Daily Times

Pakistan has unique advantages; gifted with a special land, rich resources, from record breaking mountain peaks to seashores, Pakistan has a unique position; already nurtured with a bright youthful nation, vibrant culture buzzes with small and large enterprises, plus the strategic geographic location with China and CPEC are all hidden competitive advantages. Pakistan is finally under an amazing political leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan and his PTI Party working hard on a new vision for Pakistan with friendlier dialogue and fair trading. These are the facts.

Pakistan is being watched: as the world is harshly critical because it already have 200 plus other nations in its pocket to judge and compare. Other nations have difficulties too. This adverse global opinion directly impacts foreign investments and export opportunities. After all, Pakistan does have serious economic issues, on exportability and grassroots corporate performance, all due to critical lack of global age skills from factory floors to Corporate Boardrooms all the way to Public Sector echelons; it’s the parochial business mindedness and antiquated bureaucracies that are real strangulations.

Winning Cricket World Cup: For example; winning Cricket World Cup is always about the players, the teams and their skills to win; as no amount of money and no promotion can buy such victory, as it’s all about the craft, craftsmen and craftsmanship. For Pakistan to blame rest of the world while ignoring lifelong learning and global-age skills at core is totally wrong. Self-discovery, self-optimization and national mobilization of entrepreneurialism are the pillars where the real victory is hidden. Unfathomed by previous regimes the time to face the music has arrived.

Pakistan’s Branding: Pakistan is the 6th largest population nation but 66th on the list of global exports. This fact on low performance in global exports proves why outside of a few small ethnic brands, Pakistan has no single global name identity on the world’s trading stage. In textiles alone, during last decade, Pakistan could have developed One Hundred specialty-textile-brands each with USD one billion dollar export potential. Today the visible absence of high-caliber skills across the nation to invent, design and create world-class, branded, premium priced, goods and services, capable for global exportability, simply prolongs the agony.

The time to change has already passed, and the time to mobilize and revolutionize has started

Pakistan’s Skills Gaps: Pakistan is also listed at 147th on the Human Development Index. This fact basically disqualifies Pakistan as a serious exporter and almost declares a skills-less-nation on global stage; a decade ago this ranking should have been a wake-up call if further neglected it’s going to become a zombie-walk. There is no excuse. Take the bull by the horn or get ready to be kicked in the behind. Declaration of a national emergency and mobilization of corrective measures is what armies do. Most such issues are not funding but rather global age skills and execution dependent in the first place. Transformation is no secret, other nations have done this in open day light.

Pakistan’s Transformation: Although, appears impossible, Pakistan can also change overnight. For a start, some million plus businesses owners of big and small enterprises must be retrained on fast track basis in simultaneous synchronization, with maximum force of free technologies, new tools new ideas, altering their thinking that their unlimited wealth may not continue for next generation. Simple, the next generation may not survive operationally, unless deeply re-trained and armed with special skills for very different and open global markets.

The business community should no longer be content with low level quality production promoted by low level marketing strategies creating local Real-Estate-Rich-Rupee-Billionaire-Kings. Such kings are almost invisible on any throne on the world stage. The Next Gen players of Family Businesses must takeover with powerful new global age skills and armed with new transformational thinking to quadruple economy. Furthermore, all the top national trade associations and chamber of commerce must be digitally streamlined to become global-friendly-platforms for global-exportability-options. Currently these advanced topics are extremely foreign to their leadership. Although keeping fears and trepidations aside, easily adaptable and all within reach of national mobilization programs can bring significant change across the nation within first year.

Billion Dollars Exports per Day:

Pakistan can become a one billion dollar exports per day nation; but such revolutionary concepts can only become reality with revolutionary thoughts and real time actions. Pakistan is a military nation and it is easy to mobilize the entire business population. Massive repeated global age strategies, formal tactical trainings and regimented drills and unlimited use of technology will make this uplift happen. Here are the key facts applicable today.

Fact: The world can easily absorb unlimited exportable ideas in unlimited vertical markets.

Fact: The well-designed innovative ideas are worthy of such quadrupled volumes.

Fact: The entrepreneurial and dormant talents of a nation are capable of such tasks.

Fact: The new global age skills, knowledge and execution are now the missing links.

The Revolutionary Debates: Just silence on such topic is not good enough; now, only “revolutionary debates” on revolutionary thought leadership and methodologies will guarantee turnaround benefits. Firstly, apart from authoritative knowledge on global-age, the gatekeepers and national leadership must get acquainted as most of the above transformations are not “funding dependent” but rather “execution hungry” and secondly “National Mobilization of Entrepreneurialism” umbrella brings out the national hidden talent. Only senior level discussions and cross examinations will fix the issues and not the useless feasibility studies. The world is not stopping for any single nation. What a difference a year makes?

Exportability Options: The advanced level global-age digitization is a MUST and for bodies like major Chambers of Commerce across the nation plus top trade associations like PAMA, PPMA, PAAPAM, PRGMEA, SIMAP, REAP, PSGMEA, APTMA, APBUMA, PLGMEA must join the Think tank. Not to be confused with current outdated and disconnected websites, these programs and like the flying carpets for global trading. The FPPCI type formats are essential but good for last decade; today it’s all about either become a shiny magnet for global exports attracting investments or just remainas a rusty dull metal. Simple

The IMF Alliance: American help and the IMF alliances will help, very short while, and while some of these topics have been discussed casually all across the nation but now is the time for national leadership to engage with new blueprints and national mobilization of entrepreneurialism protocols. Pakistan is in a unique position and will remains as such for sure. But what’s needed is the mobilized deployment of national business community with regimented training and tactical battlefield practices on global age business models, all nicely marching towards prosperity. This is less about funding and all about execution. FACT: The time to change has already passed, and the time to mobilize and revolutionize has started.

The writer is a corporate philosopher, Chairman of Expothon Worldwide