Faizan Siddiqi Profile picture
Sep 9, 2020 14 tweets 5 min read Read on X
"Huawei also offered to formulate the ICT White Paper with the help of international consultants as well as identifying existing ICT systems & suggesting improvements."We continue being blessed by being represented by under qualified ppl at these meetings bit.ly/3bMwk3V
Sometimes less is more. We need less govt interaction esp when they are out of their depth on matters. Imagine the implications of a private party telling u what's good for you by engaging yet more foreign consultants. This happens due to lack of local stakeholders.
1st the govt had colonial separation anxiety now they going through Stockholm syndrome. International consultants are great for the business of kick backs & lining up personal coffers of the parties involved.Also their self aligned advice makes it kosher to hand out permits.
Even the Chinese have wizened up. They are merely doing what ever it takes including #DigitalPakistan. Sadly our remaining joke of a national IT board is busy launching job sites. And in tech jobs has 4 of its own analyst positions. Gives u insight into their lack of it.
So what all this means is that the PM along with his motley crew is having these national level meetings without any clear objectives at the cost of the tech sector at best and at worse alienating all others from getting into this space. The real joke is on us.
We continue to claim a 1bn$ of software exports but the govt can't miss a photo opp with the software sales ppl of foreign companies whose software we import to the tune of 200/300m$. The meetings they need to have are, to bringing these guys to build meaningful ops in Pakistan
Our silly non technical and non financial leaders continue to mis construe office opening with a company's arrival.Esp when u have the likes of Londons very own boy wonder in these meetings, some one who u wouldn't take along to buy a cell phone given the lack of understanding.
The formula has been simple, foreign trips for dignitaries followed by an office in isloo, hosting the right parties for the right ppl in the diplomatic enclave and lo and behold u have one more sales office and all of govt buying from them too. What a cluster.
We need to promote local consulting, local software where ever possible and hold the likes of these meetings with the first agenda point as local manufacturing or assembly before any one can sell into the market or to the govt. Yet these guys mock us by selling us more snake oil
By pitching more consultants at the ill prepared govt and setting the agenda for our needs and challenges drafted by some one who has zero in market expertise but passes the skin color test. Request to @ImranKhanPTI is to stop having irrelevant folks at these meetings
How does the regulator fit into such a meeting.Make the meeting minutes public also what does the IT minister contribute to this? Make these meetings of equals vs these low IQ pageants. The whole country is watching. Do some thing right. Bring in manufacturing & engineering folks
Just being in the same room with the Chinese is not testament to CPEC working, think this through. Partners like these are amazing to have esp if you know how and what to demand of them by giving them market access. So here are some thoughts for u
Next time u meet a diversified tech Co ask them to setup
1)KaiOS phone manufacturing
2)An engineering center of excellence
3) Vocational training for telecom technicians
4) Hardware financing programs for SMEs and Msmes to modernize their infra
I assure u this is a good start.
U can't continue to do the same stupid stuff ur predecessors did and expect a different outcome. Time to act with more mindfulness. @rebootdude @jehan_ara @raza_matin @TalhaIzhar @SaadGH @VeqarIslam @Ash_Kalim

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More from @faizansiddiqi

Apr 13, 2023
Every one Talks About Elite Capture in 🇵🇰 but most don't do any research to find out what it really means or where it started or how it impacts us daily

We are quick to blame

Lazy to action

Indifferent to learn from history

Heres a 🧵 an attempt with some facts & data points
The concentration of business ownership has been an interesting economic case study in 🇵🇰 ever since 1968 when Dr. Mahbub( then the Chief Economist of the Planning Commission) Named Pakistan’s 22 Families that dis proportionately controlled its economy.

web.archive.org/web/2013072200…
A report by KASB in 2018 stated the following with some in-accuracies. The top 11 family-controlled groups have 53 listed companies which have a collective market cap of $27bn, which means they account for around 35% of the market capitalization of Pakistan Stock Exchange. Image
Read 16 tweets
Mar 8, 2023
The Economic crisis & its impact explained in simple terms.A guide for Millennials & Gen Z.🧵

Boomers will tell you, they have been hearing since time immemorial that "the country is at the brink of disaster"
What they don't tell you:

1)Their lack of contribution to fix things

2)Their inability to call a spade a spade

3)Their lack of involvement in street level community building let alone national

4)Their lack of ownership from any thing that "didn't impact them" economically
They are right in one thing for sure. We didn't get here over night, their entire life was spent "hearing things are bad", but it was also spent ignoring that same message.

How many took any "action"?

Every one buried their head in sand and said "sanu ki" this too shall pass.
Read 21 tweets
Mar 7, 2023
Pakistan Inc. “Retiree Entrepreneurs, Saith-a-preneurs, Startups & Failure Dollars.”

Full Blog Post here:
blog.chinookstrategy.com/pakistan-inc/

TL;DR⬇️🧵
Despite years of poor governance, economic difficulties, security challenges, and internal issues, the average Pakistani remains optimistic that better days are coming. This response highlights the deep bond between man and his creator and the belief that things will improve.
Another possible explanation is the lack of education and access to understanding economic fallout. Because we have always "heard things are bad". But clearly things have continued to go on..
Read 16 tweets
Mar 6, 2023
I was today years old when I found out what a 'designer' "lawn" suit costs🧵

15-20k Price points for an outfit + cost of tailoring

Made me question my professional choices & of many other entrepreneurs

Perhaps the best thing to do is to build tech around lawn ..
For niche designers this is how the process works:

1)Call ahead
2)If you are an old customer(no deposit)
3)If you aren't well heeled then you may need to do a bank transfer to hold(with more niche designers albeit)
4)On the designated day show up
5)Avg cart size is 5 outfits
The name “lawn cloth” comes from the French city of Laon, which was where this textile was first woven. (says the internet)

At first, lawn cloth was primarily made with linen, which was more abundant in Europe at the time. material.
Read 16 tweets
Sep 17, 2022
YouTube Black Outs & Curious Case of Destroying Startup Value(ations) 🧵

Without the who/what/why of blocking,understand this,there is an other side to this saga that is slowly going to kill startups

What? Really?Let me take you & the powers be on a Journey of value destruction
Be it popular media, social media, political parties, influencers, opinion makers or the government it self. One thing is clear. Youtube outages happened (happening in🇵🇰).

What matters, It is happening since Aug 21st

netblocks.org/reports/youtub…
1. YouTube Runs on Googles Cloud Platform(GCP)

2. Some government body with the ability to do deep pack inspection goes in and decides to throttle YT

3. YouTube likely keeps shifting ip pools/being served from various locations of the GCP infrastructure as a redundancy measure
Read 22 tweets
Jul 19, 2022
The middle class is dead

Economic UnCertainty is not Joke. This is no longer a question of doing better, trying harder, working your way up.

If you were on the fringe of just making it, you likely crossed over to a dark place

Why?
💠Power/Gas/Fuel
💠Education
💠Healthcare
Inflation may be global, but the way we handled

💠Politics
💠Economic development
💠Geo Political Stability
💠Public Infrastructure
💠Health Care
💠Taxation
💠Defense Spending
💠Foreign policy

We have no one but our selves to blame.
Lets get some facts right:

Take a look at the attached Telecom Indicators, what they aren't a measure of:(contrary to what the govt/startups want you to believe)

💠Success
💠Productive Youth
💠Strong Consumer Market
💠Globally Competitive Workforce
Read 18 tweets

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