Following article appeared in The News on July 18th, 2010

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=251448

When I talk to my nieces and nephews, Pakistan’s millennial generation, I feel rejuvenated and perplexed, at the same time. I get excited because these young children are so creative and worldly. The minute I log into Skype, Gmail, or Facbook, my young buddies tell me about some technological experience or an epiphany they had on how to change Pakistan. I am invigorated listening to their ideas.

I am at a loss, however, when these bright young kids tell me how they struggle to find a job. I am baffled because they are looking for job the same way I did. Trust me it was a long time ago.

In 1985-86 when I was entering the job market with my peers, we had a routine. We would review all the vacancies announced in the daily ‘Dawn’ every week and mail our resume (we used to call it bio-data) to prospects. And, we waited. Like other struggling middle class families we did not know ‘people’ at the right places. But we applied for positions and prayed for an interview and all of us finally found work. Not necessarily doing what we wanted to do, but jobs that paid enough to make us get up in the morning.

That was 25 years ago. Men and women in India, Bangladesh and other developing countries were looking for work in the same way as we were in Pakistan. There was parity.

Now when I talk to people in India and the Philippines, Ukraine and Russia, Brazil and Poland, I find that unlike Pakistan, a growing number of employable youth in these countries are not looking for a job. They are interested in gigs. And that reflects the structural change in the post-modern job market across the globe.

The millennial generation across the world prefer being self-employed instead of becoming an employee. They can do that because of advances in computer and telecommunications technology. But these successful service providers (individuals) at portals such as eLance, Guru, oDesk, iFreelance had to change their attitude towards work.

Taking advantage of the rapid pace of technological change, a globalised market place and a boom and bust economy, millions of workers have found security in the idea of free agency. And, this spirit of enterprise has produced workers around the world that are more resilient, adaptable and entrepreneurial than their predecessors.

I personally know hundreds of successful individuals around the world who have traded in careers for gigs.

In the US this trend is pretty established. According to the Online Talent Report, more than 100,000 businesses listed 300,000 new jobs last year. Last month alone, the number of jobs posted grew by 30 percent from the previous month. And that trend isn’t exclusive to the United States and Europe. Data shows that there are online and self-employed workers all around the world with India leading the curve.

Demand for certain types of jobs such as mobile application programmers and social media management is far outstripping supply. So far, small businesses are the first to look for talent online. But larger enterprises are following, as well. AT&T, IBM, Cisco, Novartis, P&G and Kimberly Clarke are among a few that you will find posting transactional opportunities through their contractors or directly. Many more are expected to follow the suit.

Test this: go to craigslist.org for Pakistan and look for jobs/services offered and than go to any of the large Indian city and you will find that entire country of Pakistan has less than 10 percent postings compared to any Indian city. I am always told not to compare us with India because we are ‘special’. OK, just compare Pakistan and the Philippines and there is a difference in order of magnitude.

After speaking to several people in Pakistan, I realise that there are some real challenges that make it rather difficult to work from home. I will address that below. But I want to first dispel some established myths about the online marketplace first:

MYTH No 1: All jobs are posted by American and European employers and they don’t want to hire Pakistanis for several reasons.

Reality: Online hiring is not asymmetrical. It is a misnomer that service providers are from low-cost destinations and all buyers are from the United States and Europe. Some basic research will show that employers from across the world are taking advantage of a flexible workforce. With the Internet, the search for talented employees is no longer limited by geography. And, the same tool allows professionals to find work from anywhere, as well. I live in New York and I have provided services to employers in Indonesia, the Philippines and Brazil. And, I am just an individual.

Also, I have yet to find an American who will refuse a talented resource from any part of the world. Money transcends national boundaries and religion. Any Indian and Israeli employer will be happy to hire someone from Pakistan if the service is good and priced competitively. It is all about adding value.

MYTH No 2: Online jobs are for programmers only.

Reality: You don’t need to be a programmer to work online. Whether you are skilled for sales and marketing, finance and management; administrative or legal; engineering or manufacturing, you can work remotely. A majority of jobs today can be outsourced except those require a physical presence. Many of us have a full time administrative assistant (Executive Secretary, as they are called in Pakistan) sitting thousands of miles away.

