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Pakistan has always been a country that has been in a perpetual state of crisis ever since I can remember. But its citizens have stood firm while it has usually been the governing class that has failed us at every turn. We, as a country have always been behind the rest of the world when it came to almost everything whether it was electricity production, education or basic sanitation. My parents, peers, and elders have always blamed the ruling class for all of the ills of Pakistan and the citizens were innocent bystanders just being taken advantage of by a few people. I believe that to my core until recently.
For the past few years, I have had the fortune of moving to the Gulf Cooperation Council – GCC at a good post in a major company. It had always eluded me as to why most companies here will go out of their way to avoid Pakistani goods suppliers in favor of Indian goods suppliers. One would assume that there are many Indian citizens here who have managed to put forth suppliers from their own country as opposed to Pakistanis, the assumption would be incorrect.
In the recent economic blockade of Qatar by GCC countries, Qatar was forced to shift up to 70% of its food imports to non-GCC countries since 60% of their food came in via Saudi Arabia. Pakistan, not being a part of the boycott was set to benefit massively given the proximity to Qatar, instead, almost all of this volume was shifted to Iran and India. Why was Pakistan overlooked? It was primarily the fault of Pakistani business owners themselves.
At the beginning of the blockade, when Qatari importers were desperately searching for non-Saudi suppliers, I took it upon myself to perform my patriotic duty and started referring all my Qatari business contacts food suppliers in Pakistan. They all seemed reluctant from the start to do business with Pakistani exporters, but none of them would tell me why. A few weeks into the blockade, almost all imports to Qatar were shifted from Saudi Arabia to India and other countries. I asked my guys why this was so and almost all of them had an identical response.
They all claimed that Pakistani businessmen would misquote prices, lie about quality, offer kickbacks and in some cases ‘take the money and run’. I would love to have said I was shocked by these findings, but, I wasn’t.
Surely ‘not all of them’ was my next question and no, it was not all of them. There are certain companies that are trusted by the Qatari business community and even they were hesitant to recommend their fellow exporters, with the exception of a few. The importers’ community demands transparency and ethical business practices from their partners. I was ashamed of the fact that my countrymen could not guarantee this fundamental principle of business.
All but one of my contacts claimed they had been ‘had’ by a Pakistani supplier in the past and the excuse they were given was, “This is how we do business here” to justify their dodgy practices.
I am just one guy with one story, I am certain there are many other patriotic Pakistanis out there who tried to pass on this benefit to our countrymen. The Qatari blockade could have potentially been worth billions to Pakistan but the hesitancy of the business community in the GCC to engage with Pakistanis because of “This is how we do business here” resulted in Indian exporters reaping the benefits. I have since learned that importers in other GCC countries harbor similar reservations against Pakistani exporters.
As a Pakistani, I am extremely disappointed. As a millennial, I am going to ask my fellow millennials to stop following the example set by everyone who has contributed to this perception of Pakistan. Please, if you find yourself in a situation where you or your colleagues have to resort to “This is how we do business here” as an excuse, re-evaluate your priorities because usage of that sentence will ensure you will lose any potential business opportunities.
I can commit from my side that, we, the Pakistani expatriates, will always be pushing the agenda of Pakistani economic growth but we need the business community to hold up their end. Please be transparent and honest, the “Quick Buck” has all but killed the reputation of Pakistani exports and good, honest businessmen have lost out massively in this process.
The government cannot fix this, no matter how much they try. It is only us, Pakistanis, who can this.
