Panelists of a round table conference explored ways to promote entrepreneurial growth in Pakistan, emphasizing that entrepreneurs have the potential to generate new jobs for millions of young graduates entering the workforce.
The event “Global Entrepreneurship Week” followed six days of workshops for emerging Pakistani entrepreneurs on how to start and grow a successful business. The workshops were facilitated by the United States (US) Embassy in Islamabad and held at Abasyn University from November 10 to 15.
Fifteen prominent Pakistani entrepreneurs, government officials and academic leaders gathered at a roundtable meeting titled “Creating an Enabling Environment for Entrepreneurship to Grow” on Friday.
After avoiding the collapse of the global financial and economic system, governments around the world were now focused on building a foundation for future growth. In addition to safeguarding the economic recovery, the world was facing a number of transformative challenges, such as an increasing scarcity of natural resources, significant demographic shifts, and the environmental and social implications of climate change.
In dealing with these challenges, governments had taken an increasingly strong interest in entrepreneurship.
Speaking on the occasion, Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and CEO (chief executive officer) Mishal Pakistan, Amir Jahangir said, “Entrepreneurs are recognized as important drivers of economic and social progress, and rapidly growing entrepreneurial enterprises are viewed as important sources of innovation, employment and productivity growth”.
Some of the most influential enterprises of our time began relatively recently as small entrepreneurial ventures, he further added.
The participants emphasized the need for the capacity building of the Pakistani media to introduce entrepreneurship as a new beat in reporting. They emphasized the importance of a media fund, which could encourage young entrepreneurs and journalists to create more relevant content on entrepreneurship. The initiative would also be able to create a new breed of “mediapreneurs” and journalists to understand and report on the opportunities and challenges of being an entrepreneur in Pakistan.
Speaking about “Global Entrepreneurship Week”, co-founder of Moftak Solutions, Muhammad Farukh Mahmood said, “We are thankful to the U.S. Embassy for giving us the opportunity to hear from Pakistan’s leading entrepreneurs about the challenges they face in starting and running a business. The workshops this week helped to bridge the gap between industry and academia, and inspired youth to become entrepreneurs to contribute to the growth of this country.”
Panelists focused their discussions on the pivotal role of Pakistan’s private sector in spurring job creation. The panelists said with the growth of entrepreneurship ecosystem, Pakistan’s economic growth could accelerate.
Many governments were therefore trying to actively promote entrepreneurship through various forms of support. The World Economic Forum had been actively engaging early-stage and later-stage high-growth companies for many years through its Technology Pioneers programme and its community of Global Growth Companies.
