LAHORE: A group of prominent Christian businessmen have formed a platform called Pakistan Christian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCCI) to provide a forum for local Christian entrepreneurs to collectively resolve issues facing their respective business ventures.
In a meeting held on Saturday, the group elected eminent businessman Rufus Solomon as president, Stephen Samuel as general secretary, Elwin Jalal Din as senior vice president and Faisal Yaqoob as vice president of the body.
Elaborating on the objectives of the PCCCI, the founding president Rufus Solomon said that the forum aimed to create conducive environment for the development of Christian entrepreneurs.
“PCCCI will provide a forum for Christian businessmen to discuss and find solutions to problems facing their businesses and to help them in expanding their businesses nationally as well as internationally,” said Solomon, adding that their mission was to encourage more Christians to get involved in the business sector.
Solomon, who is also a Christian rights activist and political leader affiliated with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, said PCCCI would facilitate interactions between international businessmen and Pakistani Christian businessmen which would help in broadening the horizons and create more business opportunities.
“Such interactions will not only help in training and equipping Pakistani Christian businessmen but also enable them to improve their marketing and quality control methods for their respective products,” he said, adding that the forum will organize special trainings and conferences across Pakistan for achieving this purpose.
The PCCCI president further said that the forum planned to establish a research and development center to establish products in the local market as well as to encourage exports to other countries. “We will also organize exhibitions and establish display centers and buying houses to promote the products,” he said.
Solomon said that he had conceived the idea for a forum for Christian businessmen with the belief that it will alleviate his community and encourage more people to come into businesses rather than sticking to jobs synonymous with Christians.
“Pakistani Christians have contributed a lot in the education and healthcare sectors but I believe it’s now very important for them to enter the business sector and establish themselves as successful entrepreneurs. There were very few Christians in business sector when I entered the field but it’s good to see many others making a mark for themselves in various industries today. The entire community will benefit if Christian businesses grow. This would not only create more jobs for Christians but will also create a market for Christian skilled workers in all industries,” he said, adding that the PCCCI was also planning to create a databank of Christian skilled workers so that Christian businessmen could easily identify and employ people from their own community.