Pakistanis can make up far more than the numbers that are currently featured
LAHORE: It is a moment of pride and honour for the country that nine of its young, under 30 years of age, social activists and entrepreneurs have been featured in America’s globally read business magazine, Forbes. Quite a few in the list are in fact below the age of 25. However, factually, many hail from relatively privileged families and social backgrounds, they already had sufficient pool of resources and did not have to look towards the government, any of its departments or a non-governmental organisation to finance their ideas to turn them into successful ventures. Although a number of private entities are providing financial support to start-ups, successive governments have not done enough to facilitate the same.
On the other hand, there is a bigger majority that is equally talented and have equally bright ideas to work on. But due to the lack of necessary resources their ideas remain as mere ideas. Only if the government takes the responsibility to support and finance such start-ups, and social and entrepreneurial projects, Pakistanis can make up far more than the numbers that are currently featured in such global listings.
Maria Mahmood
Published in The Express Tribune, March 29th, 2018.
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