There are several MBAs from leading institutions who provide management or marketing or sales-related services. Project Management work is pretty much done remotely. My brother works for IBM and he could be sitting anywhere in the world to do his job, and do it well.

I know several individuals in India and the Philippines who provide writing services to employers all around the world. And, you don’t need to be Mark Twain to find online gigs for writing. On an average, an individual who works eight hours a day can easily earn $600 to $2,500 per month, depending on their skills.

Accounting and legal services are also quickly emerging. I know several bookkeepers in Brazil and Argentina who provide accounting services to small businesses around the world. I know several lawyers who have paralegals sitting in India to do research and prepare court papers. The opportunities are endless.

Now let’s talk about some real challenges that an individual from Pakistan will have compared to their peers from across the border.

Challenge No 1: Many young middle class men and women do not have a credit or debit card and, thus, cannot sign up for services such as eLance, Facebook, iFreelance. There are at least two ways to address this; open a checking account with a global bank that has branch near you and make sure they will issue a debit card that can be used internationally. Or open accounts where you don’t need a credit card such as oDesk or post your services in places like Craigslist.

Challenge No 2: There is so much power outages that even if we get work (which is easy to find) we can’t deliver on time and, therefore, get negative feedback from employers.

I know this is real. We have more power outages than India, for example. I have no magic wand, but I will tell you if my livelihood was dependant on electricity, I would make secondary and tertiary plans to have minimum power to run a computer. I get a push back that we don’t have enough money to buy a UPS or generator. What about setting up small cooperatives with your friends and neighbours? Why don’t four or five of you get together and make it happen? The return on investment is so rapid and it will change your life. So what are you waiting for?

Challenge No 3: How will I get paid? Open a bank account or PayPal account (or other similar services). Of course, there may be a time when you put in several hours, and may not get paid, but there are ways to mitigate that risk. When you work with an established service you are pretty much guaranteed about the payment. These services charge a couple of points to cover your risk. But you will get paid.

Here is a challenge that many learn after they start offering services online: not everyone can work from home. You need lots of discipline because there are plenty of distractions when you are working from home. But I know several individuals in Pakistan, as well who do it really well. Setting up a place of work at home is a serious matter and requires careful planning. You must be comfortable to produce good quality work. You must be able to get up, take a shower (or not) and go through the routine as if you were going to work outside. Once you get to your desk you must be able to tune out your family and surrounding.

It is not that there are no Pakistanis. I see a few firms as top tier providers on oDesk, eLance and Guru. But there are a very small number of independent Pakistani individuals.

Here is my challenge to you: if you are educated and unemployed (BA, BCom, BSc at minimum) establish your practice online and make your first $100 and post a comment to let us know that you are on your way to making millions.

President of Pakistan Asif Zardari, who is eager to get free access to the United States and European Union markets for commodities of his country Thursday reviewed options with the relevant governments officials.

Federal Minister of Commerce Makhdoom Amin Fahim informed Pakistan’s parliament that Pakistan has lost about $40 billion in war against terrorism as a front line state and Pakistani government is making every effort to acquire free access to United States and European Market to generate revenue by exporting Pakistani products to offset the loss and over turn the national economic crises.

He told the assembly that the process to acquire consent for free access to European Union market is time consuming because each EU state follows its own constitution.

Minister also informed the assembly that presently there is no shortage of sugar in country as 80,000 metric tons of the commodity is available and more sugar is expected to arrive in the market shortly. He said government is strictly following protocols and well defined best practices to float international tenders for importing sugar and to select the firms.

Every commodity is to be laboratory tested before import and on the arrival in the local market, Amin Fahim explained.

Discussing the developments of Faisal Shahzad’s arrest on a Pakistani TV channel this week, I was asked: why is America against Muslims. Reducing American actions to ideology is not only simplistic but also obscures critical analysis.

Why is it that Muslims from Qatar or Oman: Muslims from India, Bangladesh, Malaysia or Indonesia not under scrutiny? Why is it that a Pakistani has to go through “enhanced” security measures at American airports while Muslims of many other countries walk with their heads high? If we are judged by the company we keep ask yourself why you are in the company of Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria, Libya and Syria? Ask yourself what is common between these nations?

