Now is the right time to invest in Pakistan startups: repor

[Neo]

STARTUP FEBRUARY 17, 2014
TOP 5: MOST PROMISING STARTUPS FROM PAKISTAN

If the aim of Pakistan's entrepreneurs is to portray the country in a positive light, bristling with talent, ideas and smart execution, then they are certainly on the right path. From media mentions to improving lives, Pakistan's new breed of entrepreneurs and the startups they have founded showcase the talent bursting from the seams of a country mired in socio-political unrest.

Here then are our picks for the top 5 startups from Pakistan:

1.--- CONVO

Convo

When Barack Obama mentions you and your startup in a tweet, you know you have arrived!



A multiplatform social network enterprise app, Convo offers teams the ability to work in a media-rich virtual environment. It's a bit like Facebook but apparently much more productive. It was started in 2005 in Islamabad as Scrybe and was later renamed Convo. A five-member team worked out of a small room to make a global impact on the way collaborative software was perceived.

The company recently attracted a $5 million investment from a top tier venture capitalist in Silicon Valley. Currently, Convo's market position cannot be determined as financial data is yet undisclosed. However, the firm claims to have a customer base of 6,000 in over 150 countries and a usage footprint of around 10% of Fortune 500 companies.

2.--- APPOGRAPHY

Vivid by Appography

Touted as "the only Pakistani startup to have secured seed funding from UK investors", the founders of Appography have also been selected to participate in Blackbox Connect – a 2 week immersion program in Silicon Valley for non-US startups.

Vivid is an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) alternate which aims to transform the long and sometimes frustrating on-hold times and queues during calls into a more meaningful visual experience. Vivid cuts short the typical IVR prompts by opening up a visual navigational tree. This allows the person on-hold to have a more interactive experience in getting the help they need while simultaneously avoiding long wait times on the phone.

Appography's philosophy is to transform the intersection of arts and technology into meaningful consumer products – and it seems well on its way with its first product!

3.--- EYEDEUS

Groopic by Eyedeus

Groopic is a clever little app that allows the photographer to be in the photograph as well. Winning the best startup award at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) where the idea was conceived, Groopic was incubated by Plan9. It is a graduate of Google's BlackBox Connect program.

Groopic is a handy little photo app designed to incorporate the entire group of people into a picture. The person taking the shot has traditionally always joked about being "photoshopped in" at a later date. Well, no longer! With Groopic, you take two pictures – alternating between two people holding the camera. The app seamlessly integrates the two different pics into one picture showing all the group participants.

Eyedeus Labs, the company behind Groopic, is a specialist in developing computer vision technologies for smartphones.

4.--- EATOYE

EatOye

EatOye is a food delivery service operating in 8 Pakistani cities. Starting off as an eating out guide in 2011, it currently has over 700 restaurants and local stores in its directory of providers. They cover major chains such as KFC, Subway and Domino's.

Going a step further than other similar sites, they also offer a restaurant reservation option. It's free for users and generates revenue by charging a transaction fee from eating establishments for each delivery. Orders can also be placed by phone and confirmations are sent via SMS. Payment for the order is made upon delivery.

EatOye faces some stiff competition from the financial might of its direct competitor, FoodPanda, a Rocket Internet venture. But for now, it seems that EatOye is holding its own in the popular and fast-growing food delivery niche in Pakistan.

5.--- POPINJAY
Popinjay

Popinjay – a fashion startup – brings together a heartwarming story of the craftsmanship of artisan women from Pakistan's Punjab region to sew beautiful and fashionable handbags. The project, the brainchild of entrepreneur Saba Gul, is funded by startup incubator Invest to Innovate.

The handbags are produced locally, with the highlight being the historical art-inspired embroidery of the Punjabi women. Popinjay's products have been featured on Vogue, NBC, and CNN and Al Jazeera America.

With a strong PR and media team and a blend of talented designers, this startup seems poised to introduce the rest of the world to Pakistani fashion.

 

[Neo]

Interesting info here:

Here are 27 startup incubator programs in Pakistan

 

[thethinker]

Maplecroft benchmark index ranks Pakistan as no 7 in world's top 10 dangerous places to work.

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/photos/world-s-10-most-dangerous-places-to-work-slideshow/

The latest insight for investors interested in Pakistan is below :

Pakistan: Optimism about the political future cannot mask significant barriers for investors - Country Risk Report

Maplecroft's latest Country Risk Report offers investors comprehensive insights into Pakistan at a time when the country is on the cusp of meeting its enormous range of challenges. The report includes in-depth analysis of Pakistan's multiple governance risks, its struggling economy, legal and regulatory developments, the complex security landscape, labour standards and environmental issues.

Pakistan's political environment is currently witnessing a period of relative stability. Despite a history of military coups and unstable civilian governments, the current Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) administration under Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif faces few major challenges to its stability. Nawaz Sharif is known as a pro-business politician, and has presented a number of policies to address Pakistan's crippling energy crisis through the reduction of extensive energy subsidies and the privatisation of cumbersome, loss-making state enterprises. However, enormous challenges remain. Political expediencies will challenge the government's policy platform and complicate the government's attempts to make Pakistan more investor friendly. Crucially, Pakistan suffers from crippling energy shortages, which constitute one of the main constraints to industrial production, exports and economic growth.

Pakistan's security situation still presents extreme risks to companies operating in the country. A major attack by the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Karachi airport in early June has underscored the substantial risk posed by terrorist groups to vital business infrastructure. Moreover, a large-scale military offensive against the TTP following the airport attack is likely to result in revenge attacks in the short to medium term in Pakistan's cities. Additionally, violence in Karachi is unlikely to diminish as a confluence of criminal, political and ethnic rivalries play out in large swathes of Pakistan's commercial capital.

Interesting to see how some Pak posters would chest-thump about economy growth in Pak while remain quiet when it comes to addressing needs like power shortage but at same time support building military nuclear reactors in Pak when rest of country looms in power crisis.

 

[Neo]

Power crisis is being adressed with significant and visible measures being taken across the country. With TTP broken in half in Waziristan our next priority is to clean up major cities like Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta and restore security.

About your last remark, take a good look at 363 million extreme poor and 12 hours of loadshedding in Bihar and repeat your question.

 

[thethinker]

Power crisis is being adressed with significant and visible measures being taken across the country. With TTP broken in half in Waziristan our next priority is to clean up major cities like Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta and restore security.

About your last remark, take a good look at 363 million extreme poor and 12 hours of loadshedding in Bihar and repeat your question.

Poverty porn may be one of Paki perversions, in India that is being managed. We do take a look at out poor and reduce it.

Meanwhile can you please share how much has Pakistan reduced poverty in Pakistan since 1947 considering you clearly want to highlight Pakistan's economy here?

As far as loadshedding in Bihar goes, that too is being managed but what is surprising is that you comparing that to the 30-35% power crisis that supposedly major cities in Pakistan like Lahore and Karachi face on a daily basis - the ones that are supposed to showcase Pakistan economy.

So I will repeat my observations again :

" Interesting to see how some Pak posters would chest-thump about economy growth in Pak while remain quiet when it comes to addressing needs like power shortage but at same time support building military nuclear reactors in Pak when rest of country looms in power crisis. "

And FYI - don't be so timid as to not directly quote what I said but still retaliate to that in different posts. Doesn't suit a martial race like yours.

 

[abhi_the _gr8_maratha]

PPP standards are baked air. Budgets, expenditures, investments, trade is all calculated in nominal values. Nominal GDP is the real worth of a country, not some third world PPP formula.

your GDP is lower than our export and the gap is nearly 60-80 billion.

 

[Neo]

Pak better than India on poverty - Hindustan Times

 

[Neo]

Earning $2 a day, 60.19% population live below poverty line
By Ijaz Kakakhel
June 03, 2014


ISLAMABAD: The Economic Survey for 2013-14 on Monday revealed that if the poverty line is $2 per day in line with international standards for middle-income countries, then 60.19 percent of the population fall below poverty line in Pakistan.

