Business as usual

Published August 1, 2017
The writer works in the technology sector.
The writer works in the technology sector.

AHMAD had been working for a big technology company in California for a couple of years. He had earlier arrived from Pakistan to pursue a Master’s degree in engineering. Now he was thinking of returning to his country to set up a business in Lahore.

Despite some family opposition, he arrived in Pakistan eager to establish a software company.

The first step was to register the company as a partnership with one of his friends. He paid numerous visits to the relevant office but was always told to fulfil this or that ‘requirement’. Finally, a clerk told him there was nothing wrong with his documents but that he would have to keep visiting the office unless he paid Rs600. Only after he paid this amount was his documentation accepted.

Next, he wanted to open a bank account for his new partnership. He found that the banks knew very little about software start-ups and received little guidance. He was also unable to get a credit card registered in his company’s name. Moreover, he later realised that the bank had given him incorrect wire instructions, which resulted in significant delay of his first few wire transfers. He also had trouble sending a certain amount to a technical consultant in Europe on time resulting in some loss of reputation.

Setting up an office was the next step. Soon he realised that office space was not cheap, particularly with electricity and other utilities. Eventually, he found a very small office near a noisy intersection far from the city centre.

Setting up shop in Pakistan can be an arduous task.

Next, he settled on an internet provider that claimed to be the oldest and fastest in town and bought an expensive package. Within a month, he figured that the internet connection was dodgy. Ultimately, he had to procure internet service from multiple providers, though none of them proved to be super reliable, to ensure that work could be done without interruption.

The most important ingredient of a software company is human resource. Ahmad hired engineers who graduated from leading public and private institutions in the country. He realised quite early, however, that contracts are not respected. For example, some engineers would sign a contract to join the new company, but after a few days would say that they had received an offer of increased wages from their old place of work and would not be joining Ahmad.

The biggest jolt came when one engineer, a graduate of a leading private institution, resigned and started working for one of Ahmad’s customers, even though the engineer had signed a non-compete agreement, in the US. This disrespect for the contract resulted in big financial, morale and reputation loss. The idea of approaching the courts seemed daunting given the time and opportunity costs involved.

The quality of engineers he was able to hire, fresh out of school, was mixed. Some were brilliant. Some were good technically, but couldn’t communicate well (both skills are important, since you have to talk to the customer, clarify requirements, read documentation etc). He also discovered that most engineers were neither proficient in using open-source software nor keen to contribute their ideas to build open-source software, unlike engineers in other countries.

It was also really hard to find engineers, unlike in the US, with years of experience in a certain technology. Most engineers wanted to branch out into management a couple of years after school.

Most also hadn’t developed the habit of staying abreast of latest best practices. Many junior engineers were ‘Google programmers’ (ie when faced with a problem, they would Google their issue and copy/paste software codes from the internet). Engineers also lacked critical thinking skills. One of Ahmad’s customers in the US said that if he asked them for a software product, they would produce it but never ask for what purpose it was needed.

All business was done with customers in the US. It was hard for him to locally find talent experienced in software sales. He initially did a few projects in Lahore, but later dropped the idea of local business development since it became hard for him to recover costs in a timely manner.

After five years of running his business, Ahmad decided he was unable to expand the business beyond a certain point (political instability also a played a part). It was difficult for him to attract high-paying customers and get the work done on time while keeping all variables of the equation balanced. Ahmad eventually moved back to the US. He later called two of his best engineers there.

Not all those who move to Pakistan face a similar fate, but there are many others who suffer. We should reflect and see who the winner is in this case, and ask who ultimately loses the most after a company packs up and what can be done about this.

The writer works in the technology sector.

Twitter: @wyounas

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2017

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