An appeal to overseas Pakistanis for small scale financing for Pakistani businesses

Hello everyone! Pakistan’s political scenario in the recent times has been full of upheavals and difficulties. The war on terror, corruption issues and other problems have left us with a fledgling and weakened economy. Pakistan’s previous growth rate for 2013 was only 3.59 % registering a decline from previous year’s growth rate of 4.36 % (which in itself was very low). The following are the details:

This alarming trend needs to be reversed and we appeal to the overseas Pakistanis for their support of our country. However there is a severe paucity for financing of small and medium sized business initiatives, which is generally known as “Venture capital financing”. Thus entrepreneurs here are facing lack of capital through which they can start their own business and thus create jobs in our nation.

Now let’s revert back to the importance of entrepreneurship and what its importance is to our nation as a whole. In today’s global world it is imperative to continually strive for innovation and new product development through which business will grow and for that we need small scale financing to enable grass root businesses and ideas to take place.

In spite of all the negative perceptions about Pakistan, we can assure you that Pakistan has a very conducive business environment with the appropriate regulations and reporting frameworks in place. Moreover, cities like Karachi have world class infrastructure which can be utilized for small businesses.

To put things in perspective, the following is an estimation of the start-up cost of small business in Pakistan (the range of Rs. 0.5 million to 2 million is taken from the youth business loan scheme initiated by the Prime Minister of Pakistan recently) in various currencies:

Amount of Startup Fund in Rupees	USD needed	GBP needed	Euro needed	AED needed	Saudi Riyal needed
Rs. 0.5 million	4,631	2,859	3,427	17,010	17,369
Rs. 2 million	18,525	11,438	13,709	68,039	69,477

Moreover, the detail of remittances by Overseas Pakistanis during FY 2012, FY 2013 and FY 2013 are as follows:

Monthly Cash Inflow (including FEBCs & FCBCs)	Amount in Millions of US Dollar			YoY Growth (percent)
	FY14	FY13	FY12	FY14	FY13
July	1,404.39	1,204.71	1,096.31	16.57%	9.89%
August	1,240.14	1,258.98	1,310.47	-1.50%	-3.93%
September	1,283.41	1,135.42	890.42	13.03%	27.52%
October	1,347.67	1,365.10	1,017.87	-1.28%	34.11%
Total	5,275.61	4,964.21	4,315.07	6.27%	15.04%
Monthly average for period July-October	1,318.90	1,241.05	1,078.77	6.27%	15.04%

Source: http://www.sbp.org.pk/ecodata/Homeremit.pdf

Thus, if a better utilization of the remittances is made, then our country can progress leaps and bounds as the remittances can then aid in starting small businesses, thus jump-starting our economy. All my brethren living abroad, please WAKE UP! There is a way in which we can make this place better for our future generations so that they would not have to undergo the pain you suffered to leave your homeland behind in search of a better life. Nothing explains optimism and the greatness of the will of the human spirit better than Allama Iqbal’s following verses:

"Thou didst create the night, but I made the lamp.

Thou didst create clay, but I made the cup.

Thou didst create the deserts, mountains and forests, I produced the orchards, gardens and groves.

It is I who made the glass out of stone, and it is I who turn a poison into an antidote." –

Allama Muhammad Iqbal

PAKISTAN PAINDABAD!