First Session: The STARTUP Experience and Lessons Learnt
Sehrish Mustafa Master of Ceremonies (Host)
Assalam-o-Alaikum, and a very good morning, everyone. Your Excellency Georg Steiner Ambassador of Switzerland, Ikram Sehgal, Co-Chairman, Pathfinder Group, distinguished guest, respected judges, STARTUP founders, and dear students, welcome to AmaaniBagh. Today, it’s not just an event; it is a continuation of a global conversation from the snow-covered peaks of DAVOS to the vibrant potential of Pakistan. We gather here to reflect, reimagine, and redefine what lies ahead. On behalf of Pathfinder Group and Pathfinder School of Excellence CITADEL: welcome to DAVOS 2026, experience, lessons learned, and beyond. The World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in DAVOS is not just a meeting; it is where global agendas are shaped, and future policies are imagined.
To walk us through the overall DAVOS experience and share insights from a strategic global perspective, a remarkable woman whose dedication, resilience, and unwavering commitment have paved the way for many young women to pursue their ambitions with confidence. In a patriarchal society, where professional journeys for women often come with added challenges because of trailblazers like her, many of us find our workplaces more inclusive and aspirations, more attainable. Dr Salma Malik, Associate Professor of Defence and Strategic Studies (DSS) at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, and Director of External Linkages at the same esteemed institution. She will moderate the event as well.
Dr Salma Malik Associate Professor DSS, QAU (Moderator)
Assalam-o-Alaikum, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you so much, Sehrish, for such a beautiful introduction. First of all, my heartfelt gratitude to Ikram Sehgal, our wonderful host, the chief guest, the Ambassador of Switzerland, for allowing us to be in his beautiful country and experience so many things firsthand that no amount of conferencing or education can prepare us. I was there for the first time, along with a few others. It was a privilege to share my experience of attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2026.
There’s primarily the PAKISTAN PAVILION, which was hosted by the Pathfinder Group for the 22nd consecutive year, and this is not an initiative by the government or industry. It was something done by a civil society and the organization, primarily a brainchild of a singular person, who has envisioned it and carried this vision on for 22 years, so that it has become by itself an institution. If you were there, you would have then realized what we are talking about, which is that carrying an entire enterprise, a mini Pakistan all the way to the snowy DAVOS, and making three magical days happen is not a small feat, and for that we must appreciate not only the Pathfinder team but of course the man behind that team Ikram Sehgal, who made this all possible.
The Pathfinder Group members, who all work like magicians, to the point that we would think that they’re not humans, and they exist in a parallel universe. DAVOS is often described as a gathering of the world’s most influential leaders, heads of state, CEOs, policy-makers, academics, investors and thought leaders. But beyond the headlines and high-level meetings, DAVOS is an ecosystem of conversations happening on the margins where countries tell their stories, ideas are tested, and partnerships are born. The PAKISTAN PAVILION was one of the extremely powerful platforms there. This year, the PAVILION curated a series of engagements that collectively presented a multi-dimensional image of Pakistan, including confidence, innovation, rich culture, and a forward-looking perspective.
Let’s begin with the ‘INSPIRING PAKISTAN’ lunch that set the tone for our presence. It was not just a networking opportunity but also a narrative-building exercise. The message was clear that Pakistan is not merely a country navigating challenges, but a country of resilience, opportunity, and immense human capital. The conversations were centered on how Pakistan’s young population, entrepreneurial energy, and strategic geography position it as a country ready to engage meaningfully with the global economy.
The ‘PAKISTAN BREAKFAST’, the next big event where the Prime Minister of the country was the chief guest, added a strong policy dimension to our engagement. It provided international participants with direct insight into Pakistan’s economic direction, reform priorities, and investment climate. More importantly, it demonstrated political ownership of economic transformation. The interaction between policymakers and global stakeholders reinforced that Pakistan is serious about stability reform as well as partnerships.
