Tag: Growth

Pakistan’s Software Export Board: A Legacy Trap in the AI Era

In Pakistan’s noisy tech streets freelancers doing midnight sprints around power cuts, startups scrimping to keep servers alive, founders flying to meet clients because local procurement rarely buys from them. The Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) sits like an institutional fossil.

Founded in the dial up era to “promote Pakistan’s IT industry,” it still evaluates success by trade show booths, registration counts and export leads. Meanwhile the real engines of growth, freelancers, small product startups, accelerators and diasporic networks, have powered the country’s leap into the global digital economy.

The PSEB in its current and recent past has had nothing to offer them besides being a circle jerk of ribbon cuttings and collaboration with local trade bodies and conference organizers to re hash the same “churan of key market indicators” a.k.a. how many young people we have, how many internet users we have, what our true potential is, ironically they have not affected the outcomes of any ones true potential, its happened in spite of the PSEB. Their annual report had the workflow of their websites , redesign. You cant make up this shit, a national level institution whose institutional publication has the following:

This isn’t nostalgia: it’s structural failure. The Board’s export first, promotion heavy model has become a mismatch for an AI century that rewards domestic productization, R&D, data access and platform level adoption. The evidence is public, recent, and damning.

Pakistan’s IT export boom has been powered mostly by private initiative, freelancers and provincial incubators not by the Board. Meanwhile oversight bodies and national strategy reviews have bluntly noted that PSEB is “underfunded and less effective than necessary.”

This is not conjecture, its being covered in print media here, on Oct 9the 2025, A meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) subcommittee on Wednesday reviewed audit objections related to the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB).

Speaking on the occasion, Senator Saleem Mandviwalla said the PSEB was “not performing well”.The PSEB officials said there was a need to appoint technical business development experts in Pakistani embassies abroad.

Mandviwalla maintained that such professionals were needed “in the market, not in embassies”. He further noted that most freelancers were keeping their earnings abroad.

Essentially its the same debate every single time. No fix in sight. But lets step back first.

Origins and evolution: a 1995 idea that never fully pivoted

PSEB was established in 1995 as a government owned, guarantee limited company with a mandate to promote exports, help build software parks, support marketing and attract investment sensible priorities for the mid 1990s IT playbook.

Over the decades the Board accumulated activity metrics it can publish: registered companies, call centre licenses, and lists of international events where Pakistan’s firms received participation subsidies. PSEB Annual Report (2024): registered companies, call centres, trade show participation details.

Those are tidy numbers for a brochure but they are not the same as audited, outcome oriented metrics (jobs created, startups scaled, patents, domestic pilots), which Pakistan needs if it is to compete in AI and platform based industries. The national URAAN plan and related reviews explicitly call for measures that go beyond export booth counting and urge scalable interventions in skills, R&D and domestic adoption. URAAN Pakistan: .

The inconvenient truth: growth happened in spite of the Board

Pakistan’s IT & ITeS exports reached a record $3.8 billion in FY2024–25 an 18% YoY rise that is rightly celebrated. Business Recorder: “Pakistan’s IT exports surge to all-time high of $3.8 billion in FY25” (Jul 18, 2025).

But who powered that rise? Freelancers, platform access, private product firms and incubators played outsized roles. Payoneer data shows Pakistani freelancers earned roughly $396.243 million in export revenue in FY2021–22 a material share of ICT export receipts generated outside the classic export house model. Payoneer: “Top 10 Freelancing Countries” (Payoneer freelancer revenue stat). This is not my data, this data is from a third party.

The official national review (URAAN) and parliamentary oversight both acknowledge the mismatch: public documents and hearings have noted that PSEB’s contribution is limited, and recommended broader institutional reforms focused on building domestic capacity for AI and deep tech.

The Board’s playbook: promotion, subsidies, registration and thin accountability

Open PSEB’s recent annual report and you’ll see glossy pages listing participation in international events, the number of “leads” generated, and the roster of registered IT firms everything you’d expect from an export promotion shop. + They paid for signage and billboards and took pictures of the said promotions and slapped it on their report. Made absolutely no contribution to industry growth, just some questionable marketing with crazy budgets.

