Back To Pakistan

A country in more than many ways is like a multinational company.  For it to be successful, the company or the country should first of all have a world-class executive management team, i.e. a visionary, dedicated and a very capable team with diverse set of experiences.  For example, negotiating, inviting, hosting other multinational companies in your sovereign domain is no easy task.  You should know how to deal with them on a long term basis to mutual advantages.  If your hand is weak, very soon these companies will start acting like vultures.  If people in your management team have worked for other multinational companies let’s say for 10 years, they will have an exact idea how to deal with them and know how to work with them.  If people in your management team have founded and run small businesses, they will know exactly what it requires to create new businesses and in which environment they thrive.  If people in your management team have achieved things in their lives on their own, they will have crystal clear ideas as to how it can be done for others.  Therefore, a well selected, experienced with the right skills management team is of paramount importance for a company and for a country.  This cannot be emphasized enough.

Besides a solid management team, a country should have a good business model based on its intrinsic advantages, its natural resources, etc.  It should deliver serious economic value to it’s shareholders, i.e. the citizens of that country.  It should protect the long-term economic interests of its citizens, and provide them with opportunities to exploit their talents and get compensated fairly for them.  The system should be based on meritocracy and fair rules for long-term survival and growth of this company and to retain its good employees.  Within the company, there must be basic systems, infrastructure and processes in place such that the workforce is able to spend time on productive tasks, rather than wasting away time on unproductive tasks.

If the company is not sailing in the right direction, its citizens will start abandoning the country, which we have seen leads to brain-drain.  With poor quality work-force left behind, this company will not be able to compete effectively with the outside world.  If basic infrastructure of this company is slow, poor, unsystematic, and broken, its economic value will go down.

In short, there are many similarities and numerous lessons that can be learned as to how a country needs to be run by just learning how a company is run; there are obviously a few differences as well.  For example, it’s not easy to change your citizenship.  If you don’t like your company or want to quit your job so to say, you cannot easily do that.  In the context of a country, the management team cannot really fire unproductive citizens from the country.  However, by and large, it can be argued a country is very much like a company and should be run as such as well.

As established, if a country is a company, then judging the performance of its management team is relatively easy.  Is the economy really growing?  Is the standard of living of its citizens increasing?  Is the value of the currency of this country increasing compared to other countries?  Is the country providing its citizens basic services like justice, electricity, sewage, water, education, health care, economic opportunity, transportation, communications, etc.?  Are the citizens abandoning this country and seeking employment elsewhere?  Is anybody coming back to this country? Is the country selling its food to get foreign exchange?  Is the country constantly dependent upon foreign loans to survive?  Is the employment verification letter / passport of this country worth anything to the outside world?

In the case of Pakistan, the answers to most of the questions above are negative.  If we have a strong economy, the worth of the passport will go up automatically.  There will be no need to negotiate with foreign governments to give due respect to our citizens.  If we have a strong economy, we can protect our sovereignty relatively easily again without negotiating with foreign government or taking dictates from them for that matter.  If we have a strong economy, multinationals will come themselves to invest in Pakistan, etc.  The issues with Pakistan are 90% internal. I.e. internal issues of management and provision of basic infrastructure services by the government which is its primary and paramount function.

So the true test of the performance of the government of Pakistan can be judged by the economic and quality of life parameters mentioned above.  If they are unable to meet  or deliver them, then the shareholders of this company, i.e. the citizens should act via the board of directors, i.e. the parliament, to change the management team, i.e. the executive and bring those who are capable enough to deliver.  I firmly believe there are Pakistanis who exist who can achieve the requisite performance and turn-around this company.  The shareholders of Pakistan Inc should be brutal in demanding what is righteously theirs.  It is their birth right to have a good life while living in a land where they are born.

The expatriate Pakistani community remits foreign currency worth U.S. $8 – $9 billion every year via official money transfers / banking channels to Pakistan.  More or less the same amount is sent via the unofficial / hundi / hawala channels.  Just to put things in perspective, the entire aid promised for Pakistan in the controversial and Pakistani-national-pride-hurting kerry-lugar bill was U.S. $1.5 billion.  I don’t know how much of this U.S. $1.5 billion Pakistan is really going to get and in what shape, if at all we get it.  But you know what:  To hell with it.  We don’t need foreign aid.  In fact, the parliament of Pakistan should pass a resolution against this bill prohibiting GoP to accept any aid under this bill.

Our main focus should really be on channelizing the unofficial remittance transfers from the expatriates.  Channelizing these transfers does not entail closing down the money changers or unofficial channels, but rather to enhance the product offerings of the official transfer/ banking channels to effectively compete with these unofficial channels.  We have to first learn how to solve the customers’ problems rather than shutting down everything senselessly, or using pure brute force, which has been and remains GoP’s forte even today.