One of the most impactful event in my view was the lunch dedicated to select Pakistani STARTUPs, several of whom sit in this room today, and they’ll be sharing their experience with you. Giving young founders a global stage at DAVOS was a powerful statement. These entrepreneurs were not just presenting business ideas; they were presenting the future of Pakistan. Their pitches reflected innovation in fintech, climate solutions, digital services, and inclusive platforms. Their confidence in their global outlook was not thinking locally, but was building for regional and global markets. This deliberate spotlight on STARTUPs signaled that Pakistan understands the importance of innovative ecosystems, and it showed support for youth-led enterprises, and highlighted the country’s potential as a technological and digital services hub at a FORUM where global capital meets global ideas. This exposure is invaluable. Secondly, DIGITAL PAKISTAN BREAKFAST, where the former Prime Ministers were the chief guests, reinforced continuity of vision. It conveyed support for digital transformation and innovation, which is not tied to one political cycle but rather a broad national priority. That message of consistency and long-term commitment resonated strongly in a forum like DAVOS, where investors and partners look for policy predictability, and also the commitment of a country to such causes.
Beyond business and policy, the PAVILION beautifully integrated culture into programming. At both evenings, the PAKISTAN PAVILION had soul music, presented through QAWWALI NIGHTS. The powerful spiritual rhythms of QAWWALI created an atmosphere that was both authentic and inviting. Culture has a unique way of building bridges where formal dialogue sometimes cannot. This is what we experienced firsthand, where we had people from the Middle East, and the neighboring country who sneaked, but the Middle-Easterns, who really enjoyed music with us, and made it what a SUFI NIGHT was meant to be in its true flavor.
The international guests who attended these evenings experienced a deeper, more emotional connection with Pakistan, which was so visible. Through these cultural evenings, we were not just hosting dinners, we were sharing identity, and traditional Pakistani cuisine and sweets such as the gulab jamuns and jalabis in the cold of DAVOS night were a welcoming treat for many of us, who are missing the roti and the chapati scene from back home. We were showing that Pakistan’s soft power is rich and compelling in global diplomacy and international business. Cultural confidence definitely matters, and that’s what was showcased there very naturally.
Another important dimension of our presence was the discussion of topical global issues, including gender inclusion, youth empowerment, and sustainable development. These conversations positioned the country as part of a global discourse rather than outside of it. Especially when you receive so many negative indicators, conversations centered on these themes really infuse confidence, and that was required. Pakistan is seen not just as a participant in the global economy but as a contributor to global solutions. Equally important was the exposure to other countries’ pavilions and corporate events.
Walking through DAVOS, one could see how nations strategically presented themselves, whether through technology, showcasing sustainability initiatives, investment road maps, or innovation clusters. Observing these comparative positions was extremely instructive. It highlighted both where Pakistan stands today and where we can further sharpen our narrative. I came away with three major reflections. First, narrative absolutely matters. Countries that proactively shape their story are the ones that attract investment, partnerships, and talent. The PAKISTAN PAVILION took an important step in owning our narrative, presenting a confident and forward-looking Pakistan.
Second, consistency matters. Because international stakeholders look for continuity in policy reform and economic direction. The presence of both current and former leadership figured across events, subtly communicating institutional continuity and national alignment on key economic priorities, which was extremely important and duly noted by those present in the audience. Third, people matter most. As the strongest impression we made was not through brochures or presentations, it was through our entrepreneurs, policymakers, professionals, artists and above all, the Pathfinder Group, team, family or the clan, whatever we would like to call them, all acted in unity, in a single system, and highly synced. The human capital of Pakistan is its greatest competitive advantage.