But look for audited outcomes , sustained contracts won because of government matchmaking, domestic pilots that matured into exportable products, or measurable uplift in R&D output and the trail grows thin. URAAN and parliamentary reviews call for metrics that tie public spending to systemic outcomes rather than PR friendly tallies.

The Board’s subsidies , paying part of a booth cost at an international fair, or underwriting travel are easy to measure and easy to promote. They do not equate to building domestic cloud infrastructure, providing GPU access for AI teams, matching seed capital for deep tech startups, or reforming the tax and payments systems that freelancers and startups depend on. PSEB Annual Report: trade show subsidies & participation lists.

What peers did differently: ecosystem builders, not just export pushers

Export promotion was once a sensible starting point; the countries that have outpaced Pakistan on value capture moved beyond it.

• Bangladesh combined “Digital Bangladesh” with hi tech parks, e-government and mass skilling a program that explicitly targeted both exports and domestic digital adoption.

• Sri Lanka coordinates through an ICT agency and ties education, policy and market linkages; the ICT sector generated roughly $1.5 billion in foreign exchange in 2022 and employs a large skilled workforce, driven by more than 300 firms.

• Egypt turned ITIDA into an active industry development agency, coupling export promotion with R&D, startup support and CX seat growth Egypt’s digital exports were reported to have surged in recent years as part of a deliberate national push.

• The Philippines and Vietnam have consciously pivoted parts of their BPO/IT industries toward higher value services and domestic digital adoption, adding AI training, PPPs and cloud infrastructure programs to the classic export playbook.

The pattern is clear: agencies that now succeed in AI and advanced digital services are ecosystem builders they fund R&D, anchor domestic demand (procurement set asides), provide infra credits, and build clear talent pipelines.

Why the export only mindset fails in an AI era

  1. AI depends on domestic data, pilots and cloud/GPU access. Export booths and registration drives do not create anonymized government datasets, sandboxed procurement pilots, or national GPU pools, all of which fast track product innovation. (See URAAN’s emphasis on infrastructure and data as part of digital transformation.)
  2. Productization needs risk capital and matched public support. Seed grants, public co investment funds, R&D tax credits, and procurement channels that reward local suppliers are what scale product startups to Series A , not trade fair subsidies. URAAN and multiple industry voices recommend conditional public co investment and procurement reforms.
  3. Talent numbers alone don’t equal AI readiness. Graduates and coders are not the same as data engineers, MLOps practitioners, and model governance experts. National strategy documents and industry studies highlight a gap between graduate output and AI specific skills. Training at the Governor house in Sindh is not going to create dollarized leverage at scale. It does not work this way.
  4. Financial and regulatory plumbing matters. Freelancers routinely keep earnings abroad because payment rails, FX rules and tax complexity push them offshore that erodes formal revenues and prevents earnings from knitting into a domestic growth story. Nothing has been done for the last 2 years by policy makers. All changes come because of change it self.

The human story: talent flight and daily friction

Policy failures are personal. Engineers and founders live the consequence: missed payments, scrambling for foreign contracts, and a persistent sense that the state’s “support” means a camera friendly booth at an overseas show rather than contracts, infrastructure or capital.

PERSONAL ANECDOTE

This past summer, I reached out to senior leadership at the PSEB, offering to conduct free, on the ground sessions for gaming companies and studios, sharing proven ad tech industry monetization strategies. Essentially to give back and get registered members finally get some value. There was no commercial angle tied to this, I was going to be visiting, wanted to use their platform to share, amplify and help people make money, this was a forum as good as any.

Email 1: No response.

Email 2: Silence.

Email 3: More silence.

Why does this matter? Imagine an investor facing the same void of response. To be fair, through a mutual contact in a WhatsApp group, I did get rapid initial engagement and an in person meeting that I setup for a colleague in real time, but only because it was tied to a high profile event in the U.S. with diaspora involvement.

Yet, post event? Zero follow through on the offer to provide monetization training, despite persistent follow ups across the organizational cadres, from top to bottom, via email. The disconnect is stark: plenty of enthusiasm for optics, but no tangible outcomes. This article is not directed towards any individuals just on the incentives and structure of the org, that is pissing away the publics money.

