Forum 
 

Change has
arrived in Pakistan
- Idris Kothari

April 2020


Idris Kothari, a leading Pakistani-American entrepreneur from the Silicon Valley, California, addressed the members of Society for Global Moderation (SGM) and other guests at a Talk held at the CMC Offices in Karachi on Thursday, March 12. The subject of the Talk was ‘Pakistan, a Perspective, Irrespective’.

Mr. Kothari was of the view that there were very good times ahead for Pakistan as the country was at a point when all stars were lined up in its favour, it had an honest leader and phenomenal youth which was very energetic and intelligent.

Idris Kothari said that change had arrived in Pakistan and every Pakistan should, in some small way, do something for the country. Since there are 220 million people in the country, it could make a lot of difference. He said if everyone acted for the common good and not in self-interest, the country would change in a big way.

Kothari said he was a firm believer in his own abilities and was confident that he was not alone because he had heard people in America say that one can take a person out of Pakistan but one could not take Pakistan out of the person. He said Pakistanis were very dedicated towards their country; he had found, while working with the Indians, that they were not half as attached to their country.

Idris Kothari has recently participated in digital initiatives of both the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan and has found that there are over a million highly educated and highly motivated people in the Pakistani Diaspora who were willing to help the country.
In answer to a

question, Kothari said that Pakistan should have been exporting much more digital manpower but it was not doing so though it had great potential and this needed to be corrected so that Pakistan could earn more in dollar terms.

Responding to another question, he said the country had NADRA, which was a fantastic organization. He said NADRA could help the country by providing a more information about competent Pakistanis working abroad so that new initiatives being undertaken in Pakistan could be further updated and the services of these Pakistanis could be harnessed. He said the digital programme started by the Prime Minister, which was led by Tania Aidrus, a former Google employee, was also moving in the right direction.

In response to a question regarding the brain drain from Pakistan, Idris Kothari said there were many new job opportunities being created in the digital sector as the country was producing so many new graduates every year and these people could take up the jobs created as a result of the gaps left by those who were leaving the country.

Idris Kothari is Vice President of Vascona Systems Int., San Francisco and founding member, past president, and current Chairman of the board of OPEN Silicon Valley. He has over 35 years of professional and entrepreneurial experience and is currently the CTO and member of the board of VSi, providing software as a service (SAS) for the hospitality and medical industries. He also serves on the board of NED Alumni Association of Silicon Valley and Friends of LUMS, USA. Idris has a BS in Physics from SM Science College, Karachi, a BS in EE from NED University, Karachi and an MS in CS from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago.

Earlier, welcoming Idris Kothari, Syed Jawaid Iqbal, Chairman, Society for Global Moderation, said he and Idris went to college together. He always found Idris Kothari to be a bright student. After pursuing his early education in engineering in Karachi and scoring a first class first from the NED, he moved over to the US where he made a career in digital technology at a time when the field was still opening up.

Zahid Khan, a co-founder of SGM and other people from civil society, business, academia, etc. also attended the Talk.

The Society for Global Moderation (previously known as The Moderates) was established in 2003. It promotes Pakistani society – and people around the world – as generally peace-loving and tolerant. SGM is not against any religion, custom or creed and supports a society based on moderation. To further its viewpoint, it has been inviting prominent scholars and thinkers from around the world to speak on subjects that serve to further ‘Changing Attitudes, Enhancing Values – the SGM maxim.

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