Thread by @faizansiddiqi

What we seem to be missing is a "safe space" to incubate, accelerate, discuss, be encouraged about starting new businesses. There is no joy nor any ease of doing biz when it comes to launching some thing new. There is no If then else statement on which type of incorporation to do

or which type of company to register, how to go about securing your name, or what taxes will apply to you in either, no cheat sheet of inputting your assumption of revenue to get a glimpse of the future taxable state as a person an AOP or Company, or even a sole proprietorship

Starting up is hard, starting up with out any back end understand or access to info about simple stuff, like company setup, taxation, applying for NTN numbers and having to deal with any kind of regulator even before u launch, just at the idea state is an off putting experience.

There is a reason more than 3/4 of the new sme/msme ideas/businesses etc that start are under or un regulated. Its not because by default every one is a crook its that between regulators, govt & IT Boards & the SAPM on commerce, all are out of touch with reality.

It the same reason banking sucks in our country. Because CEOS of Banks never have to deal with customer service. Like our SAPM some one who is out of touch with the reality of the average 25 yr old Pakistani. There is a 5 decade age difference between policy maker and affectee

Whilst some one can definitely make the stripe of PK or a company that helps you from incorporation to registration to taxation. No 1 can help startups from the raw challenge of dealing with the agencies that sit on the other side of the table that have to "allow" u to generate $

When you are managed by "thought police" you can not have thought leadership. When there is rent seeking and monopolistic behavior all around you, its not easy to even want to start to compete. The sunk in mental cost of dealing with imperfect market economics is not easy.

In the developed world you know the competition and the monopolistic advantages people have. In PK you dont, till you actually start. So if you start a new brick and mortar store, you will be advised where ur customers can park or not park, local thugs will arrive to demand

Their share, various EOBI, SRB etc others will show up, some one from the fire department too. Local police, the shop owners association ppl and best of all the self designated area security.Instead of having customers visit you, vultures will arrive first to mark their territory

Depending on the nature of the business you will have to deal with SECP, SBP and others. Not efficient, not pleasant, not straight forward. There is no ease of doing business here. Also dealing with govt services is like getting a lesson in mis placed ethics and customer service

The SObs who get paid with our tax money act as if they are doing us a service. The single biggest impediment to new companies, SMES etc opening up is FEAR. Which comes from the crooks in govt it self. No one wants to deal with them esp not a new business. In other markets

People may fear competition , in our market we fear the territorial bureaucrats who every honest citizen must deal with. If we must privatize one thing in this country which our accomplished SAPM must evaluate is a self standing agency that allows businesses to launch.

Till we can buy pass the sunk in hegemony of the PMLN types in Punjab and The PPP types in Sindh, nothing will change besides the optics of ease of business. These leeches must be displaced, because as history as shown that even in death they come to haunt the living by not dying

Not only do we need tech startups we need local companies and businesses that do brick and mortar stuff. Startups and tech startups more so are fantastic but will not create at scale employment that is needed to make the 50% of the population productive. Tech startups continue

to do well and gain traction in-spite of being in Pakistan not because of being here. The only thing they use the country for is labor arbitrage, they bank offshore, they incorporate offshore, they are moving to solar power, they buy their own water/security etc.They have no need

to depend on any one after certain scale. The free lance ones too, their laptop battery is their N+1 Power, their High speed internet their gateway drug and their joint family homes their social protection. The govt, the society the market has provided ZERO facilities for them

Same folks will bring IN only as much money needed bare minimum to run ops & live comfortably, smart ones incorporate offshore & use the money remotely. Its crazy how this entire generation has leapfrogged and dont need the sbp, secp or any one to tell them how to play the game.

They have OUT played every one out of pure need & they continue to be more and more disenfranchised by the country, the politics and the saver pulao boys. In an other few yrs they will have absolute zero faith in local outcomes and if they have enough cash they will move to Dubai

So the productive are gearing to leave, the SAPM is a self serving person building moats around his own business interests and those from the same ILK(having seen previous tenures). Some one has to call this stuff out no one will. Given the oppty we will get selfies taken

So its much of the same with new lipstick essentially. PM meets International players in tech and being sold the unrevised edition of the "economic hitmen". All he needs to do it is for once have the right ppl on side. Having the PTA in meetings is like having the FCC present.

A PM and his team that cant even identify the right audience for the right stake holder meeting is light years away from helping the constituents of the country see any major progress. There is a simple idea they need to borrow from across the pond. Allow companies that build

subscription or repeat biz of 150 PKR across 200M people. That most certainly doesn't mean allowing ur crooked friends with black money to whiten it by DEC by buying real estate. All I see are moats being built and the avg citizen being dis placed. Granted life's not fair.

Focus on allowing people free and fair market access. If you must build a Moat, then best to get the sugar daddy, the sapm and some one from the savour pulao group in pindi to team up and launch an agency that fast tracks market access. I.E an incubator and accelerator

The only difference is, that instead of building pizza franchises, this time this group allows others the same market access by helping bypass the bureaucracy and govt apathy and lethargy. I am merely suggesting to level the playing field. Instead of them getting agri concessions

they basically become the pay pal mafia( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal_Ma… ) equivalent but not.We need an Isloo Mafia for startups/smes that includes the usual suspects currently on medical leave to the UK, SAPM types, the London Return hair spray boy and some sprinkling of Pindi love

The thing is, we have essentially tried all else. So instead of this group of people continually ffing us up, best to let them enter the era of VCs and Angel Investors and use their super powers within govt to help accelerate the future of our tech founders and SMES.

They have failed the people on all other fronts as representatives of the public, perhaps we re define their JD and likely we have more successes viz a vi market access to launch new companies, faster and hassle free. Our own Y combinator but really P Combinator?

If done right the 220M ppl have serious economic value, from D2C to Distribution to subscription to payments to food security. Nothing has really been done at scale, but sadly nothing has been done at a small level either. The crux of the issue remains that P Combinator or not

The govt seriously needs to address this. If they dont, much like every thing else this too shall pass and likely land in an other country. Talent will not hold back they will find ways and means to innovate and continue to build opportunities for them selves out side of PK

Meaning no FX/FDI and loss of direct/indirect employment. But Who am I to say anything
@razak_dawood
is busy tweeting msgs of HOPE (

https://twitter.com/razak_dawood/status/1303958337713778690

) When he can be doing concrete things. Again if hes short on real execution tips happy to help, same goes for all others

Our issue remains, a will to do actual work besides strengthening your own moats. What we(Industry) need(s) is an Abdul Sattar Edhi for commerce and what we got is an Abdul Razak Dawood. We need selfless thought leadership not safeguarding the interest of friends & Family

Its never too late to ask for change or demand it. We can not change our outcomes if we are unwilling to change our leadership. Business or other wise.
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