In my opinion these countries are defined by the absence of mature governance model and corrupt, uneducated, greedy leadership.
Why is that we don’t have highly educated Pakistanis in parliament and cabinets? Where are our PhDs hiding? Why isn’t Proferssor Manzoor Ahmad, Pervez Hoodbhoy or Ayesha Siddiqui running the management of country?

I believe in past six decades we have nourished a culture that protects and respects illiterate thieves- not only in politics but also business. A handful of privileged and filthy rich Pakistanis collude to artificially raise prices of important commodities like sugar and cotton.

I always wonder how a nation in the throes of one war and a half on two fronts, an undernourished, calamity stricken nation like Pakistan condones such behavior on the part of a few rich, self-interested people. These people are the real terrorists of the land; they deserve to be caught, imprisoned and punished for the way in which they are corroding the economy of Pakistan, and by their ill devised foreign policy diluting our brand in the world.

Look closer at these robbers and you will find them in military uniforms, parliament, senate and cabinets. These corrupt elite of Pakistan are responsible for not only destroying economy but their adventurism has put us in harms way.

Why is it that Pakistanis are under microscope in the US and Europe? It is because our military leaders with modest IQ and strong muscles can twist arms (or abduct or kill or both) anyone who does not agree with them.

Pakistani entrepreneurs have learned that they can make crazy profit by playing by the rules of army bosses. And, Pakistani journalists realize that their job security comes from perpetrating the propaganda of men in uniforms.

Last September, a largely unknown raid at the premises of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association revealed that a number of sugar mill owners had formed a cartel like structure and were engaged in “extensive institutionalization of collusive behavior.”

The agency, which has been struggling to make a foothold for its antitrust laws in Pakistan’s largely feudal economic climate, established how the affluent owners of the 82 sugar mills planned to raise the price of sugar by unfair pricing practices.

Guess who owns these sugar mills? 35% are owned by retired Pakistan army officials and another 40% are owned by the leaders of two major political parties.

Why Pakistani nation is not outraged?

While Pakistan was still struggling through the sugar crisis, unscrupulous parties and untoward economic conditions seem to have come together to create another commodity crisis in Pakistan, this time, of cotton.

Cotton prices rose to Rs 7000 per maund in April. The new crop is yet to arrive, and various international bans and embargos have produced a big deficit in the available amount of cotton. People with old stocks of cotton are taking advantage of the situation to make a killing, knowing that they are killing the economy itself. In just a short week last month, there was a Rs 1000 appreciation in the price of prime stock cotton while the textile industry pitted against peers to buy as much of the previous year’s stock as they could.

And, guess who owned majority of the old stocks? Three retired Major Generals in Punjab- had hoarded a large lot. Several well wishers of Mian family and a very close ally of Mr. Gillani.

The country has been most hit by a ban on import from India, Pakistan’s principal supplier of cotton. Pakistan has had to buy cotton at high rates from expensive sellers of other countries.

Pakistan’s textile industry has to supply pending orders from foreign buyers in the developed world, and cotton bought at very high prices kills their margin. And, this calamity has also raised the price of cotton domestically, and that does not bode well for the ordinary Pakistani, who now has to shell out more than twice as much as the old price of cotton. Prices of garment in Pakistani markets have become unbearable for a middle class family to even purchase uniforms for their school going children.

Why are Pakistani people not outraged? Why are Pakistani journalists not talking about this?

Overall Pakistan need to import at least 1.5 million bales of cotton to contain the crisis. The deficit is a shock, because India, with very similar climactic and soil conditions, has a record surplus this year.

The Karachi Cotton Association has fixed the official spot rate, or base price of Grade 3 cotton, at Rs 7180 per maund. At such prices, ordinary citizens of Pakistan will find it very hard to buy and wear cotton this year.

With severe economic crisis at hand, Pakistani leaders go around the world to beg and borrow, while they continue to steal from their own people.

And, guess what is your favorite TV anchor doing right now? Preparing a show that will ask the same question: why does America hate Muslims? Please remind them it is not religion – it is their policies.

