate Pakistanis working for leading IT companies like ORACLE, IBM,
Microsoft etc. Through these forums knowledge can be shared about the
qualification and execution requirements for vendors. Although there are
some organizations like Dareecha and APSENA who are trying to fill this
void but they need funding and support from both government and private
sector companies.
ENCOURAGE QUALITY
We had an edge in
agriculture and lost it. We produce 11% of world cotton but our share in
value added products is less than 0.1%. Why? Because we do not have an
infrastructure to finance entrepreneurs who have experience in the
relevant industry. Our financial institutes provide funding to
politically connected people who have short term focus and have no
industry experience. A cotton grower is not necessarily qualified to
initiate value added textile exports. These funds are misappropriated
and invested in outdated equipment and machinery. Factories do not
allocate sufficient funds for modernization and value addition. The same
fate will bestow IT industry if people with idea and motivation are not
funded. Someone running a textile mill and a deep pocket does not
necessarily qualify to start a software export business.
UPGRADE THE
CURRICULUM
I recently met CEO of a
Chicago based software company who wanted to hire programmers from
Pakistan. It took them six months to hire 16 people with the right set
of skills. There are thousand of technical institutes charging thousands
from innocent people to train them in low level skills, which has no
real utility. Government should provide subsidies to multinational
corporations to start training centers. Oracle, Microsoft and other
leading IT companies would be eager to train their future manpower.
Universities should form alliances with international universities for
syllabus preparation and instructor exchange.
. |