The survey revealed that this figure is according to the World Bank's Poverty Head Count Analysis 2014. However, if income per adult in Pakistan is taken as $ 1.25 per day, then 21.04 percent of the population falls below poverty line at 2008 population estimates. The position of poverty in Pakistan is better than India and Bangladesh but Sri Lanka, China and Philippine's are in a better position than Pakistan. The percentage of population below $2 per day in China is 29.79 percent; Bangladesh 76.54 percent, Indian 68.72 percent, S Lanka 29.13 percent, Nepal 57.25 percent and Philippines is 41.53 percent.-

Pakistan has adopted the Millennium Declaration in the year 2000, and is committed to 'spare no effort to set free the most vulnerable segment of population from the abject and dehumanising conditions of extreme poverty'. The Government of Pakistan recognises that eradication of poverty & hunger to meet Goal-1 is a first step in promoting a just and progressive society.

Under MDG-1, Pakistan aims to halve by 2015, the proportion of people living below the national poverty line, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, and halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.-

According the Economic Survey of Pakistan, Poverty is defined as "a state or condition in which a person or community lacks the financial resources and essentials to enjoy a minimum standard of life and well-being that's considered acceptable in society". Poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being, and comprises many dimensions. It includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services necessary for survival with dignity.

Poverty and Social Safety Nets: Poverty is measured traditionally in terms of ability to meet a minimum number of calories in-take or to have a minimum level of income to satisfy basic needs of an adult per day because poor spend sixty percent of their income on food related expenditures.-

The Government of Pakistan is committed to improve the livelihood and earning capabilities of the poor to eradicate extreme poverty, the government has started a spectrum of social safety net programs for creating opportunities for the poor to escape poverty and to increase their resilience to crises. Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is one of the most popular and well-thought interventions of the government. Present government has continued the program with total disbursements Rs48.18 billion up to March 2014, in terms of cash grants and the number of beneficiaries increased to 5.25 million.-

Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) is also contributing a large amount of funds and different interventions are being made for reducing poverty and hunger, enhancing gender equality and women empowerment, improving maternal health and child mortality and increasing community participation. PPAF's role in micro-credit, water and infrastructure, drought mitigation, education, health, and emergency response interventions has been widely appraised. Total disbursement through PPAF during the period July to December 2013-14 is Rs 8.414 billion.

After the 18th Constitutional Amendment and passing of 7th National Finance Commission (NFC) Award has resulted in a paradigm shift from the previous sole emphasis on overall macro-economic growth as well as Inter and Intra-Provincial development priorities. The 7th NFC Award offers greater chunk of funds from federal to provincial governments that will provide more fiscal space to provinces to play their role in addressing intra-provincial disparities. Now most of the projects related to social sectors are planned and implemented by the provinces, while federal government can only concentrate to allocate larger chunk of the budget towards the development of infrastructure, energy and quality improvement of social sectors. The government is taking various measures to keep stable the inflation rate on single digit through prudent expenditure management, tight monetary policy, better supply chain management and monitoring of the prices & supply position of all essential items by taking all the provincial governments on board for the relief of common man.

The Economic Survey revealed that the efforts will be made to improve overall economic governance, devise social protection policy and strengthen pro-poor institutions that would result in better implementation of poverty reduction strategies and improving HRD indicators by allocating a fair amount under different schemes for social safety net programmes with the aim to directly intervene to transfer resources to the marginalised segment of the society.



http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/business/03-Jun-2014/earning-2-a-day-60-19-population-live-below-poverty-line

 

[Blackwater]

Pak better than India on poverty - Hindustan Times

poverty data is from 2005. india is 52% and pakis are 49%. this is 2014 ,we know what happened to pakistan in these 9 yrs. read full article not the headlines
lolllll

try again.

 

[BridgeSeller]

poverty data is from 2005. india is 52% and pakis are 49%. this is 2014 ,we know what happened to pakistan in these 9 yrs
lolllll

try again.

This is what we call a flawless victory! Succinct and to the point.

(May I add, that this is in spite of UPA 2)

 

[thethinker]

Considering that this thread has become once again into India Pak comparison :

In 65 years, India excels Pakistan in many fields

"LAHORE: Although the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a day older than its next-door neighbour India, it cannot match the excellence of its nuclear arch rival when it comes to the secular state's accomplishments in political, educational, economic and communication development fronts during these 65 years.

