WASHINGTON: Islamabad offered ideal conditions for American investors and entrepreneurs to explore, invest and expand their businesses in Pakistan, Ambassador Masood Khan told a delegation of young businessmen from Pakistan on a visit to the United States.
In this regard, the envoy cited factors such as a consumer market of 230 million, a median age of 22, a fast-growing middle class, more than 110 million mobile broadband subscribers, and a tech-savvy young human resource.
The delegation is visiting the US on the Professional Fellows Programme (Entrepreneurship) offered by the State Department in partnership with the University of Oklahoma.
The programme empowers, connects and supports the next generation of young entrepreneurs from the four South Asian emerging economies — Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka — by providing them with the access and opportunity needed to advance their careers.
The fellows work with entrepreneurs in Oklahoma who focus on the same business sectors as them and learn the best practices from each other. This year five successful, creative, innovative youth entrepreneurs were selected from Pakistan out of a total of 20 participants from four different countries.
In his remarks to the delegation, Ambassador Khan described the entrepreneurs as engines of growth, and with their talent and expertise are the architects of the country’s bright future.”
He congratulated young entrepreneurs on being selected for the programme and getting an opportunity to represent the country on an international stage. He also appreciated the utility of such exchange programmes and advised the participants to use the opportunity as a platform to further strengthen their networks and forge robust professional linkages.
While highlighting the impressive performance of Pakistan’s exports to the US market, he acknowledged that in the past 18 months, the Pakistan-based tech startups alone have earned around $1.5 billion out of which 60 percent has been funded by American venture capital firms.
Top VC firms — such as Kleiner Perkins, Tiger Global Management and Sequoia Capital — have started funding successful Pakistan startups at the pre-seed, seed and incubation stages.
Khan emphasised the need for a continued engagement between Pakistan and the United States to further promote trade and investment as well as to enhance cooperation in the health, agriculture and tech sectors.
Concerted efforts were being made, he said, to create strong linkages at all levels including government-to-government, business-to-business and most importantly people-to-people contacts.
Responding to the questions, the ambassador said that Pakistan is streamlining its tax system to attract more tech startups, and also taking additional steps to build tourism infrastructure sufficiently equipped to host foreign tourists.
He also identified several business opportunities for entrepreneurs to link up with their potential counterparts.
The visit took place at a time when the United States is celebrating National Entrepreneurship Month. President Joe Biden, in his proclamation, said that during this month “we celebrate the doers, dreamers and job creators whose vision and grit fuel our economy.”
