Chairman of Pakistan Software Houses Associations (P@SHA) Muhammad Zohaib Khan represented the country’s private sector at the World Economic Forum 2024 at Davos Switzerland; the highlight of the IT delegation’s visit was the Pakistan Pavilion – which attracted renowned investors, entrepreneurs, and tech founders.
Chairman P@SHA was the keynote speaker at the Digital Pakistan event on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum 2024; and, the theme of his address was the remarkable emergence of Pakistan as the next big tech destination on the world map.
He also acknowledged the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) as the catalyst for generating the interest of investors in Pakistan.
Pakistan Pavilion was organized by Pathfinder Group and also saw the participation of Dr. Amjad Saqib, Founder of Akhuwat Foundation; Jehanzeb Khan, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Governance Effectiveness; Ikram Sehgal, Chairman of Pathfinder Group and Aamir Ibrahim, CEO of Jazz Pakistan.
Zohaib Khan apprised that Dr. Umar Saif, federal caretaker minister for information technology & telecom (MoITT), accompanied the IT industry’s delegation to the stalls of various multinational companies, to help forge linkages with their counterparts.
Zohaib Khan explained that the IT minister’s efforts have been fruitful in bringing funding to Pakistan for skills development and training programs. It always helps to have an IT minister who is from within the industry and has connections internationally in the tech industry.
P@SHA Chief apprised that Special technology zones are becoming another major avenue for foreign direct investment (FDI) in Pakistan as STZA offers facilitative measures as a whole package to investors to set up their IT ventures in Pakistan – be it land, civic amenities, communications infrastructure and a conducive environment to tech-related businesses.
Khan highlighted that multinationals think that Pakistan has an abundant IT workforce; which will continue to expand every year as the country’s youth accounts for 65 percent of its total population. It is a huge plus and a differentiating factor among the tech destinations, he added.
Zohaib Khan noted the tech verticals that attracted the most attention in the tech sector at the World Economic Forum 2024 at Davos are artificial intelligence (AI); gaming & animations; space sciences startups; digitalization of governance; FinTech; healthcare technologies; EdTech and business process outsourcing (BPO) across unconventional industries.
My takeaway from Pakistan Pavilion and other engagements at Davos is that Pakistani companies, investors, freelancers, students, and IT professionals should upscale their game in these emerging technologies; which will rule the tech landscape in the future, Zohaib Khan added.
just another marketing and PR post