Daily Times

Innovation is no one’s exclusive domain. Those who dare to take the plunge, come out with newer ideas, plans and schemes. It is all about initiative. Luckily, this powerful force called initiative is found in abundance among a large number of our youth but the organized and comprehensive endeavours undertaken at the government level or at the institutional level still fall short of the actual requirement, given the fact that Pakistan’s youth populationis one of the largest youth segments of the world.

Certainly, it requires a yet greater proactive approach to address this unfortunate situation, instead of merely discussing it with remorse and despair.

Precedents are very much there, China being one good example of this proactive approach that extricated 700 million people out of abject poverty with jet speed. The biggest expansion observed in China has been in digital marketing and e-commerce. Having had an opportunity to visit the globally famous Jack Ma’s Ant Group in Hangzhou in 2019, I was wonderstruck to witness this colossal expansion with my own eyes. It was like a wonderland that can be likened to a platform where imagination could transform into reality.

Why can’t we, I mean, our dynamic youth force, take up such initiatives? Perhaps, there is dearth of proper platforms of guidance, learning and mass connectivity.

I was happy to go through a book titled ‘Passive Income’ written by an enterprising person, Saqib Azhar, who has tried in all earnest to wipe out hopelessness and the resultant lack of initiative by discussing new and practicable dimensions that can be summed up as a game-changer for Pakistani economy through the uplift of our vibrant youth force whose contribution can result in a big and quick economic turnaround, in a non-traditional manner.

The author of the aforementioned book focusses on e-commerce and other innovations in the field with workable solutions and programmes which can become a major contributor towards our speedy economic growth. Of course, there is no gainsaying the fact that the importance of e-commerce has definitely increased in the new business thinking that is advancing with exceptional speed in the world.

The blessings of the state can reinforce the contribution of e-commerce in the process of economic development, as major, fundamental reforms may be required in this context in our system

In today’s world where business structure is important for the promotion of trade, equally necessary are digital business development, reaching out to more and more people, aiming simultaneously at globalization of trade.

Going briefly into its evolution history, when e-commerce began to strengthen its roots, critics at the time thought it would be a dangerous trend to trade via Internet protocol. Around the same time, in 1995, Jeff Bezos founded his e-commerce-based company, Amazon, in a garage. And many more have taken this line forward. And now, in the world of today, e-commerce is the one of the world’s largest industries (some say it is the largest).

In Pakistan too, some companies with titles ending with . com, . pk, .wheels etc etc, were launched with the help of a few people but now they are not only engaged in business worth billions of rupees, but are also creating new jobs. In the last one year alone, we are seeing a new style of online shopping by women and a new generation of people in Pakistan. The big industries of Faisalabad, Sialkot and other cities are also promoting their work on the basis of e-commerce.

Many young ones are also following in the footsteps. Other than merely

shopping for goods, many young people are going ahead and creating new economic opportunities for themselves by starting their own small or big business based on e-commerce.

Indeed, it is a big leap though much is still needed to be done at the national scale and it should not remain limited to the class that has access to e-commerce or digital affairs is benefiting the most from this process.

Of late, however, we are hearing good news that the government and other important institutions have launched initiatives to ensure the development of e-commerce. The initiative launched by the author of ‘Passive Income’, SaqibAzhar is reinforcing the government’s and institutions’ efforts, in spreading this important work. His efforts are not only confined to writing a book. Instead, he has concrete, implementable plans which spell hope not only for our educated people, especially youth, but also for the uneducated skilled labour as this man is also heading a leading e-commerce development company that offers a large number of guidelines and training programmes to the Pakistani youth so much so that the youngsters can get globally connected through easily comprehensible mechanisms, techniques and networking which can, ultimately, bring about wholesome changes in their lives by way of creating jobs for themselves while at home.

One of the messages conveyed in Azhar’s book is that there is a need to build a strong bond between the capitalists and the living, and this will be possible only if we create an environment for economic growth at our own level and spread the net of economic growth among the people in modern ways. At the state level, there has been a positive development in this area and that is Aiwane Sadr’s (Presidency’s) inclination to work with Saqib Azhar and his organization, ‘Enablers’ as indicated during Azhar’s recent meeting, along with a delegation, with President Arif Alvi.

This is significant, because the blessings of the state can reinforce the contribution of e-commerce in the process of economic development, as major, fundamental reforms may be required in this context in our system, especially the education system.