Why do people seek unofficial channels to remit money in the first place?  Well, primarily because transfers via the official banking channels are expensive to remit, cumbersome, delayed, with poor currency conversion rates and require the beneficiary to have a bank account; whereas via the unofficial channel, it is faster, cheaper, it has better conversion rates, and does not require the beneficiary to have a bank account.  This clearly shows that product offerings are very different and the official channels do not suitably meet the needs of a big segment of the Pakistani society; hence, the success of these unofficial channels for normal people of Pakistan.

Finally, the Government of Pakistan (GoP) has recently launched the Pakistani Remittance Initiative (http://www.pri.gov.pk).  The transfer process is speedy, is cost-effective, and does not require the beneficiary to have a bank account.  This, I believe if executed properly with serious customer focus, with solid leadership and a vision of at least 5 years will eventually capture at least 50-75% of these unofficial transfers.  I strongly believe that this method can easily achieve enhancement of the foreign remittance by at least U.S. $5 billion, thus making the total to around U.S. $15 billion per year.  However, changing consumer behavior and very importantly, their perceptions is no easy task.  This scheme will take a few years to say the least to fully and truly capture the needs of the remitter and the beneficiary.  But, i am convinced that Pakistan will start seeing some immediate results even in the first year.

As for the expatriates, it is their solemn duty to help their country by sending money home via the official channels.  This is the least they can do for their country if they cannot be physically present here, but at the same time, I would like to caution the GoP not to appeal to the expatriates’ patriotism too much and too many times, rather focus on making their remittance product better and more efficient.  The GoP should also work seriously to improve and expand their collection / distribution channels.  If this means, bringing some of the money changers within the PRI ambit, then so be it.  In short, make the official remittance product superior to effectively compete with unofficial channels.

These are the real things GoP should focus on… Not on debating, whining or fretting over the implications of the Kerry-Lugar bill.  Screw it.  We don’t need foreign aid as long as we have thoughtful expatriate Pakistanis. Rise Pakistan!

You, the talented, educated and resourceful Pakistanis, are the change this country needs.  We definitely don’t need foreign loans, nor any foreign countries or institutions telling us how to fix our own country’s issues and problems, and in some cases, we don’t even need expensive foreign technology and definitely not any foreign consultants.  What we really need is intelligent, hardworking and talented Pakistani people who can make this country self-reliant.  As a nation, we have to learn how to become self-reliant and reduce our dependence on ridiculous loans and grants.  I believe this nation has plenty of natural resources, man power, decent English speaking skills, which enables our global access more than usual, huge market size, reasonable level of awareness as to what the outside world is like and many other positive factors which make this country very viable.

So don’t say, let’s wait and see how things play out.  Oh! once the economy improves or the law and order or the political situation improves, then I’ll move back or then do something.  People, this is not going to happen so fast, if at all.  A big majority of educated and talented Pakistanis are either living abroad, or are in the process of leaving Pakistan, and very very few come back to Pakistan.  I believe this brain drain is a serious problem.  These are exactly the people who can bring about a change in this country.  There is where the new leadership of Pakistan will emerge, in fact, there is where it should emerge.  People who have always lived in Pakistan don’t get to experience what’s really out there.  In many ways, their minds have become numb.  Yes, Internet, Media and Communications have given them a lot of exposure to dream big and aspire to better things in life for everyone, but I believe what is lacking here is educated, talented, resourceful people in mass quantity who can bring about serious changes in the mind-set of the society.  Fortunately, Pakistan has this resource; but the only problem is that it is sitting outside of Pakistan.

So I would encourage you to be more patriotic; be the change this country requires; be here to make that change, see and guide it yourself; make your 2 cent contribution in making Pakistan a better place for yourself and for your children to live; don’t just sit outside and watch and comment.  Stop waiting for a messiah to fix all the issues for you, since there will be none.  Even if we miraculously get a messiah at the top, the current state of the system and society will not let this messiah do its magic for us.  I.e. we will ourselves slaughter this messiah.  Guys, give up on this messiah myth.  YOU ARE THE CHANGE THIS COUNTRY REQUIRES.  Running away will not solve anybody’s problems.

For many expatriate Pakistanis living outside of Pakistan might make a lot of sense;  I don’t think immigration is bad, in fact, it can bring a lot of good; But mass quantity brain-drain is bad for Pakistan.  So go outside of Pakistan to acquire knowledge and know-how, but come back once your mission has been completed.  Don’t just sit there and watch Pakistan go to the dogs….

Pakistan is not really the land of the pure, although we’d like it to be and may be someday, Inshallah, it will be; however, for now it’s definitely not the land of the pure.  In fact it’s quite far from being the land of the pure.  In 2009, I can safely say, it’s really a land of the brave – Bahaduristan.

