Hundreds of budding tech industry entrepreneurs and young IT professionals have made a pledge to ensure that their earnings in the overseas markets will be brought to Pakistan in the form of remittances to support the Pakistani economy and help the country retire its massive debts.
The commitment to this effect was made at a reunion of graduates of the mass information technology (IT) training programme of the non-profit Saylani Welfare International Trust (SWIT) held at the Mohatta Palace on Saturday night.
A large number of the graduates of the IT training programme of the past 10 years attended the event physically while many fellow alumni from other cities and outside Pakistan attended the event virtually via video-link.
SWIT Founder and Chairman Maulana Bashir Farooq Qadri urged the graduates of the IT learning programme to rise from their seats and make a solemn promise to bring to Pakistan their earnings in the international tech industry through their freelancing work and jobs secured in other countries.
“This is the least these graduates of our mass training initiative should do for the economy of our motherland after securing the latest IT training completely free of charge over the past 10 years,” he said.
He expressed his sincerest gratitude to top representatives of the Pakistani industry, IT sector and financial market for attending the event in large numbers.
He said the Saylani Trust would continue with its IT training enabling the freelancers and tech industry professionals to earn foreign exchange for Pakistan and help the country retire its foreign debts.
He told the audience that the trust would build more training facilities and IT parks in Karachi and other cities to produce a qualified workforce for the Pakistani tech market.
Industrialist Muhammad Ali Tabba said that producing IT industry professionals at a mass scale was a step in the right direction to enlist the services of Pakistani youth to end the prevailing economic crisis in the country.
He urged the alumni of the IT training programme to collaborate to set up a large IT company to produce software and high-tech services for the international market.
Turkish Consul General Cemal Sangu warmly invited the graduates of the IT training programme to visit Turkiye for higher education and jobs, and set up businesses keeping in view the decades-long Pak-Turkish friendship bond.
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Deputy Governor Saleemullah said the central bank had always supported the Pakistani IT industry.
He told the audience that the SBP had eased the procedure of opening bank accounts by freelancers with minimal documentation to help them receive remittances. He said the freelancers and IT professionals had also been allowed by the SBP to keep a percentage of their remittances in foreign exchange with no restriction on usage of these funds. He said the SBP had allowed the banks to issue debt cards against these foreign currency accounts. He said the SBP would fully support the campaign to increase Pakistan’s software exports from the current annual net worth of $3.2 billion to make it the top foreign exchange earning sector for the country in the next five years.
Renowned businessman Arif Habib reiterated the fullest support of the Pakistani corporate sector to produce a trained IT industry workforce of thousands every year for tech companies in Pakistan and outside the world.
He urged female students from middle-income families to attend IT training programmes to become freelancers to earn precious foreign exchange for the country without leaving their homes.
He told the audience that the Naya Nazimabad housing project had been partnering with the Saylani Trust to build a school of emerging sciences and skills education to provide education in new technological fields to deserving students from West and Central districts of Karachi.
Head of Saylani Trust’s Education Board Afzal Chamdia also addressed the event.