Pakistan’s startup ecosystem has much to offer, but perceived violence holds it back

It was about 4 am when my colleagues and I touched down at Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore. Worn out and dazed from close to 24 hours on the road, we were overwhelmed by the sheer number of locals – a tiny fraction of Pakistan’s 182 million-strong population – in the airport.

I experienced my first Pakistani “entrepreneur” while walking out of the restroom. An old man guarding the entrance offered me a wad of tissues to dry my hands, and then rubbed his thumb and index fingers together after I accepted it – the international sign for “show me the money.”

I opened my hands up to indicate that I had none, half-expecting a violent outburst, but instead he grinned and waved me on by. Stereotypes began to fall away.

Curious glances accompanied us as we made our way through the crowd. “Chinese! They’re Chinese!” whispered a couple of young men as we went by.

We were met at the exit by our host, Faizan Aslam, who gave us a warm welcome. The co-founder of local online ticket booking portal BookMe handed us some supplies, and responded to our fervent thanks with a smile and a shrug. This level of hospitality would continue to follow us over our three-day long stay.

Mainstream media would have you believe that death and destruction are commonplace there. The Daily Times recently reported that 824 people were killed and 2,339 others injured in 372 bomb attacks across Pakistan in 2014. Aslam, however, claims that most of the tension lies in a small area near the Pak-Afghan border, which “is far, far away from any residential area.”

Yet, Pakistan continues to make the headlines of international news for all the wrong reasons, and a purportedly dangerous political and economic climate naturally puts investors off. A pity, given that the nation is ripe with opportunities – probably more so than any other country in Asia right now.

What’s really happening

Startups in Asia – or any other developed country, for that matter – often complain of a lack of talent in their respective countries. Yet Pakistan boasts of a massive freelancing population. In 2013, there were reportedly 2 million Pakistani freelancers on oDesk, making it the fifth largest contributor globally. oDesk vice president Matt Cooper told The Express Tribune that the “quality of projects delivered by Pakistani freelancers is at par with our top freelancer countries from around the globe.”

Pakistan is slowly but surely joining the high-speed internet world as well. It was late to the game with 3G and 4G mobile services. The latter arrived only in April last year, but ended 2014 with close to 8 million subscribers – slightly more than Singapore, who first got 4G in early-2013. Meanwhile, another 15 million people access the internet from their mobile phones – that’s half of the total number of internet users in the country. It is expected that the number of broadband subscribers will rise to 45 million by 2020.

There are a number of local startups who have made a name for themselves on the world stage, too. Enterprise social network Convo, who raised US$5 million from a US-based VC firm Morgenthaler Ventures in 2013, is widely hailed as an example of Pakistani ingenuity. Morgenthaler Ventures has invested in big names such as Apple and Evernote.