Living in Pakistan with peace, with honesty, and with a reasonable ethical standard, requires a lot of bravery and resources.  It’s not a place for the weak or straight forward, i.e. “shareef” people.  Even if you want to sustain a simple principle of being able to speak the truth in all aspects of your life, you will encounter a lot of difficulties.  To fight these difficulties you will need a lot of financial and mental resources, right people working for you and right people to be on your side…  It’s really pathetic…  It really applies to almost all things in Pakistan.  Even a minor transaction can have a lot of issues with it. E.g. buying the right AC, at the right price, and to have it installed properly by the right person, even if you are willing to pay the premium, requires more work than usual on your part.  I.e. identifying the right party who will not deceive you and continuously making sure your assumptions are correct about that party.  The same applies to dealing with the plumber, carpenter or even if you’re dealing with a local reputable company or a big multi-national company.  Buying healthy food products and genuine medicines will require the same science.  To keep all these trivial things in life in order, requires a lot of effort, right contacts and resources.  It’s doable, but really this brings down your productivity and increases your real costs of living and costs of doing business here.

Nobody knows anything for sure in Pakistan.  People love making estimates and guesstimates.  The culture of the country is not scientific at all.  Even your near ones will misguide you regarding critical matters, not because they don’t intend well for you, rather because they believe their erroneous beliefs are actually correct.  Even the ministry of Science and Technology will behave in the most unscientific manner.  Even the Judge who is designated to decide on scientific matters will behave in the most unscientific and illogical ways – i.e. google away critical life altering decisions.  Yes!  No Kidding!  Even the police force who are supposed to be specialized in technical matters will talk just plain rubbish.  E.g. don’t be surprised if you get tangled in an argument about the definition of a leap year with a technical specialist in a high government job.  I thought I knew Pakistan.  I knew there was corruption, mismanagement and incompetence.  But in the past 5 years ever since I moved back to Pakistan, I have come to a new realization.  The situation is far more pathetic than anybody can imagine.  People here don’t even understand what’s in their own economic interest.  The level of corruption and more so incompetence is just mind boggling.  I mean dealing with corruption is not that difficult – you just have to spend more money.  But the problem with incompetence is, they just don’t understand what is right or wrong, or what is an apple or an orange, or what is difference between a car and a truck.  Even when it comes to trivial things, you’ll be just amazed.  This culture is so deeply ingrained with show-off, incompetence, corruption, criminal behavior and injustice at all levels of the society, that it will blow you away.  Even the so called educated people are not immune to this culture.  You can always find exceptions to this generalization, however, statistically, you will find these facts to be true most of the time.

Therefore, living in Pakistan requires a lot of commitment.  If you start doing a fair comparison between living in Pakistan and outside, you will inevitably come to the conclusion that living outside is much better from almost all angles – be it personal, financial, or ethical.  Living in Pakistan cannot be justified based on merits.  Hence I say it again, living in Pakistan requires a serious commitment.  Commitment that you will live in Pakistan no matter what…  Commitment that you want to stay with your family members, since practically not everybody can move.  Commitment of making this a better place to live for your future generation.  Commitment that you can’t and will not abandon your homeland.  Commitment that you want to give back to the society to make it a better place for others, and finally a commitment to yourself that you will not let the dogs drive you out of your own home.

1.  Once you move back, be extremely cautious in loaning money to your Pakistani friends.  Only do that once you have been here for a few years.  The social and the financial dynamics are very different over here, so don’t get into that trap so early on.  Of course, you can loan money to friends, if you don’t intend to collect.

2.  Try not to leave your domain of expertise.  Try to find a job or start a business in something that you’re really good at.  This is easier said than done, I know.  But try your level best.  This is one of the ingredients to make your transition successful.  If possible, maneuver your career outside of Pakistan in such a way that your skill-set is usable over here.

3.  Start with something small.  You can’t really place very big bets early on. Don’t think of very big plans to get things started.

4.  Get adjusted to a moderate lifestyle, and then gradually growing your system.

5.  Take the plunge…  Don’t wait for the perfect scenario… Make the plan short.  Don’t make it too convoluted.  Even after coming back to Pakistan, shoot for success in a short span.  Too long of a plan has a higher chance of failing.. And this thing, “we should not have moved back,” will come up again and again…

6.  You will find a lot of things wrong over here.  Don’t get involved in social projects too early on.  Once you’ve settled in here, let’s say after 3-5 years, then spend time on social / community projects.

7.  Be prepared to be insulted, cheated and lied to.  You will have to learn to live with these facts in Pakistan.  My understanding as to how a human mind really works has vastly improved in Pakistan.

8.  Know your reasons to move back to Pakistan really well.

9.  Living in Pakistan again after you have lived abroad for many years requires a lot of commitment.  It is a fundamental shift in your lifesytle.  Be prepared for the change and accept it.  If you continue to compare living in and outside of Pakistan based on merits, do that, but remember your reasons for moving back and your commitment to the cause.

10. Don’t give up.  It may suck every ounce of patience out of you.