DAVOS also reminds us that global engagement is no longer optional. In a deeply interconnected world, economic opportunities are tied to visibility, credibility and partnerships. Such platforms provide not only access but also legitimacy. Being present, articulate and prepared to engage makes the difference and that was the hallmark of the PAKISTAN PAVILION. However, participation must translate into follow-up conversations in DAVOS, which are a seed. Their value depends on how effectively they are nurtured after the forum ends through sustained engagement, regulatory reforms, investor facilitation and eco-ecosystem strengthening. In conclusion, my experience at DAVOS 2026 was both inspiring and instructive. I’m deliberately taking out all the personal and the fun stuff that we did because then you’ll have everyone queuing up outside the Pathfinder offices to attend the next DAVOS. Believe me, it was an experience of a lifetime. It reaffirmed my belief that Pakistan has immense untapped potential. It showed that when we present ourselves strategically, highlighting entrepreneurship, innovation, cultural richness and policy commitment, we command attention and respect.
The PAKISTAN PAVILION demonstrated that we are not just part of the global conversation; we are ready to shape it. I would like to request our honorable panelists who will be talking about celebrating the PAKISTAN PAVILION at DAVOS 2026 through the CITADEL perspective. Especially Air Cdre Farhan Ahmed, Imran Jattala, and some of our young entrepreneurs, who were part of the CITADEL initiative. As stated, leadership is about vision and vision is about translating global opportunities into national growth. From the CITADEL perspective and the STARTUPs, which were a highlight of the PAKISTAN PAVILION at DAVOS 2026 recently. We have three of our young entrepreneurs and the CITADEL team who were going to speak on various issues. Opening remarks by the team leader, AVM (Retd) Asad Ikram, who has been instrumental in establishing key organizations, including the navigation systems department at the Advanced Engineering Research Organization, the telecom and marketing department at LT Engineering Limited and the aviation research innovation and development organizations at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex. AVM (Retd) Asad Ikram has meritorious service over the years, and he is also the recipient of Sitara-e-Imtiaz and Tamgha-e-Imtiaz.
AVM (Retd) Asad Ikram – President, CITADEL
Assalam-o-Alaikum Excellency, Ambassador of Switzerland to Pakistan, Ikram Sehgal, judges, ladies and gentlemen, especially the young generation back there. It’s always a great pleasure to be in a room where you have all the generations, and then also people from different segments of society, industry and academia, because these are places where you can talk to each other, share your perspective and everyone always has a different perspective.
When you understand each other’s perspective than you start understanding the whole picture. It also reminds me of one of our great Pakistani named, Sahibzada Yaqub Khan. He was the Foreign Minister of Pakistan for at least a decade. He wrote a book named “Strategy, Diplomacy and Humanity”, and this person could fluently talk in 10 languages. He was a person of great integrity and honor, and in his book, he stated that “All of us on this earth together”. That means whether we like it or not, we’re stuck on this planet together. So either we fight it out amongst ourselves, or we live peacefully, respect each other and progress together.
Within the Pathfinder Group, we started CITADEL about just about 5 months ago. I think the energy that team, and the leadership of Pathfinder Group have, that Ikram Sehgal gives, and then the sort of collaboration and cooperation that we’ve got from everyone around us has brought us to the stage where we have been able to take STARTUPs for the first time to DAVOS, and now we’re preparing the next batch to go to JEDDAH in April 2026, and it’s not just Pakistani STARTUPs now we have STARTUPs from 16 countries, and we opened the applications from the Muslim countries because we signed up a collaboration with OIC COMSTECH, and then open up with the rest of the world also, and in that we have applications from the USA as well.
So I think that it is a testimony to the sort of confidence that people have in the ecosystem that we are developing here in this country. I think DAVOS itself was a great experience for us. I was there for the first time, even though I’ve been to Switzerland several times before, but not to DAVOS specifically and from the STARTUPs, we will get to hear from them firsthand the sort of experience that they’ve got not only at PAKISTN’s PAVILION but the whole environment of DAVOS. I’m sure it would have transformed the way they look at the world, other companies, and the collaborations.