There is a reason Gen Z doesn’t want to live or work or engage with Babus. They are happy with encashing the free lancer or remote worker lifestyle in USD. Babus make deck for other Babus, that even they don’t proof read. I wish, the PM who is touted by so many as genuinely wanting to hit 15bn$ in IT exports entrusts the right people to setup the program and policy around getting this done.

A focused reform agenda: replace brochure metrics with ecosystem KPIs

If Pakistan is serious about converting this export windfall into lasting tech capability, it needs a targeted reform program. Below are concrete, evidence based steps drawn from URAAN recommendations and international best practice:

  1. Create a Technology & Innovation Council with a clear mandate.
    Replace PSEB’s export booth model with an agency focused on R&D grants, AI infrastructure (cloud/GPU credits), procurement set asides for local suppliers and coordination across universities, industry and provinces.
  2. Measure the right outcomes.
    Move from “companies registered” and “leads generated” to audited KPIs: startups funded to Series A, public procurement contracts awarded to local vendors, patents filed, domestic pilots launched, and MLOps/AIOps jobs created.
  3. Make incentives product friendly.
    Lower rigid export thresholds (e.g., reduce a 100% export requirement so firms can sell domestically without losing incentives), implement R&D tax credits, and set up a conditional public co investment fund to de risk early VC rounds.
  4. Fix payment rails for freelancers and SMEs.
    Establish a streamlined freelancer onboarding and payment mechanism (simplified tax withholding, easy FX conversions and a trusted payment intermediary) to encourage on shore banking of foreign income this brings revenue into the formal economy and increases tax receipts.
  5. Invest in AI infrastructure & skills at scale.
    Create national GPU pools, provide cloud credits for startups, fund anonymized public datasets and expand MLOps and data engineering training tied to industry needs.
  6. Embed genuine market expertise in diplomatic missions.
    If embassy based experts are used, make them accountable to deliver deals and partnerships (measured by contracting outcomes), not just attend trade fairs. PAC debate in Islamabad raised the embassy expert idea implement it properly or drop it.
  7. Sunset or repurpose PSEB if it cannot deliver.
    Institutions require mandate, budget and capacity. If PSEB cannot shift from a promotion office to an ecosystem builder within a set timeframe, repurpose its staff and budget into a new statutory body with a results based contract. Also look at the tools, budgets and resources under the IT Ministry, stop hiring more people to fix things that need re architecting because an other babu said so.

Hard choices, measurable returns

Transformation implies political difficulty: procurement insiders will resist set asides, fiscal ministries will squint at R&D tax credits, and trade ministries will miss an easy photo opportunity. But the alternative is worse: a brittle export model that looks good in brochures but fails to anchor high value companies, keep talent at home, or build sovereign AI capacity.

Pakistan’s current export surge , $3.8bn in FY24–25 , is a moment of leverage, not a justification for complacency. Use that leverage to build AI capacity, domestic demand, and financing instruments that turn talent into products and public value.

Final twist: appoint an Ambassador at Large for Digital Growth & Transformation

If PSEB is a fossil, then what Pakistan’s IT and tech talent urgently needs is not another brochure or another conference subsidy it needs a single, empowered, champion who can speak at the highest commercial and diplomatic tables and actually get deals done. But first some one who is not sending whats app messages for intros to folks in the valley or asking for email addresses of counterparts. We play the low influence game and get treated like entry level influencers.

Think of this role as a fusion: the external diplomatic and investment pull authority of an Ambassador at Large like Ali Jehangir Siddiqui (who served as Pakistan’s Ambassador at Large for Foreign Investment) combined with the mission level advisory model we’ve just seen used for emerging tech areas (the recent appointment of a Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on blockchain and crypto is an example of that rapid, targeted mode of engagement).