A few pro-Pakistan critics may, however, try to snatch the credit away from India by attributing the country's superb successes to its much bigger area and its six times larger population.

Well, there is no doubt that the total Indian area of 3,287,263 square kilometers is 4.12 times larger than Pakistan's 796,095 square kilometres and there is no denying the fact that the current Indian population of 1.205 billion is roughly six times larger than the 190.29 million Pakistani populace, but these worthy critics should also know that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of India is about 8 times healthier than that of Pakistan!

A comparative study conducted by "The News International" in this context shows that Pakistan's GDP rests at a paltry $210.6 billion, as compared to the relatively massive Indian GDP of $1.676 trillion. The writer has based his analysis from latest figures taken from the American Central Investigation Agency's World Fact Book 2012, updated IMF reports and recent World Bank research papers

These latest July 2012 numbers further reveal that Pakistan's GDP per capita is $2,800, while that of India is $3,700.

But then hiding behind the curtain of excuses won't help the cause as most European nations with much smaller areas and populations have outgrown both Pakistan and India in terms of progress and human development during the last six-and-a-half decades-especially if we take into account the fact that most of these countries were completely destroyed during the Second World War.

India may be the 30th most indebted nation in the world with an External Debt of $267.1 billion, much higher than Pakistan's $61.83 billion to make it the 54th most indebted nation though, but the quantum of Indian exports today stands at $298.2 billion-way higher than Pakistan's export figures of $25.35 billion.

India is today the 21st largest exporter in the world, while Pakistan stands 68th in this list. With a mammoth labour force of 487.6 million (2nd largest in the world), a lot higher than Pakistan's working brigade of 58.41 million, India today has the 7th largest foreign exchange and gold reserves of $345.8 billion.

In comparison, Pakistan's Foreign Exchange and Gold reserves rest at just $17.02 billion-or 62nd highest in the world.

Indian's current budget expenditures stand at $308.8 billion, while those of Pakistan are as dismal as $39.77 billion.

On the communication network front, India is again miles ahead of Pakistan.India has 35.09 million telephones installed countrywide (9th highest in the world), as compared to Pakistan's numbers of 3.419 million (46th highest in the world).

The number of cell phones in India is 752 million (2nd highest in the world), while Pakistan has 111 million cell phones only, though this figure is still high enough to make latter the 9th largest mobile phone using country across the planet. The number of Indian Internet users is 61.338 million (6th in the world), while the number of Pakistani Internet users is just 20.431 million or 20th in the world.

With 352 paved and unpaved airports, India is ranked 22nd in the world, while Pakistan features 37th in this list with 151 airports.

The Indian rail network spans over 63,974 kilometres in the world to make it the 4th largest in the world, while Pakistan's total network is just 7,791 kilometres (27th largest on Earth).

This is how the CIA World Fact Book 2012 has commented on Pakistan's unhappy state of affairs: "Decades of internal political disputes and low levels of foreign investment have led to slow growth and underdevelopment in Pakistan. Agriculture accounts for more than one-fifth of output and two-fifths of employment. Textiles account for most of Pakistan's export earnings, and Pakistan's failure to expand a viable export base for other manufactures has left the country vulnerable to shifts in world demand. Official unemployment is 6 per cent, but this fails to capture the true picture, because much of the economy is informal and underemployment remains high. Over the past few years, low growth and high inflation, led by a spurt in food prices, have increased the amount of poverty - the UN Human Development Report estimated poverty in 2011 at almost 50 per cent of the population."

It added saying: "Pakistan must address long standing issues related to government revenues and energy production in order to spur the amount of economic growth that will be necessary to employ its growing population. Other long term challenges include expanding investment in education and healthcare, and reducing dependence on foreign donors."