But then at CITADEL, it’s not just the STARTUPs that we work on, but we also have a vertical that works on youth upskilling, and this year we will be starting courses for the youth. In addition to that, we’re also working on helping companies go out and compete globally. We had a session and workshop done for software companies that want to set up businesses in the USA, and we hope to continue with this as long as we go along. Thank you.
Dr Salma Malik Associate Professor DSS, QAU (Moderator)
The composition of our panel includes our entrepreneurs, the young leaders, and then we have the CITADEL team here. I think our understanding is that we will allow our young sultans to speak first for the first three minutes, and tell you their experience at DAVOS 2026, and then we will request the CITADEL team one after the other to share their views.
Syed Aman Shah VECTOR Inc. (Entrepreneur)
I would start with how valuable it is to us, and then I would tell about Switzerland. Ikram Sehgal Sir, first of all, thank you for being a principled entrepreneur. Being a 25-year-old, when I look at people, I want to have great examples, and you are the best. Thank you for providing us with this opportunity, because 7 days in Switzerland were way ahead of what I’ve learned in Pakistan in 2.5 years. The entrepreneurship, the conversations on the trains, people talking about value consistently, and the humanity. Thank you to the Swiss Ambassador for allowing and giving us this opportunity. The Swiss people, and the food is amazing.
To all the STARTUPs who are coming here, I’ve been telling everyone, actually, please apply for DAVOS. We prioritize Leap and all these platforms, ITC, and Future Fest. But what the CITADEL has given us in DAVOS is unbelievable. The amount of access to top-tier people that I cannot imagine an environment where everyone’s talking about value, business, treating you really well, and believes in each other’s potential. No time wasted in 7 days, and I don’t think it was 7 days, but a month, because everything was happening very quickly. So, thank you to the amazing team of CITADEL because through their platform, every age group can combine, and you know, like to do great work for Pakistan. Experience combined with Swiss precision skills can provide great value to this country. We’re very grateful. Thank you very much, Ikram Sehgal Sir, for believing in us.
Maaz Ali Nadeem – CEO, VECTOR Inc. (Entrepreneur)
Asslam-o-Alaikum, everyone, before we move into the experience, Aman and I had the opportunity to share this entire experience. We work in the same company, and we’re co-founders. We run an AI venture studio out of Islamabad, starting from the 25th of October, when we stood on this stage for the very first time, and it has been an incredible run of preparations, energy and all of the dopamine that comes with it. The team and the people we went with have been amazing. The training cycles that we went through before DAVOS actually set the stage for how you go and pitch, present yourself and network with different people across the world. I’m happy to know, actually, that the PAKISTAN PAVILION had sneaking people from other countries as well, because the world is so open, mature and welcoming. When you sneak into different people’s things and you learn how everyone has been amazing, from it’s not just Pakistan, but other countries are doing amazing as well, and doing a lot better than us, and DAVOS brings that window to the world where you get to learn from them. We’ve shared that experience a lot, and no matter how chilly it was, it went down to minus 18 at a moment at night, once when we were doing a side event on AI. Nothing stops you. Everyone was so energetic at that moment, and wanted to capture everything there. Everyone there is coming for value, and they like conversations, eating good cheese and chocolate, but they also like to make money. Everyone wants to make money. So they come there for a reason, for a very particular growth mindset that we went for as well.