But this is not about creating another three headed ego machine or an extra layer of ceremonial power. It is a pragmatic device: a Special Representative for Digital Growth & Transformation (title flexible SAPM, Ambassador at Large, or Special Envoy but outcomes not flexible:-) , with a 3 year, results bound mandate from the Prime Minister. Housed administratively wherever makes programmatic sense (PM’s Secretariat for political clout; Foreign Office as Ambassador at Large for global access; or as a ring fenced directorate inside a reformed technology council), net net where ever they can do work without babus dislodging them, the post must have:

• Clear authorities: convening power across ministries, delegated procurement set aside authority for pilot projects, the ability to negotiate commercial partnerships and MOUs at ministerial level, and a modest, ring fenced budget for R&D co investment and infrastructure credits.
• Mandate and KPIs: measurable goals such as number of domestic AI pilots launched , GPU/cloud credits deployed to startups, percentage of freelancer earnings on shored, startups reaching Series A, and exports from productized services (not just services hours).
• Accountability: a quarterly public dashboard and a three year external review clause that can repurpose the seat if it fails to deliver. But before this a a 100 day period to frame the task, this is no easy task. This needs to be framed well.
• A diplomatic, commercial brief: the person must be able to open doors with multinationals, sovereign funds, and global platforms and sign commercial pilot agreements not merely pose for trade fair photographs. Bilal Bin Saqib’s recent appointment as Special Assistant on blockchain illustrates Pakistan’s new willingness to name targeted advisors to engage global stakeholders rapidly; an analogous, product focused envoy for digital growth would task these same channels toward AI, cloud, data and startup scale.

My special request to the Prime Minister is simple and modestly urgent: look both inside and outside government, identify one credible, proven leader and put the full weight of the office behind this project . That backing must mean authority to cut across ministries, a small operating budget, and a public mandate with quantified outcomes. This is not symbolic theatre; it is the single most levered institutional change that could convert Pakistan’s current export momentum into a sustained, product driven digital economy especially in the current positive geo political tide and its role as a global player.

We are late, perhaps twenty years late to some institutional shifts, but we do not lack the advantage of leapfrogging. Just as nations skipped landlines and moved straight to mobile, Pakistan can leap into an AI native approach: data pilots, cloud credits, local procurement that seeds scale, and a trusted, high level interlocutor who can sell that story to the world.

Do this, and the difference between PSEB’s brochure metrics and real national digital capability will become visible in exports, jobs, security and sovereign capacity not just in ribbon cutting photos.

If the government wants a starter blueprint, make the post 3 years, fund it for three tangible pilots (public sector AI use/access, a national GPU pool, and a freelancer on ramp), publish quarterly KPIs, and commit to an independent audit at the 30 month mark. If it works, roll it into the Technology & Innovation Council; if it fails, close it and move on. Either way, give Pakistan’s tech talent a serious, accountable advocate at a level the market respects not another brochure builder.

We are done with watching the same 100 episode serial, only to be remade with a new cast every few years. We need to transition to reels and shorts no more long form dramas! IYKYK

The Ambition Tax: How Corporate Culture in Pakistan is Robbing Graduates of their Professional Growth

The country is facing a number of economic challenges, including high inflation, a large trade deficit, and a growing fiscal deficit. This has led to a challenging business environment, with high levels of uncertainty and volatility.

In such an environment, it is important for businesses to attract and retain talented employees, who can drive growth and innovation. However, the high levels of employer dissatisfaction among the potentially qualified, young professionals make this difficult. As employees are more likely to leave their jobs in search of more challenging and rewarding opportunities for slightly more money.

This creates a vicious cycle, where high levels of turnover reduce the productivity of businesses and limit their ability to drive economic growth. Also not serving the GDP in any significant way, as they are part of a rotational pool of marginally skilled and sub-optimal resources.

Valued only, between players of a closed economy. Meaning that most of their value is not globally competitive and typically doesn’t stem from innovation or growth related skills. It comes from”beating the system” longest.

At the crux of this issue lies the much larger issue of corporations based in Pakistan. Be it local or foreign. The DNA over time for both, is nearly indistinguishable from the perspective of the Ambition Tax placed on the young graduates who join them with hopes and dreams.

So what is this Ambition Tax?

In my mind, ambition tax refers to the idea that the corporate culture in Pakistan is stifling the professional growth of graduates by limiting opportunities for advancement and hindering their ability to fulfill their career aspirations because at their core; these corporations are thinly veiled monopolies or oligopolies protected by subsidies, generational wealth, influence, political leverage and national security related items. Essentially any where else in the world they would not be able to compete. Let alone get to the scale at which they operate in Pakistan.