Cotton price hit record high of Rs6,950 per maund due to shortage of the commodity and sluggish trading on the cotton market today.

Dealers at the Karachi Cotton Exchange (KCA) said 400 bales of Haroonabad were sold at the historic high of Rs6,925/Rs6,950 per maund on credit, and 4,700 bales of Rahim Yar Khan changed hands at Rs6,800. Spot rates of the Karachi Cotton Exchange stayed unchanged at Rs6,700 a maund and Rs7,180 per 40kg.

“Indian ginners and growers, who went on strike from April 29, have so far failed to convince the authorities concerned to relax restrictions on raw cotton export,” S M Ayub Usman, a Faisalabad-based dealer, said.

“While Indian spinners have succeeded in convincing their†textile authorities that unchecked export of raw cotton has hurt them badly and it has adversely impacted the value-added sector.” Usman said that domestic prices of lint continued to skyrocket due to the export ban imposed by the Indian government recently. Now mills had hardly any stocks of raw cotton left with them.

A general body meeting of the Karachi Cotton Brokers Forum was held under the chairmanship of Abdul Wahid, a senior cotton broker, at the Karachi Cotton Exchange the other day. At the meeting, Wahid addressed issues being faced by the registered cotton brokers of the KCA. Brokers unanimously passed a couple of resolutions at the meeting.

The brokers urged the federal minister for textile to help solve problems concerning opening of hedge trading in cotton through the KCA. They said that 320 licensed cotton brokers were engaged in cotton trading and steps should be taken to facilitate them.

The Trading Corporation of Pakistan should take cotton brokers at the KCA into confidence before taking measures on cotton trade, as they had professional expertise in cotton trade, they said.

Pakistan’s capacity to produce electricity compared to other states of it’s size (geography) and population puts it in the lower 20 percentile among the comity of nations.

Combining the three major energy sectors, Hydroelectric, Thermal and Nuclear, Pakistan has an installed capacity of 19.5 GW of electric power.

Turkey is a country similar in size to Pakistan, while Brazil has a similar population scale. Turkey has an installed capacity of over 40 GW, while Brazil produces about 95GW of electricity.

Brazil is a much larger country, with vast water resources; but Turkey is very similar to Pakistan in a number of respects, yet it manages to produce over twice the amount of electricity. Given that Turkey has about one-third the population of Pakistan, this statistics shows that its citizens enjoy 6 times more power than those in Pakistan.

Also noteworthy is that India, Pakistan’s arch rival and not the most well managed democracy in the world, has an installed capacity of 150 GW and has managed to significantly decrease power outage in the last 20 years. However, nothing has changed in Pakistan, if not for the worse.

This appalling state of power generation in Pakistan has been widely reviewed and commented upon by its local media. Last Friday, the Nation, an English language newspaper in Pakistan, reviewed the state of affairs and said that the load shedding (intentional power outage) in Pakistan is not only hampering the industry, but also causing unemployment on a grand scale. A report in the News, says that the major city of Karachi suffers from between 3-8 hours of load shedding throughout the Sunday and other Holidays. This is Karachi; the most developed city in Pakistan, with its own, separate electricity board.

The condition is incomparably worse in rural areas, especially the previously militant controlled North West Frontier provinces. These areas have virtually no power, and one hour of electricity a day is considered miraculous.

Thermal power generation produces about 65% of Pakistan’s electric power, while the Hydroelectric and Nuclear sectors account for 33% and 2% respectively. Thermal power is generated using oil, natural gas and coal. Oil, which accounts for 43.5% of total energy generated, has to be imported (almost two-thirds of it), while natural gas (39%) and coal (5%) is indigenous. There are vast reserves of natural gas in Pakistan, with 611 billion cu m in Baluchistan alone. Moreover, the government has noted that using crude oil for thermal power generation is not only expensive, but also pollutes the atmosphere; yet a major switch to natural gas power production has not been attempted yet.