DAVOS and several other places in the world that you can go to, but when you’re at that promenade in DAVOS, there’s nothing better than that. It feels premium to you, and I met amazing people there randomly, and I was also present at the annual meeting. I cannot explain it in a couple of words. Maybe an entire newsletter wouldn’t be enough to do that, so thank you, Ikram Sehgal Sir. We would love to see a lot more Pakistani representation there. I had so many amazing Indian entrepreneurs who were my friends, and they were all there. The 200 entrepreneurs were there from the Indian side, and 10 from Pakistan. There’s a huge difference, but we’re going to fill that gap. That 190 is going to be filled very soon, Inshallah. Thank you to the Swiss Ambassador, and you have a wonderful country. You already made a wonderful business out of it, and some of the best youth that we’ve seen in Switzerland seemed very relaxed, and we like that because we’re not. But you know that’s the right synergy to meet. So thank you for this opportunity. All of the people who are coming here for JEDDAH, and for other ventures after JEDDAH, don’t miss out, because there’s a lot that we can do. Thank you
Saad Siddiqui Edversity (Entrepreneur)
So, the experience that we got from DAVOS was truly amazing in the sense that we were expecting it to be the biggest experience that I have ever had in my life. When we were planning for the DAVOS, I was planning that we’ll go and enjoy some time in DAVOS, and there will be a conference happening, and then we’ll go and meet some people, and this was our perception about the Switzerland, but when we were in Zurich, Aman and I were together in a train station, and a friend called me. He said what are you doing? I said that we are going for the food. He said are you crazy? You’re going for a food at 8:00 a.m., you should be in DAVOS, and that was the experience that changed our whole 4 years, because at 8:00 am we were there in DAVOS, and the whole thing was superb. We have never imagined that kind of experience. DAVOS was a whole city, and the first person we met, he said I am a blockchain VC, and I expanded from Africa to the Asian region and I launched Binance HTX and we said wow this was the first person that we met and we left that hall, and then we went to second one and we were in the queue for the US, the US senators, and the people from the US industry, they said that we are standing in the queues for about 30 40 minutes, and that was the experience you that was so enriching and powerful, because we met so many people.
By the way, I want to share one success story. We met one of the Founders and the Board Directors of one of the largest block-chains of the world, named Zero Gravity. We met them, and they said that “we have $88 million ecosystem fund, and Pakistan is on our top priority list for that ecosystem fund and we were unable to execute this because we have no connections, and before coming here, yesterday he called me and said Saad, we are coming with our whole developer ecosystem in Pakistan, and this is the first success story that we have received from the DAVOS experience. In addition to this, we were together, a lot of parties, enjoyment, and this whole experience, we were in a community where everyone was there to network. One thing that we do wrong generally in conference is that we try to sell ourselves. I decided that I won’t sell everything, but I was there to network with people, to make connections, and this is what we did, and the Pakistani pavilion was amazing. Overall, it was a crazy and different experience that words cannot explain. Thank you.
Dr. Salma Malik Associate Professor of DSS, QAU (Moderator)
We have with us the youngest member of the CITADEL team Imran Jattala, who founded the National Incubation Center for Aerospace Technology (NICAT), and he is a prominent figure in global innovation landscape. He is recognized for his work in establishing the first aerospace and deep tech incubation center in South Asia and the Middle East. A passionate advocate for innovation, Imran has played a key role in leading large-scale innovation programs throughout Pakistan and the MENA region, and being the insider in the entire DAVOS plan. Imran is passionate about his beauty sleep, but he was more passionate about what was happening at the DAVOS and the CITADEL pavilion, his young sultans and how they steered the group. Next, we have Air Commodore (Retd) Farhan Ahmed, who is the director at CITADEL, holding 32 years of distinguished service in the Pakistan Air Force. He has been at the forefront of shaping our country’s aerospace vision. Alongside, he’s also the managing partner of Innovator Garage International, where he brings strategic leadership to innovation, human resource development, and project management. The government of Pakistan has honored him with Sitara-e-Imtiaz military as well as Tamgha-e-Imtiaz military. Third, and the last member in the team to be introduced is Air Cdre (Retd) Khalid Banuri Sahab, who has a diverse 44 years of experience in public service, aviation, training, education, and outreach. His expertise lies in senior-level management, policy analysis, research, lecturing, and writing. He has contributed extensively to policymaking in several areas such as arms control and diplomacy, nuclear, missile, space, chemical, biological control, strategic spurts control, South Asian security and policy, and International Law. In recognition of his outstanding contributions, the government of Pakistan honored him with two prestigious awards, a civil award of Sitara-e-Imtiaz for excellence in policy analysis and Sitara-e-Imtiaz military for his dedicated services to the Pakistan Air Force. So, this is the CITADEL team. What were the challenges you were foreseeing before heading to DAVOS, and how did you find the overall environment?
