Pakistonomy

Uzair talks to Isfandiyar Shaheen about making internet access a reality for all and why this can have a transformative impact on communities around the world. Isfandiyar also shares his perspective on blockchain and cryptocurrencies, including how this emerging technology is transforming how business can be conducted.

Isfandiyar is Founder & CEO of NetEquity Networks, an infrastructure sharing start-up based in San Francisco. NetEquity has established a partnership with Facebook and is focused on building open access fiber optic networks in collaboration with electric utilities. Prior to this, Isfandiyar helped create a tower co in MENA region called Towershare (acquired by edotco - 2017). In addition, Isfandiyar served as Director on the boards of two publicly traded companies, Engro Corporation and Engro Foods (51% acquired by FrieslandCampina - 2016). Isfandiyar graduated from Franklin and Marshall College with a degree in Economics and Mathematics.

Reading Recommendations:

- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Hariri

- The Three-Body Problem (Trilogy) by Liu Cixin

- A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

In this episode, Uzair talks to Ovais Zuberi, founder of Shazday Foods, which is doing some fantastic work in Gilgit-Baltistan. This conversation focuses on the potential of agribusiness in the country, how this potential can be fully realized, and the good, bad, and the ugly about doing business is Pakistan.

You can check out Shazday on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ShazdayCo/

Reading recommendations are:

- The Lean Startup by by Eric Ries

- The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau

- Muslim Zion by Faisal Devji

May 10-16 is mental health awareness week and Uzair hosted Dr. Aisha Sanober Chachar to talk about mental health and illness. Dr. Aisha talked about why paying attention to mental health is important, issues people typically face, especially women and children, and how we can improve both our own mental health and support those around us that may need help.

Dr. Aisha Sanober Chachar is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and former Medical Director at Alleviate Addiction Suffering (AAS) Trust & AAS Recovery Center, Pakistan, and currently working with the pediatric population.

Dr. Chachar is a graduate of ISRA University, Hyderabad. She completed her adult psychiatry residency at Aga Khan University. She has worked at a faculty position at the Department of Psychiatry, Aga Khan University. At the same time, the Office of Dean of Students, Aga Khan University, Karachi, jointly appointed her as a College Psychiatrist. In 2020, she completed her second fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

She serves as a peer reviewer for national and international academic journals. She has authored several academic papers and book chapters. She is a member of the WPA (World Psychiatry Association) Early Career Psychiatrist Committee, IACAPAP Early Career Psychiatrist Task Force, UK Balint Society, and an International Member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP).

Her book recommendations are:

- Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress by Christopher Ryan

- When Nietzsche Wept by Irvin D. Yalom

- The Psychoanalysis of Career Choice, Job Performance, and Satisfaction by Paul Marcus

Uzair talks to Naila Naqvi, founder of Pie in the Sky, about her entrepreneurial journey and keys to success. Pie in the Sky is a well-known bakery in Karachi in Hyderabad, with over 20 branches, employing over 400 people.

Naila's book recommendations are:

- Animal Farm by George Orwell

- Novels by Jane Austen

In this episode, Uzair talks to World Bank economists Alen Mulabdic and Gonzalo Varela about their recent research, which shows that Pakistan's export potential stands at $60+ billion. This discussion talks about how this potential can be realized and some of the actions that the Pakistan government is already taking to grow its exports.

You can read Gonzalo'r thread documenting the research findings here - https://twitter.com/gonwei/status/1379381149169037316?s=20

Book Recommendations:

- The Great Convergence

- Mostly Harmless Econometrics

- The Great Reversal

Uzair talks to Maha Rehman about what the data tells us regarding the economic toll of the pandemic on Pakistani households. Maha is a Data Analytics Expert with almost a decade of experience in designing and executing evidence-based programs, products and policies to improve service delivery and impact.

Previously, she has set up the Analytics Wing at CERP that focused on embedding data in the decisions and operations of private and public sector companies to increase efficiency, impact and profit. Prior to this, she has led research experiments at CERP and at the World Bank in the fields of education, public finance and governance.

She has designed curriculum and taught policymakers, bureaucrats and data practitioners at various programs in the USA and Pakistan. Besides using data analytics for policy and program reform, her research interests include energy economics, education and law & governance. She also teaches at LUMS and currently a Director Data-Led Policy Reforms at MHRC.