Hydroelectricity is generated from the major dams, the Tarbela, Mangela, and the Warsakh dams. The Tarbela is the largest rock and earth dam in the world, and generates 2.1 million kW of electricity. The vast Indus basin has a potential to generate 25 GW of power, despite seasonal wanes, but most of that potential has not been built upon yet.
Pakistan has two nuclear power reactors, one each in Karachi and Chasma, which together produce 425 MW of power, which is about 2% of the country’s total. More nuclear reactors for power generation are under approval stages.

There is the need for a three pronged development goal for the future. In the first stages, a quick, stopgap measure of changing from crude oil based thermal power generation to natural gas needs to be undertaken. This measure will not require expensive creation of new power plants or natural gas extraction facilities. Existing thermal power plants could be switched to natural gas fuel, and natural gas production itself could be increased at existing facilities. In the second stage, the vast hydroelectric potential of the Indus river basin should be harnessed to full capacity, producing the 25 GW it is capable of. In the third stage, major cities and industrial hubs should be switched to nuclear power, given that nuclear power, while expensive, is the most dependable source of power.

Both the US and China have been long involved in Pakistan; but while China has historically been more involved in a constructive, peaceful capacity, the US has largely used Pakistan as a base for fighting land wars in Asia. If the US wants to invest more in the economic development of Pakistan, a few areas need its urgent attention.
The US has a very developed capacity in the natural gas industry. Given the progressive economic development of Pakistan, the US will find a major investment in Pakistan’s natural gas sector vastly profitable.

Also, as the Special Representative Richard Holbrooke, recently noted, the expulsion of militants from the country has given the US “breathing room” to focus on other aspects of development.

A major energy assessment has been done by the USAID, the US government’s international aid department, in this regard.

Another major area where Pakistan needs US help is to fight the seasonal fluctuations of the hydroelectric sector. The sector has an annual capacity of 25 GW, as discussed; however, the problem is that this capacity is mostly expended during a few months of the season, and throughout the rest of the year, the river basins remain dry. This problem can be solved in two ways, one, by building more dams to harness the water throughout the year, and two, to create energy storage capacity to generate energy during the monsoon months and use it during the winter.

Finally, there is the question of nuclear power. This is a thorny issue, and the US has not been forthcoming in developing even civilian nuclear power in Pakistan. However, with a stabilizing political situation in Pakistan, the US should rethink its nuclear strategy and help develop reactors for the major industrial hubs, as China has already begun to do.

Government of Pakistan is considering an increase in the gas tariffs to compensate for the grave losses suffered by the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) recent months, reports from Islamabad confirmed Saturday.

For the first time in company’s history, Sui Gas has registered substantial losses. It is estimated that in past six months the government owned and operated firm has gone Rs244 million in red.
Recently gas tariff to the consumer was increased by 18 percent but SNGPL finds market conditions unfavorable even after the price hike.

Shareholders have been informed that they will receive no dividends at the end of this fiscal year and they may suffer a loss of Rs0.44 per share of Rs10.

When asked for guidance, Chairman of SNGPL board of governors, Mian Misbahur Rehman said, “I have taken over only three days ago and at the moment I cannot comment on it.”

Another official on the condition of anonymity said: “it is virtual bankruptcy. The situation, by all means, is precarious for the company.”

Consumers are not the only victims: besides increasing gas tariffs, SNGPL employees are also being paid on time. For the last few months the company is not appropriately disbursing travel and medical allowances.

There are rumors that the provident fund of the employees may also be invested in the company’s assets.

During the period of last six months gap between the company’s receivables and its payables have grown rapidly.

SNGPL has receivables of Rs15.06 billion from the federal government and Wapda and payables are about Rs40.44 billion to the Oil and Gas Development Corporation, Pakistan Petroleum and Government Holdings.

Unlike HABCO and KAPCO where inter-corporate debt adjustment was a way out of the crisis, for SNGPL that cannot be a solution because its net payables are Rs25.38 billion making a negative of Rs9.51 billion between the company’s assets and liabilities.

SNGPL’s long-term liabilities went up from Rs53.8 billion to Rs55.67 billion and its liabilities increased from Rs52.56 billion to Rs57.58 billion.

The situation will be further compounded if the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority decides to impose a fine for failing to meet the line losses standards.