New wins in Pakistan with emerging tech

YOU never know where you can find new tech WINs around the world.  I’m a Vietnam-born immigrant refugee to America, who now regularly travels the globe to support growth of emerging tech, especially in emerging markets.  

This journey has increasingly brought me to Pakistan, which is not the typical market for Western business executives; but I’m here to tell everyone: the 5^th most populated nation will be a key part of the world’s Digital Commonwealth.

While its neighbour India gets more attention in the Western tech industry, Pakistan has much to offer: the world’s5^th biggest population (over 230 million people); the 4^thlargest English-speaking country; young demographics with median age of 22; well-educated with over 140 universities and more than 75,000 IT students graduating every year; over 30,000 IT companies; and mobile phone penetration of over 85%.

As a result, the IT and telecom sector are contributing significantly to Pakistan's GDP, with a growth rate of over 20% annually according to the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB).  

Venture capital firms are also taking note and have increasingly invested in Pakistani start-ups.  For example, my friends at Orbit Start-ups (one of the world’s leading VC firms that focuses on emerging markets) and its parent SOSV Venture Capital – have invested in over 20 start-ups in Pakistan.

But there are challenges.  Cash remains king.  Pakistan has one of the world’s biggest unbanked populations, with over 100 million adults lacking access to a bank account.

The country has over three million SMEs, but few (only 1/3) have access to credit lines.

Economically, the country continues to struggle. And although Pakistan is one of the top countries in the world for digital asset trading and holding, cryptocurrency remains unregulated – which slows down growth of legitimate blockchain and Web3 business.

In short, Pakistan has much talent but can use support to ignite its potential. This is why blockchain, Web3, AI and other emerging tech can speed up economic growth. These sectors require low overhead yet provide global reach for talent to be start-up entrepreneurs, software exporters, and IT outsourcing pools.  

With the right regulatory, investment and educational climate, emerging tech fields create opportunities for what I call new WINs:  innovation +inspiration, technology + heart as a formula to empower people, organisation and even nations.  

And for me, it always comes back to heart and people. Pakistan first came onto my radar because of connection with a good human being:  Muhammad Salman Anjum, founder & “Chief Mate” of Invoice Mate.

Salman is a Pakistani entrepreneur living in Dubai who is one of the most respected and enterprise blockchain figures in both the UAE and his native country.  I met Salman during my first trip to Dubai, when I served as president of the BSV Blockchain Association and was expanding into the Middle East.  

Very quickly, I learned that Salman and I share a belief in advancing blockchain for real utility and for real good – not just for speculative cryptocurrency trading.  We became colleagues, friends, partners.  

It was Salman who urged me to go to Pakistan as a market ripe for developing blockchain talent.  In hindsight, I realise I had more patience to listen because of my own life story: a baby taken out of war-torn Vietnam at the end of a war in 1975, and benefiting from education and career opportunities in the US.

So I started travelling to Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, and met other Pakistani tech and business leaders. We met with the country’s then-president Arif Alvi at the presidential palace; hosted the first blockchain summit for government & tech leaders in Islamabad; spoke at Future Fest, the country’s largest tech festival organised by our friend Arzish Azam and his company Ejad Labs; and spoke at numerous business summits organised by another notable friend Muhammad Azfar Ahsan, the nation’s former Minister for Investment and founder of the Nutshell Group corporate advisory firm.

I was just in Pakistan again this January, to kick off 2024 by delivering a keynote speech at the 3^rd FutureFest tech festival in Lahore. Over 300,000 people attended, mostly young people wanting to learn how to empower their potential with tech. I offered words of advice to many but also know that I cannot directly help them all.

I’ve decided to do what I can, to focus some of my time and business initiatives on Pakistan – just like I am do with other developing countries like Nigeria and my native Vietnam.

Most significantly, I am serving as Chairman of InvoiceMate – the venture founded by my friend Muhammad Salman Anjum who started my journey to discover Pakistan. With a tech team largely in Pakistan, the company uses blockchain & AI to power invoice financing marketplaces that help SMEs access cash flow faster (from financing of their outstanding invoices). 

This is a real use of blockchain for real good – which should be the vision of a Digital Commonwealth.  The venture already has partnerships with over10 banks & financial institutions in Pakistan and the UAE, and deals with leading distribution partners to reach SME sin Pakistan - such as Mentor Health (network of independent pharmacies) and telco carriers (Jazz Mobile) in Pakistan.  The company is also working to roll out its Web3 plan in 2024, to tokenize invoices (a real world-asset) and provide Web3 investors a more meaningful option to earn income from their coins.

Furthermore, I’m counting as part of my WIN Network of global partners the teams at Ejad Labs (organizers of the massive FutureFest festival) and Career Institute, a leading IT education provider in Pakistan, to drive more IT education and job placement opportunities for Pakistani talent.  

There are also corporate advisory firm Nutshell Group (led by Muhammad Azfar Ahsan, former Minister of Investments); the Center for Pakistan and International Relations (COPAIR), a thinktank founded by prominent Pakistani businesswoman Amna Munawwar Awan; and Noman Azhar, founder & Chief Officer of the Zindigi digital fintech app.  

I encourage everyone to get to know these and many other Pakistani leaders who advance digital technologies for their nation’s new future. I hope you find occasion to visit Pakistan and meet its young generation for yourself.  And I ask you to view Pakistan with an open mind as to empowering the potential of its people.  

Because you never know where you can find new tech WINs around the world.  You just might happen to find them in Pakistan.