Imran Jattala – Vice President, Pathfinder CITADEL
First of all, thank you, Co-Chairman. I’m trying to put my feelings and thoughts into words, but the moment we realized that we are going to DAVOS one, and we are going to set up a STARTUP pavilion over there, and for me, it has been a roller coaster ride. We try to bring in the best people, like the young sultans from Pakistan, and design a process in a very structured and transparent way. We select the best of the best from Pakistan, and being an ecosystem builder, my passion really is to inject these younger ones with this type of dopamine, where they don’t go for cheap dopamine, or posting on social media and doing other crazy stuff. Rather, they should be addicted to this type of dopamine so that they’re making social progress and solving the challenges of Pakistan. They’re building things, and they get addicted to this, and if rightly done, we have 10 million youth of Pakistan, and we are the fifth largest nation, and if we build 15,000 good STARTUPs, we’ll be moving the needle on Pakistan’s GDP. That really has been the passion. The government of Pakistan roughly invested 150 to 200 million dollars in the last decade in the STARTUP ecosystem, and I’m saying this because a lot of people ask what is the business case that is why a government should invest in the STARTUP ecosystem? The Pakistani STARTUPs in the last seven six seven years have raised a billion dollars in investment, and it says like roughly 15x ROI. I really can’t see any industry providing this ROI, and on top of that, people like Ikram Sehgal, one thing that comes with a vision that we need to set up a private sector innovation ecosystem.
Dr. Salma Malik Associate Professor of DSS, QAU (Moderator)
How different do you (Farhan) find this private ecosystem from a government one?
Air Cdre (Retd) Farhan Ahmed Project Director, Pathfinder CITADEL
Your Excellency, Co-Chairman Ikram Sehgal, as I see the difference between the government and the initiative that we took. I’ve been part of the government STARTUP ecosystem, also. The difference is energy and focus. One is doing it for several reasons, but if I put it to the initiative that we are doing this for only one reason, and that reason is Pakistan. I look at DAVOS from a completely different perspective. We do it, the government does it to generate economic activity in the countries, which is a good thing. It has to be done, and that is one very effective way of doing it.
But the question mark is why we are doing it? We talk about Pakistan’s potential, and Pakistan is a resilient nation. Look at the DAVOS, we took the talent of Pakistan, and to manifest the resilience of Pakistan at the global stage to show people the real passion, stories and the face of Pakistan that goes along with this whole exercise which actually overwhelmed entire team at some, because the window that was available to do the job, and we have a training cycle that we have to take and present through this platform. So, we have to prepare a lot of these young sultans to reach that level. The real difference, as I see it, is the focus, passion and energy that were there in our case. Thank you.
Air Cdre (Retd) Khalid Banuri Principal Advisor, Pathfinder CITADEL
I want to focus on the context that I have followed the procedure for some years, although this works and I was very curious about how it could turn out in action. The only thing that was the cold weather and the warm energy. Ikram Sehgal sprang this idea and said that the time is short, but can you do this?
This was taken as a challenge, and then we went into a frenzy to actually prepare and it was very heartening to see how successful that thing was. So I think, even through for 22 years, Ikram Sehgal and his Pathfinder Group have created a national asset consistently. This one dynamic was even better because of the reasons for how it is looking at the way the world is changing and we are ready for that challenge.
So this is a process that we have covered and these young men and some women who went along came around doing the same thing to show that they were not looking for funding, but they were showing that they have the technological process and they can bring new ideas to the table. DAVOS 2026 has built a narrative for Pakistan that is better than what we had. Pakistan has arrived.