About India, the CIA World Fact Book 2012 has viewed: "India's medium-term growth outlook is positive due to a young population and corresponding low dependency ratio, healthy savings and investment rates, and increasing integration into the global economy. India has many long-term challenges that it has not yet fully addressed, including widespread poverty, inadequate physical and social infrastructure, limited non-agricultural employment opportunities, scarce access to quality basic and higher education, and accommodating rural-to-urban migration."

It has gone on to write a few more good things about India: "Despite pressing problems such as significant overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and widespread corruption, rapid economic development is fueling India's rise on the world stage." As far as the democratic achievements of both these countries of the same age are concerned, India again stands much taller than Pakistan.

India has seen 15 Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) election stints taking place in 1951, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1971, 1977, 1980, 1984-85, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009, meaning thereby that the Indian public has been electing its representatives every 4.33 years on an average since the last 65 years.

On the contrary, Pakistanis have exercised their right of franchise just nine times (the 1985 party-less polls included) during the same corresponding period, which thus signifies that the Pakistani citizens have gone to cast their ballot after every 7.22 years on an average.

If regularity of general elections in any country is deemed a vital yardstick by which the strength of democracy in any part of the world is measured by political scientists, then India has had a much smoother sailing than Pakistan.

It is imperative to note that two of these nine election stints in Pakistan—-1985 and 2002—- have been held under the supervision of General Zia-ul-Haq and General Pervez Musharraf, while both dictators were clad in khakis. The February 2008 polls were overseen by Musharraf when he wasn't donning an army uniform.It goes without saying that he was still calling shots as the country's elected president.

General Musharraf had resigned from military on November 28, 2007, paving way for the incumbent General Kayani to assume charge as Chief of Army Staff.By the way, between 1947 and 1958, no direct elections were held in Pakistan at the national level.

The volatility of Pakistani politics in its early days can be gauged from the fact that from the date of first Premier Liaquat Ali Khan's murder on October 16, 1951 till the imposition of the first Martial Law on October 7, 1958, not fewer than six Prime Ministers (Khawaja Nazimuddin, Muhammad Ali Bogra, Chaudhary Muhammad Ali, Huseyn Shaheed Suharawardy, I.I. Chundrigar and Feroze Khan Noon) had held the country's reins!! Before concluding this story and still talking of the cruelty of the Indo-Pak politics, it is worth recalling that overall, four premiers on either side of the border-two each from Pakistan and India- have been assassinated till date.

While Indian Premiers Indira Gandhi (1984) and her son Rajiv Gandhi (1991) had died unnatural deaths, the first Pakistani Premier Liaquat Ali Khan (1951) and then Benazir Bhutto (2007) had also met the same fate.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, an elected Pakistani Prime Minister and also the President once, was hanged to death on Supreme Court's orders in 1979.

Another sitting Pakistani President, General Zia-ul-Haq, had perished in a mysterious plane disaster in August 1988.

We all know that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as "Father of the Nation" in India, was the first of all known Pak-India politicians to be shot dead while he was walking to address a prayer meeting on January 30, 1948.

And not to forget, Sahibzada Sayyid Iskander Ali Mirza, the first Pakistani President and the man behind the imposition of the first martial law in the country in 1958, had died during his long exile in London on November 12, 1969.

He was sadly denied a burial in Pakistan by the then President Yahya Khan.
One can thus safely assume after looking at the afore-mentioned historical facts that Pakistan has certainly scored a few points more than India, when it comes to the bloody nature of its politics.

There could be a host of reasons for Indian excellence in many fields over Pakistan, but perhaps the most important reason amongst all is their focus on educating their population.

A quick look at facts listed below, sourced from Unesco and World Bank, highlight how Indians have better educated themselves than Pakistan.

1. India, despite a population 6 times that of Pakistan had fewer or just 3 million out-of-school children at Primary level in 2010, compared to some 7.0 million in Pakistan.
2. Net Primary School Enrollment in India is 92.1 per cent, whereas it is just about 70 per cent in Pakistan
3. Primary completion rate in India, both for males and females is 95 per cent, whereas the same for Pakistan is only 67 per cent for males and under 60 per cent for females.
4. India spends over 3 per cent of its GDP on education, while Pakistan barely spends under 2 per cent.
5. Adult literacy rate in India is approx 63 per cent; in Pakistan it is just about 55 per cent.
6. Youth literacy in India is 81 per cent. Pakistan: just 71 per cent.
7. Female literacy rate in India is 50 per cent; it is less than 40 per cent in Pakistan.
8. Indian scientists excel in areas of defence technology, space research, electronics and avionics, genetics, banking and telecommunications. India produces 10,000 PhDs every year, about 4,000 of these in the faculties of science and technology alone. Pakistan produces just about 800 PhDs altogether.
9. India produces more PhDs every year than Pakistan has produced in the last 20 years.
"

 

[thethinker]

poverty data is from 2005. india is 52% and pakis are 49%. this is 2014 ,we know what happened to pakistan in these 9 yrs
lolllll

try again.

Don't bother. Selective quotes from past supporting Pak and bashing India are what his modus operandi is. Guess everyone can play that game from now on. :thumb:

 

[Neo]

your GDP is lower than our export and the gap is nearly 60-80 billion.

Useless point. Indian.economy is 8.5 lager than Pakistan, hence the higher export. Hard fact however remains that worlds glorified.third largest economy in terms of PPP remains a minor in global trade. Smaller nations are doing much better.

 

[Neo]

poverty data is from 2005. india is 52% and pakis are 49%. this is 2014 ,we know what happened to pakistan in these 9 yrs
lolllll

try again.

Check the world bank report 2014: India 68.8% vs Pakistan 60:19%. We are fighting a war. Wonder what happened to incredible India.

 

[thethinker]

Pakistan vs India: the widening gap

In 1947, Pakistan and India had roughly the same gross domestic product per capita, i.e. the average Pakistani was about as rich (or rather, as poor) as the average Indian. But with the end of British domination and the formation of a new country, this was an era of great ambition.

This scenario isn't going to be a wake-up call to action. But — and here's the kicker — although Pakistan will continue to be as poor and as miserable a place as it is now, our neighbour India is becoming a dramatically different place altogether. Last year the average Indian made about $3,500 annually. The average Pakistani, $2,000. Ten years ago the disparity was reversed. Ten years from now the average Indian will be twice as rich as the average Pakistani and this gap is only going to widen in the decades and years to come.

India is racing toward economic and social advancement. Its population is becoming richer, more literate, more tech-savvy. And why is this happening? Because China's awesome economic growth scares the living daylights out of India and this ensures that Indians are fixated by their economic growth in turn. Our former rival has put on running shoes and barely has enough time to check its rear view mirror to look at us, so focused is it on the Chinese panda.

 

[Blackwater]

Check the world bank report 2014: India 68.8% vs Pakistan 60:19%. We are fighting a war. Wonder what happened to incredible India.

more than 50 % of pakistan is no go area. i wonder how they got the data.

anyhow pak population is 16 crore only compare to 120 crore of india

 

[Neo]

I can't help it but the more I read you comments the more I agree with the honorable Judge:

90 percent of Indians are idiots: Justice Markandey Katju
Press Trust of India |-Updated: Dec 08, 2012 23:55 IST

 

[thethinker]

Anyone has stats about the following :

Assets of Pak military personnel v/s Assets of Pak civilians
Number of children of Pak military personnel living abroad v/s number of children of Pak civilians living abroad

 

[Neo]

Anyone has stats about the following :

Assets of Pak military personnel v/s Assets of Pak civilians
Number of children of Pak military personnel living abroad v/s number of children of Pak civilians living abroad

Keep whining. The fact is that you cannot deny WB's report and stats on Poverty, hence your useless barking on PA. Acoording to WB, India 68.8% vs Pakistan 60:19% in.2013.

 

[thethinker]

Keep whining. The fact is that you cannot deny WB's report and stats on Poverty, hence your useless barking on PA. Acoording to WB, India 68.8% vs Pakistan 60:19% in.2013.

Looks like a nerve is hit whenever it comes to PA. And your correlation between WB stats and "barking about PA" is moronic.

You still haven't answered why the disparity in lifestyles of average Pak v/s PA personnel. There are a few videos from your fellowmen that clarify that (some though have been killed by PA sadly).