This is due to a number of factors, including a lack of transparency, stagnant growth, and seemingly large corporatized businesses being run like family-owned businesses vs globally competitive ones. Or large foreign owned businesses run at the whim & fancy of their local leadership who typically are in entrenched roles for decades on average. They serve the $ earning potential of their principals/foreign masters, by dealing with the dirty work in Pakistan and only reporting back on the growth.

These parties are almost also over in the Telco space and some Foreign FMCGs where billions spent to build brands, built many millionaires, setting the wrong work culture and success benchmark of colluding with advertising agencies and television networks to harvest hordes of cash. (Every one f**ing knows this, they just don’t have the courage to call out the insane level of corruption and lack of morality at these organizations)

Under the don’t ask don’t tell principle, what happens at Large Telcos/FMCGs and others in PK is glossed over by printing and sticking FCPA (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act)Rules by American companies and Value statements by most others.

In a crazy development, the local corporate groups have stopped pretending; they now consider their growth ambition linked to breaking the law and consider the speed monies paid as a natural symbiotic relationship between what they do and what the government has to do.

Like kids watching their parents and learning their traits, young graduates watching their employers, their companies, their peers, their bosses all being involved in 5 activities at large

1)Look Away

2)Control the flow of info to retain your job

3)Please the bosses/society by resigning to your fate (much like this kid who who got mugged)

4)Play Politics

5)Do what you are told vs doing any thing extra

In a society that over indexes on “juggar” and under indexes on “ingenuity” and doesn’t know the difference, the only war we are at, is a war with our broken selves as one guy tries to pull the other down, in an attempt to take a piece of the available pie, vs growing the pie.

So whats going on? (At Large Companies)

One of the major reasons for the ambition tax in Pakistani corporations is the lack of transparency in the hiring and promotion processes. Often, positions are filled through nepotism or connections rather than merit and practice of not letting the old guard retire, look at the PSX 100.

You would be hard pressed to find directors in their 30s and 40s who are not family members of the listing sponsors, leading to a dearth of opportunities for young, talented professionals.

Major banks like HBL and others recently announcing they will retain their above 60 staff? The jokes write them selves, it’s a self rewarding club of boomers. They have to be retained because their counter parts operate in the government and its not worth the hassle to train a younger person on how to evade the system.

This creates a vicious cycle where the most competent and qualified individuals are overlooked, and the least capable are given positions of power, hindering the growth and progress of the company as a whole. The few who are capable and make it to some where, spend their time politicking vs focused on professional growth.

Cant blame them either, they went from, “I wish I had a job, to I have a great job, with most creature comforts, I better not f**k this up” when they hit this level, they are married to the roles job security, its monthly check, their nice offices a settled family life and a family co-dependent on their work outcomes.

In such a setting, the ambition is over, it is traded for longevity by subservience to those in charge. Large Pakistani corporations are where hope goes to die.

Banks how could I forget banks….oh Pakistani banks …

When I have taken it upon my self to put out the going ons at most if not all telcos and FMCG companies, Banks along with saiths, also deserve our attention. They are the epitome of ambition killers.

Let’s look at a young grad who gets into an operations role at 35k PKR. The Banks CEOs driver by then has a better total comp package including fuel, meals, and interest free loans. The driver is un skilled but the young grad is skilled. It would take 5 career jumps over 10 years to bring this person who enters the Bank at 35k to make a salary of 250k if they are lucky and suck up the right way and tolerate inhumane treatment from the public at large and their “seniors”.

By this time they are in their forties, have a family, and the charm to stick around, is the servitude the bank buys by offering a house loan. Lock stock and barrel, this 40 year old who looks like he’s 60, traded his caged existence for a loan because the state has no f**ing system to enable this. The banks, the saiths, the Sindh club biradri wins every single time. At the cost of the ambition the youth are trading for basic survivability and life events.

The CEOs wear tailored suits, typically enjoy a good bottle of single malt, I can name a dozen or more such gentlemen but thats not why we are here. Who by no professional conviction have gotten where they are.

