• The final day of 8th SLF features experts from IT, agriculture, wildlifeand education sectors
• Speakers share journeys of struggle and success; urge youth to seek skills, break financial ‘traps’ for better future
KARACHI: Inspiring and motivational stories were shared on the second and final day of the 8th Sindh Literature Festival (SLF) at the Beach Luxury Hotel on Sunday.
Mehboob Ali Shar, the chief executive officer (CEO) of “iCreativez”, a software development firm in Karachi, shared his story and said he belonged to a village in rural Sindh and was the son of a farmer. He said he had worked as an office boy at a private school, but today, he provides IT services in 19 countries through five offices of his software company, including one in Karachi that employs over 250 staff.
“I am not a graduate of Silicon Valley,” said Mr Shar, adding that he had once defaulted on his university fees and was denied a degree. Ten years later, however, the vice chancellor of the same varsity awarded him his degree and declared him the pride of the institution.
He said that an IT firm in the Defence Housing Authority, whose CEO had once refused to hire him, later invited him to sit as a judge alongside the same CEO at a ceremony for software engineers.
Mr Shar said he began his journey with a borrowed laptop but was later hired by a British firm at Rs1.3 million per month.
He added that three years ago he had established his own software company in Karachi, and now firms from around the world are his clients, with one company alone paying Rs4.4m per month for services.
He said his career was marked by a shift from “rejection to recognition”. He added that he was associated with the IT departments of three reputable universities, while a faculty member at IBA had conducted research on “the son of a farmer”.
Abdul Hameed Abro said he planned to launch projects in rice, tomatoes and oil seeds “to turn Sindh into an agro-based economy over the next 10 years”, creating reasonable income opportunities for rural communities.
He said he began this initiative during Covid-19. With limited job opportunities in the government sector, he aimed to generate employment through small businesses and entrepreneurship.
He said that four years ago, he had set up a 300-acre tomato farm in Badin district, as vegetables and fruits offered significant income potential in Sindh.
Mr Abro said Pakistan “spent” billions of rupees on the import of edible oils, which is why he was now focusing on oil seeds. He added that he had launched a “cooperative farming society” spread over 5,000 acres in Badin with support from Karachi-based companies, focusing on rice, oil seeds and tomatoes.
He said a rice mill had already been established there and that they intended to export rice to the Philippines and Malaysia.
Mr Abro vowed to promote an “agro-based economy” in Sindh within the next decade, which he said would help create an “army” of employees.
Javed Mahar, chief conservator of the Sindh Wildlife Department, said that “fresh” river flow was essential for an “intact hydrological cycle”.
He said wildlife included reptiles, birds and trees, but, unfortunately, the term had here been limited to deer and partridges.
He added that there was also a “misconception” that trees were the primary source of oxygen. In fact, he said, the sea produced 65 per cent of the world’s oxygen, but it needed to be protected. Untreated waste was being dumped into the sea in Karachi, meaning that the biggest source of oxygen was being destroyed.
Waheeda Mahesar, a director at Szabist’s Institute of Technical Education, said young people needed to change their attitude because the government was “not an employment agency”.
She said the youth needed to focus on skills, adding that Pakistanis who attempted to reach Europe illegally by sea were not wanted there, but skilled workers were.
Shahrukh Nadeem said the middle class’s biggest problem was its reluctance to step out of its “comfort zone”. He said the middle class exhausted its energies in the pursuit of a job and a house.
He described this as a “financial trap” and advised the middle class to break out of it.
Earlier, during a discussion titled “Sindh as Seen by the Dynamic New Generation”, moderated by former television anchor Junaid Ansari, lawyer Shazia Nizamani said more women were joining the legal field in Sindh not only for employment but also to claim the rights granted to them in the Constitution.
Doctor and activist Sorath Sindhu urged young people to utilise social media platforms instead of taking to the streets, as was done in the past, to seek redress for their grievances.
Political worker Kabir Bheel said the youth needed to understand that problems such as poverty, unemployment and tyranny were political issues and that their solutions also lay in politics.
He regretted that the senior political leadership’s attitude towards the youth was “rigid” and needed to become more flexible.
Another political worker, Syed Khalil Ahmed, who recently launched his own party in Karachi, urged young people to free themselves from the “imprisonment of feudalism and tribalism”.
Hanifa Ameer said she was inspired by the poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, particularly the Sassui-Punhoon folk tale, and had performed in a drama based on it.
Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2025
