‘IT industry could touch $10bn export in next 5 years’: The News

By M Farhan Zaheer

KARACHI: Adnan H Lawai, who came to Pakistan after working in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, United States for 12 years in the field of Information Technology (IT), is now running a fast growing IT company in Pakistan that he set up with his friend three years back.

Adnan H Lawai, CEO of folio3 is a Karachi-based IT company, said I and my partner Umair (who is in USA) started folio3 three years ago with most of our customers from USA.

After completing my college education there, I worked as an IT professional for 12 years in Silicon Valley. We both had some good contacts in US especially in the field of technology because we have been working with some prestigious companies there. The company grew at a tremendous speed and expanded its operations more than three times in last 3 years.

In late 90s, there was a boom in the field of technology all over the world and people thronged this field, the same was the phenomenon in Pakistan. But in 2001 and 2002, it collapsed and the same results were also felt here in Pakistan. We took this as an opportunity in disguise and started our operation in Pakistan. We could afford to hire people and could get very good talent, so we accepted that challenge. We were among the very few of IT companies that started hiring in that difficult time.

The year 2005 brought positive signs for the country’s IT sector and it again started booming and this time we went to universities and hired best talent directly. Later in 2006 when we started this company, we faced a very tough competition. But fortunately by then, we had established a very good reputation in the market, the environment was good and fresh university graduates were coming to us.

In Karachi, we retain some 90 employees. Another branch of our company is in Sofia, Bulgaria where we have one dozen Bulgarian employees because if you look for experienced people you will not find here in Pakistan. But there you will find specific field experts unlike Pakistan. Second reason, why we went to Bulgaria, is that we have a trusted friend in Bulgaria who established all in Sofia. Karachi is home to many IT companies but these companies are relatively smaller to those that are working in Lahore. From 2002 up to date, IT industry has witnessed massive growth and our software exports are growing at a rate of 50 per cent.

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