They too are security men, who love their jobs and the security it provides to sit in well guarded homes, with their friends over single malt and build the courage to curse the politicians, their very own Sindh club peers, whom they lend to and wash away their sorrows into the night by complaining about the same. Do you not see the hypocrisy?

Most of these bankers/ceos/leaders, their numbers 2s and 3s are has beens, they wouldn’t be able to find globally competitive roles for the shit they deliver to the masses daily in PK. The only reason banks worked in PK is not because they are innovative, but because the government is stupid, and the awaam is land locked from access to debt and loans.

All these details not because Banks and Bankers have issues or me with them, it’s to paint the sorry picture of what is happening at the top and how worlds apart, the growth trajectory is for the young chap who joined the branch. To ever making it to the single malt club(if they so desired, not endorsing they should). They watch from a distance and their lips run dry in the delivery of the word “sir”.

Each Business unit head, each Management Team member runs a fiefdom in these corporations. Their fiefdoms are a microcosm of Pakistani society, where the most marginalized is the most subservient, but since he gets a pay check at the end of each month, he’s conditioned to make the most of the misery of being a personal slave to the business leaders. What do you think this daily torture does to ones ambition? It dies a slow but certain death.

Saiths, their children & the “principal, sponsor” drama….

Next we have the established saiths, their families, with alleged “professional” CEOs. Running large diversified but subsidized businesses because of concessions, cheap real estate, rebates, tax evasion or other such premium deals.

Saiths are winning because they have rigged the system, a system of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. In a closed economy like Pakistan they win, they compound their wealth, they pretend to care for the people who work for them. They have learnt from their foreign counterparts very well, the only motive is profit at the cost of ambition.

Most of young graduates trade their ambition for job security and a fighting chance to get close to “management” some make it, most don’t and a vast majority die trying. The tiered system ensures, no one learns any thing new, companies don’t need innovation to win, they need legislation, lock-ins, essentially a machinery of inside men.

When you are not playing at the global scale, all you are doing is re aligning the chips to win locally. When you give up global competitiveness you only optimize for local pettiness, in doing so you ensure the learning outcomes of every one are stunted. When you don’t have to compete but rather co-opt your ambition also gives up.

Saiths and sponsors who build and list companies also manipulate their stocks. Every one knows it. We can also name the 4-5 brokers who do this, have been doing it for years, yet we don’t, my post is equally critical of all but the reason for writing is to make the youth aware of the principal/sponsor problem, for them to recognize they are being dealt a short hand. For them to have the fortitude to focus on their growth vs growing into roles that have no meaningful impact on their lives.

Another contributing factor is the stagnant growth of many local corporations. This lack of growth is due to a number of reasons, including poor management(as the saith aren’t some great operators, most are petty crooks in pretty suits), a lack of investment in innovation and research, and a lack of focus on expanding the business. When they make enough money their second generation comes in from Harvard and Yale with bright ideas, who are handed over to family advisors to be brainwashed in to “Abba jis” ways. Therein begins the second wave of more of the same. If kids don’t comply, Abba ji identifies some hired executive “munh bholay bataays” who are more than happy to carry out his wishes.

This can make it difficult for young professionals to find opportunities for advancement and can result in them feeling stuck in their careers, unable to grow and develop their skills when they look outside of Pakistan.

So what can be done?

In order to tackle the ambition tax and create a more inclusive and dynamic corporate culture, it is important to focus on implementing transparency in hiring and promotion processes, investing in growth and innovation, and encouraging the development of professional networks and mentorship programs.

By creating opportunities for young professionals to grow and develop their skills, we can help to create a more dynamic and competitive corporate culture in Pakistan, one that encourages ambition and hard work and not short-term-ism.

Additionally, it is important to support businesses that are run like real businesses, and to encourage a shift away from the traditional preference for family-owned businesses. This can be done by providing incentives for companies that invest in growth and development, and by highlighting the importance of professional management practices.

I have seriously high hopes with the newer generation to take a stand and do whats right, report your crooked bosses to your foreign owners, call a spade a spade, you owe it to your self and to Pakistan to not let this brazen miscarriage of negative outcomes shape your future. You owe none of these people any thing, you do not need to be subservient to any one.

