5/17/2019

''START UPS STAND'' 1


IN NIGERIA - for example, investing in a a centralised data hub to support the credit bureau and allowing small to medium enterprises-

Better credit access resulted in a decrease in the ratio of non-performing loans while increasing the number of borrowers.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP and innovation are building blocks for tackling many of the economic and social challenges faced by the emerging economies today.

Pivoting towards an entrepreneurial focused economy can help unlock a nation's potential in the same way that a technology has engendered success in many markets globally.

The Developing World - say, Pakistan has many of the same assets its peers enjoy. Home to 130 million people under the age of 30, it is an emerging economy projected to continue growing quickly coming years.

Data-enabled mobile connections have grown four-fold in the past three years and the country's e-commerce market beat analysts predictions to cross the $1 billion mark in 2018.

Between 2015 and 2025, McKinsey's City Scope database projects that Pakistan will have an additional 700,000 high-income and 2.1 million middle income households.

Start-ups have taken across the nation in an enhanced business environment, while incubation and incentives from the government have attracted new venture capitalists to Pakistan. But the country still has some distance to go in order to reach its full potential.

Using venture capital as a measure, the UAE has $40 in venture capital investing per capita, while Pakistan has $0.10 - lower than its regional peers Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Yet the ecosystem holds tremendous opportunity. With robust planning, concerted policy action and  private-sector initiatives, Pakistan can leverage entrepreneurship for public benefit across three different planks.

The public sector must lay the ground work.

Starting a business in Pakistan requires six-steps that involve four different government departments in a process that can take up to two months.

This deters most entrepreneurs from formalising their business, in turn slowing their growth by minimising their credibility, cutting off access to credit facilities and forcing them to absorb bureaucratic costs.

Pakistan can learn from the experience of more than 80 other countries, where simplified procedures saw business registration rates double as compared to those without these adjustments.

Policy improvements and enhanced infrastructure are two palpable ways that governments can help. Launching single- window entities to expedite incorporation can save time and money for start-ups; such an initiative in Portugal resulted in 17 per cent more registrations the following year.

The development of complimentary infra-structural mechanisms such as enabling digital payments or modernising existing institutions, can improve start-ups' ability to scale.   

The honor and serving of some great thinking and writing on ''Start-ups and Spirit'' continues to part 2. The World students Society thanks author and researcher Abdur-Rahim Syed, a partner at McKinsey & Company.

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