You can read the article detailed Maha's findings here - https://mhrc.lums.edu.pk/pakistan-dialogues/covid-19-pandemic-economic-burden-in-pakistan.html

Reading Recommendations:

- The Practice of Adaptive Leadership by Ronald A. Heifitz

- Nudge by Richard H. Thaler

- Learning from Others by Syed Babar Ali

Uzair talks to Dr. Shahida Wizarat about the structural underpinnings of Pakistan's economy and why the country has gone from being a role model to a basket case.

Dr. Shahida is Dean at CESD, Institute of Business Management. She has authored three books, The Rise and Fall of Industrial Productivity in Pakistan (OUP), Fighting Dependance: Proclaiming Sovereignty for an Enslaved Pakistan (LAP) and Fighting Imperialism: Liberating Pakistan (CRS). She has authored more than 70 research papers published in international and national journals and newspapers. Dr Wizarat has been visiting faculty at the Naval Staff College, Air War College, Command and Staff College and National Defence University.

Reading Recommendations:

- The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins

- China’s Model of Development—Lessons for Pakistan by Ambassador Syed Hasan Javed

Uzair speaks to Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram and Dr. Iffat Zafar Aga, the co-founders of Sehat Kahani. In this discussion we talked about the startup, which has recently raised $1 million in a funding round, its growth strategy, and what it is like to be a female founder of a startup in Pakistan.

Sehat Kahani is an all-female health provider network including that is working to create quality health care solutions for communities where health access, quality, affordability of health care is still a dream, using cost effective ICT enabled solutions. Sehat Kahani has impacted over 1.5 million people globally with its telemedicine platform.

Dr. Iffat Zafar is the Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer for Sehat Kahani, a telemedicine startup based in Pakistan. She did her medicine from Ziauddin Medical University and currently. She is a Commonwealth scholar for her ongoing Masters in Global E-Health from University of Edinburgh. She is the MIT Elevate Prize Winner (2020), She is also the GCC Innovator (2020) for her work in telemedicine with the support of GCC. She was recently featured by Microsoft4Africa 2020 for the women led success stories in South Asia. She has been a winner of the GSMA Accelerator (2018-19), & a Good Fund Fellow 2017-18.

Dr.Sara Saeed Khurram has over 5 years of experience in the field of Digital health care as the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Sehat Kahani. She has won notable awards such as the Rolex Awards 2019 as Ass. Laureate, TIAW Award, CRDF Global Awards, Ashoka Change makers, ISIF Asia, The Unilever Sustainable living Young Entrepreneurs Awards, The Unicef- Global Goal Campaigner Award 2016 and Arpatech Young Entrepreneurs Award 2017 for her work. She is also a Cartier Awards finalist and the first frontier Innovator from Pakistan.

Reading Recommendations:

- Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

- The Alchemist by Paul Coelho

- Muhammad by Karen Armstrong

- 40 Rules of Love by Elif Shafak

- The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz

In this episode, Uzair talks to regular guest Ammar Khan about the proposed amendments to the SBP Act. They talked about whether giving autonomy to the SBP will lead to bankruptcy, how inflation is a major issue that needs resolution, and what the process ought to be in order to pass this legislation through parliament.

This is episode is in Urdu so that a wider audience can understand why Pakistan's economy cannot maintain high rates of growth over long periods of time. To understand the reasons for this, Uzair spoke to Dr. Sajid Amin Javed, who is a Research Fellow and heads Policy Solutions Lab at Sustainable Development Policy Institute [SDPI] Pakistan.

Prior to joining to SPDI, he was Senior Research Fellow and Assistant Professor at Department of Economics, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE). Dr. Sajid’s research is located at the cutting edge of interdisciplinary inquiry of issues related to structure of economic growth and sustainable development. This entails a focus on monetary policy, particularly exchange rate and financial policies, and their socioeconomic implications. Largely, he is macroeconomist with focus on social content in macroeconomic policies.

Reading Recommendations:

- Money Interest and Prices by Don Patinkin

- The Political Economy of Underdevelopment by S. B. D. de Silva

- Human Actions by Ludwig von Mises