This lack of initiative and innovation can be traced back to the fear of failure and the need to maintain job security in the face of economic uncertainty. This results in a culture where people play it safe and do not take risks, opting instead to be loyal to the owner even when it means making bad or wrong decisions. You owe it to your self to not do this any more.

How this re-wires the brains of the young grads and Why thats a bad thing…

From the perspective of young professionals who remain in safe roles for several years, the major disadvantage is that they miss out on opportunities to learn and grow, both professionally and personally. This can limit their career advancement and lead to a feeling of stagnation and frustration, as they are unable to fulfill their aspirations and reach their full potential.

Compared to their peers globally, young professionals who stay in safe roles for extended periods of time may miss out on opportunities to develop new skills, work on cutting-edge projects, and take on new challenges. This can make them less competitive in the global job market and hinder their ability to advance in their careers. Additionally, working in a stagnant environment with limited opportunities for growth can lead to boredom and disinterest, making it difficult for these individuals to remain engaged and motivated in their work and in their lives, leading to seriously un happy outcomes at home.

How does this Ambition tax destroy the country?

The high level of dissatisfaction among young professionals in Pakistan, where nearly half the population is under the age of 25, is a major concern for the country’s economic growth.

A lack of opportunities for professional development and growth, combined with the fear of failure and the need to maintain job security, can lead to a feeling of boredom and un fulfillment among young professionals. Leading to mass un productivity.

A non productive workforce that has nothing new to contribute, has significant economic consequences, as it increases the cost of hiring and training new employees, and reduces the productivity of businesses. Additionally, when talented young professionals leave the country in search of better opportunities, they take with them their skills, knowledge, and experience, reducing the pool of available talent and limiting the potential for economic growth.

The current economic situation in Pakistan further exacerbates these challenges. The country is facing a number of economic challenges, including high inflation, a large trade deficit, and a growing fiscal deficit. This has led to a challenging business environment, with high levels of uncertainty and volatility.

Unless we take ownership of our own issues and come up with a plan to tackle them. We will continue to shape our outcomes like our past, “stagnant with a high chance of extreme lows”

If you are young and motivated do your self a favor and read the thread below, today. Hard work alone is not going to change your outcomes. You knowing history will help. You deciding to change it, has the potential to change your outcomes.

Historical Context that I covered in my News letter

Made in Pakistan (Pre Nationalization Monopolies)

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1928–1979) became President of Pakistan (1971–74) on 21 December 1971 after a disastrous end of 1971 war with India. The nationalization programme was implemented for the first time in the history of Pakistan and it was promulgated through three different stages.

I recently came across a fantastic publication. Private Industrial Investment in Pakistan: 1960-1970.

Cambridge Study Purchase Link

Why is this important? It sheds light in to how the economy was structured and who controlled the monopolies before Nationalization eroded economic capital of the country. It also shows some thing very critical, the growth rates of industry by sector.

Far more interesting is that I was able to see for the first time, the interplay between banks, their ownership, the insurance companies and the overall major monopoly families and their directorships across enterprises. It was an eye opener for me. So as you start to build your journey of better outcomes, be mindful of history, understand how made in Pakistan can be extremely successful and the pitfalls you must avoid.

Why share all this. It demonstrates that no-major hands have changed since the creation of the country, its tumultuous nationalization of industries and the present day. The outcomes have worsened for the youngest and brightest. If you still don’t believe that none of the firms, corporation and their sponsors are all in it to win it, at your expense, the chart below fascinated me when I saw it you should give it a read.

What is it?

The inter-connectivity between the groups visualized circa the 60s.

What now?

The first step is to identify there is a problem.

The second step is to figure out what areas are within your control.

The third is to invest your time an energy to not get into this rat race, but instead look for alternates or build alternates that allow you to excel.

Do not be mis-lead by the fake allure of these corporations because sooner rather than later, they will tax your ambition and you too will be a cog in their machinery. Invest in your self by not investing your time and effort to chase a dream that at best is locally competitive and at worse is globally irrelevant.