Aitizaz Hassan

Pakistan’s top information technology (IT) companies have received positive response from the Saudi market at the annual LEAP Tech Conference, where they signed various agreements with top Saudi companies related to the export of services and shared projects. Chairman of Pakistan Software House Assoicaiton (P@SHA) Muhammad Zohaib Khan said while talking to WealthPK that Pakistan’s 18 leading IT and telecom companies and 10 startups participated in LEAP in partnership with Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), and P@SHA.

He said that Saudi Arabia is going to be a big market of IT and digitalisation, which offers many opportunities for Pakistani youth. He said Pakistani IT companies need to come out from the country to grow their business and exports. He said Pakistani companies should be prepared and equipped to explore the Saudi market and benefit from opportunities on offer.

“The B2B (business-to-business) connect event was attended by numerous representatives of Saudi companies, where the possibilities of joint ventures and collaborations were discussed,” said Zohaib. He said that Saudi Arabia holds exciting potential and opportunities for investors. As part of Vision 2030, a wide range of economic reforms have been made in the kingdom, which is creating new business opportunities, leveraging Saudi Arabia’s key strategic assets, and driving economic growth and diversification.

Zohaib said that four Pakistani companies have signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Saudi companies and many other companies are in conversation, which may pave the way for more agreements. Junaid Imam, Member of Ministry of IT and Telecom, told WealthPK that the B2B event will play a great role in branding the Pakistani IT market. “Currently, the world doesn’t know about the IT potential of Pakistan. IT-collaborated events will provide ideal platforms for marketing of Pakistani talent,” he said.

Recently, Pakistan’s largest IT company, Systems, has established its regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia’s capital city of Riyadh, which is operating with the name of Systems Arabia. It has received tremendous traction from large enterprise clients in the telecommunications, banking and government sectors, providing scalable software solutions and managed services to enhance transformation across different business operations.

As many as 1,638 new IT companies were registered during the year 2022. Under the National Freelance Training Programme, initiated with the funds of the Ministry of IT, 20 training centres were established across the country. As many as 8,647 graduates were trained in global IT courses, and these students contributed to the country's economy by earning $23 million through freelancing after training. These centres will complete training 7,000 more graduates till June 2023.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk