10Pearls: Company recruits in Pakistan to serve US customers

It is among many tech firms hiring young professionals to train them

KARACHI:

At a time when local businesses are not creating enough employment, a number of Pakistani expatriates who have opened their offshore offices in Pakistan are playing a significant role in training and employing young professionals that are entering the country’s job market every year.

Imran Aftab, Chief Executive Officer of software outsourcing company 10Pearls, is one such example. His business, which is split between Karachi and Washington DC, is currently running an aggressive recruitment drive to cater to the needs of its “growing customer base” in the US.

“Our loyal base of customers continues to grow, and we are seeing surges in demand of our services,” Aftab told The Express Tribune in response to an email. The company recently won the ‘50 on Fire’ award, a Washington DC-based competition that recognises the fastest growing companies in the region.



The company’s revenues remained below $10 million in 2014 but it hopes to achieve this milestone by the end of 2015, according to Zeeshan Aftab, the CEO’s brother and Managing Director, who looks after the Karachi business.

To achieve their sales target and meet what they say is a growing demand for their services, the company wants to expand its human resource base in Karachi to 250 employees this year, up from the current size of 165 employees.

10Pearls is one of the many technology companies that are recruiting local IT professionals to serve their overseas clients and playing an important role in addressing unemployment, one of the most pressing issues facing the country.

The rate of unemployment has gradually risen from 5% in fiscal year 2008 to 6% in FY12, according to the Islamabad-based policy think tank, Jinnah Institute. About 1.7 million people enter the country’s job market every year but the current trend in economic growth, which has lingered around 3% over the past several years, may not be adequate to absorb this rise in labour force.

In addition to creating employment, companies such as 10Pearls are investing heavily in training the local workforce to become future employer.

“We have a lot of raw talent with brilliant ideas but no projects are implemented. The young talent mostly lack the skill set required to convert their ideas to successful business ventures,” Zeeshan Aftab, the MD, said in an interview at the Karachi office.

The company has trained several employees who are capable of launching their own projects, according to Zeeshan. However, he says they pay very competitive salaries to retain the quality workforce.

Started in 2004 as a software company that developed websites for small businesses, 10Pearls got its first major breakthrough in 2011 when it won a highly competitive contract to build a mobile application for Social Radar. From this point, the company never looked back.

It has now served more than 300 customers that include the likes of Time Warner, National Geographic and Discovery.

According to Zeeshan, it now builds customised software for all kinds of interfaces (mobile platforms, kiosks and websites) while Game Plan8, a sister company, produces other genres of games for mobile platforms.

“The purpose behind Game Plan8 is not just direct revenues, but to set up a culture of innovation where our employees have the opportunity to ‘play’ with new technologies as it relates to mobile gaming,” said the CEO.

The company refused to disclose its current revenues. However, it wants to expand its team on the back of a thriving business.

Responding to a question, the CEO said that labour costs in Pakistan are also far below those of the US. This difference in costs is helping drive 10Pearls profit margins.

Pakistan’s inherent advantage

Being the sixth most populous country and the third largest English-speaking nation in the world, Pakistan is a good candidate for outsourcing business, said 10Pearls CEO Imran Aftab.

“The country has some great technical universities and colleges that produce wonderful talent,” he said. “There is labour arbitrage due to the economic status and the weak Pakistani currency.”

Talking about the regulatory environment, the chief said the government has favourable tax laws and policies that foster the setting up of software development businesses. Moreover, he said the country has many competitive advantages as an outsourcing base.

Giving an example, Aftab added that Pakistan has a significantly low employee attrition compared to India, which is super-saturated as numerous American corporations have set up large-scale outsourced software and back-office functions in that country.

“India has a much stronger currency relative to Pakistan, which makes Pakistan software export much more attractive,” said the CEO.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2015.

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