Pakistonomy

Uzair talks to Jahangir Piracha, Chief Executive Office of Engro Polymer & Chemicals, about the company's business, how its products are helping transform Pakistan's construction industry, and why a petrochemicals policy is needed to attract increased investments in Pakistan.

Jahangir Piracha is the Chief Executive Officer for Engro Polymer & Chemicals Limited. In his most recent role, Jahangir was serving as Chief Executive Officer of Engro Vopak Terminal Limited and Engro Elengy Terminal Limited since March 2017. Earlier, he served as the Chief Executive Officer for Engro Powergen Qadirpur Limited.

Prior to this, he has served as Vice President – Manufacturing, and General Manager Human Resource & Corporate Services at Engro Polymer & Chemicals Ltd. He has also previously worked as the Production and HSE Manager at Engro Fertilizers Limited. Prior to joining Engro, he has worked for ICI Pakistan Ltd.

Reading Recommendations:

- Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Lawrence Bossidy and Ram Charan

- Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't by Jim Collins

Uzair talks to Dr. Ammar A. Malik about his team's recent report on China's Belt and Road Initiative. The report titled "Banking on the Belt and Road: Insights from a new global dataset of 13,427 Chinese development projects" is currently the most in-depth analytical look at BRI projects around the world and is a must-read.

Dr. Malik is Senior Research Scientist at AidData, where he leads the Tracking Underreported Financial Flows program that uses pioneering methods to track and analyze underreported financial flows from non-traditional donors to developing countries.

To read the full report, click the link below:

https://www.aiddata.org/publications/banking-on-the-belt-and-road

Uzair talks to Abdul Moiz Jaferii, a lawyer and host of a popular TV show on Samaa, about the legal system in Pakistan, what ails it, and why is it that justice for elites is different than justice for less privileged segments of society.

This episode also covers the impact of the lawyers' movement and ways in which the judicial system in the country can be improved.

Abdul Moiz Jaferii tweets at @Jaferii

Reading Recommendations:

- Crossed Swords and The Battle for Pakistan by Shuja Nawaz

- A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif

Uzair talks to Dr. Sanval Nasim about research that he has conducted with other academics about ways in which information may or may not build citizen trust in the state.

The working paper is available online at this link -https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/34736

Dr. Nasim is is Assistant Professor of Economics at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). His primary research field is environmental and natural resource economics. His research work includes behavioural experiments on air pollution forecasts and information based pollution mitigation interventions, optimal control modelling of water resources, and cost benefit analysis of clean technology adoption. He obtained his PhD in environmental and natural resource economics from the University of California, Riverside in 2015 and a BA in economics mathematics and in history from Colby College in 2008.

Reading Recommendations:

- Mastering Metrics by Joshua D. Angrist

- Looking Back: How Pakistan Became an Asian Tiger by 2050 by

Nadeem Haque

- The Armchair Economist by Steven Landsburg

- The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Uzair talks to the co-founders of Tazah Technologies, a startup in the agriculture space that recently raised $2 million in pre-seed round. The B2B marketplace is based in Lahore and is seeking to disrupt the country's agriculture sector, which represents 24 percent of GDP.

Abrar is part of the famous "Careem Mafia", where he led operations for and executed the financial and operational turnaround for the business despite the pandemic. In his last engagement as General Manager at Swvl, Abrar helped build a strong team and developed the post covid recovery strategy for bus hailing business.

Mohsin joined Careem in 2017 as an Operations Manager where his first engagement entailed launching and scaling Ricksha category, the category now contributes to over 10% of revenue for the organisation. Mohsin’s role grew from leading a single category to managing Lahore’s P&L and eventually managing P&L for the entire Ride hailing business for Pakistan.

Reading recommendations:

- Zero to One by Peter Thiel

- Good to Great by Jim Collins

- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Hariri

In this Urdu episode, Uzair talks to Dr. Ali Hasanain about the types of corruption, how they impact Pakistan's political economy, and ways in which reform measures can be implemented to address corruption in society.

Dr. Ali Hasanain is an Associate Professor and the Head of the Economics Department at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). Dr. Hasanain’s research focuses primarily on how public service delivery can be improved through reform initiatives, particularly through technological progress and improvements in the media. He also studies how information and communication technologies (ICT) can improve market functioning.

At LUMS, he teaches courses on the economics of the media, corruption, markets, and the law. He is also the Pakistan country coordinator (and one-time participant) of the South Asian Economics Students Meet.

Reading Recommendations:

- Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion

by Harold Holzer

- Public Opinion by Walter Lippmann

- The Promise of Power: The Origins of Democracy in India and Autocracy in Pakistan by Maya Tudor

Uzair talks to Akhil Bery about ongoing developments in Sri Lanka, which is in the midst of a severe economic crisis, caused in large part by COVID-19. Akhil talked about the overall political economy in the island nation, its geopolitical ties with China, India, and the United States, and what's next.

Akhil is currently Director, South Asia Initiatives at the Asia Society Policy Institute, where his research focuses on the US-India relationship and developments in South Asia more broadly. Previously, he worked at Eurasia Group, where he was responsible for the firm’s coverage of South Asia, including political and economic developments in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Prior to Eurasia Group, Akhil worked with McLarty Associates, where he led the research for the India & South Asia Team. He has also worked at Fujitsu Research Institute in Tokyo, Japan, as well as at 9.9 Media, a B2B start-up based in New Delhi.

Akhil holds a M.A. in International Business and Policy from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and Walsh School of Foreign Service and a B.A. in History from Franklin & Marshall College.

Reading recommendations:

- The Nine Lives of Pakistan by Declan Walsh

- India at the High Table by Howard B. Schaffer and Teresita C. Schaffer

Uzair talks to Wahaj Ahmed, co-founder of Retailo, about the startup, its growth plans, and how it is looking to digitize small businesses in Pakistan's retail sector. They also talked about what it takes to excel at a startup, and how recent graduates can get their foot in the door at a startup like Retailo.

Wahaj's book recommendations are:

- Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't by Jim Collins

- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

In this episode, Uzair talks to Dr. Hussain Nadim about reforming institutions in Pakistan, why bureaucrats still use fax to send documents, and how data can be used to better inform policy.

We also discussed the evolving situation in Afghanistan towards the tail end of the episode, where Dr. Nadim shared his views on Pakistan's role in the region and what may happen next.

Dr. Nadim's reading recommendations are:

- The Conference of the Birds by Attar of Nishapur

- The Tragedy of Power by Ian Withrow

- Avoiding Armageddon : America, India and Pakistan to the Brink and Back by Bruce Riedel

- Directorate S by Steve Coll

- Fighting to the End: The Pakistan Army's Way of War by C. Christine Fair

Ariba Shahid returns to the podcast to talk about what is going on in Pakistan, including the successee of the NCOC and Ehsas Program, as well as the constant changes in the finance ministry.