Air Cdre (Retd) Farhan Ahmed Project Director, Pathfinder CITADEL
Through our journey, there’s another experience that’s come my way as a matter of fact, and a very pleasant one, which presently surprised and encouraged all the way, the industry responded to us with one call and short notice. Judges and industry leaders were forthcoming to guide and support these young entrepreneurs and spared their time for no honorarium, and just voluntary working all for Pakistan. Thank you.
Imran Jattala – Vice President, Pathfinder CITADEL
In DAVOS 2026, there are two decades of legacy behind the PAKISTAN PAVILION that Ikram Sehgal has built at DAVOS, and now, building on top of that, CITADEL is not just for Pathfinder Group. It’s an innovation ecosystem where we have the mandate and the support to build collaborations nationwide and globally. We are coming for partnerships, and we want the CITADEL to become the premier innovation ecosystem in Pakistan, linking everyone from the public and private sectors, and any innovation or STARTUP work in Pakistan.
Mohib Mirza – AI Force Team (Entrepreneur)
Asslam-o-Alaikum, everyone. My name is Mohib Mirza, and I am the co-founder and CTO of AI Team Force. I was fortunate enough to be part of this excellent delegation led by Mr Sehgal and the excellent colleagues that we have on the panel right here. So my one highlight from DAVOS was definitely traveling in a new place, being in a territory, and representing your own nation. That is one thing that stood out to me every single day while we were there for the PAKISTAN BREAKFAST, and we were talking to foreigners and Europeans. One thing that we all brought there was the Pakistani energy and Pakistani vision that stood out there as well. So I think we did an excellent job, and I learned from that experience. I got to meet a lot of mentors, the relevant partners, and we benefited a lot from that far more than business. We grieve personally in a way that is going to stick by us for a couple of decades to come. I was part of a very experienced delegation. Thank you.
Dr. Salma Malik – Associate Professor of DSS, QAU (Moderator)
I would borrow from Khalid’s last point that he has raised, Pakistan has arrived, and the need to build a narrative, and that is very important when you really want to arrive on a scene. So starting from our young entrepreneurs, my question to each one of you now is what your STARTUP was about, and then secondly, when you were there, what type of question was repeatedly asked of you when you were trying to pitch your product to the VCs and to the various people that you met there?
Syed Aman Shah – VECTOR Inc. (Entrepreneur)
Interestingly, we weren’t expecting a lot of people to ask us the question how can we invest? That was the best part, and they weren’t expecting this level of technology from us. It was very fascinating for them because generally, from this region, it’s not very tech-savvy, but now it has started becoming tech-savvy, and added some value in it that makes us proud.
Maaz Ali Nadeem – CEO, VECTOR Inc. (Entrepreneur)
We are actually investing in the STARTUP in Paris that works in health sciences, and devising a longevity plan using tech and AI, and we’re actually investing money in them first and then a bit of our AI tech that we’re currently doing the due diligence for so when Mr Banuri said Pakistan has arrived. It hasn’t arrived to receive. It has also arrived to give. We had a meeting with a solopreneur from Canada, whom we met at DAVOS, and he said you don’t need my help I may need your help in things that I’m investing in to build things for us there, and that’s what we do primarily if I am to introduce our company, which Aman and I represent. We build things for people, and we build things with people, and AI native to be specific. We’ve built multiple AI-first platforms. We’ve also built Pakistan’s first few language models, and speech models that you’re already using and you don’t know about them, and you’ll be using them more often. We have introduced them in our pitches before and we build for everyone. There are no borders that we see, and we’ve built across the border and overseas. We power some of the biggest hotlines across the world for different countries and governments that they don’t know about, because we’re a corporate company that works with multiple other ventures and serves them. Pakistan has definitely arrived, and I’m seeing the respect coming in with the things that we do. Thank you.
Mohib Mirza – AI Force Team (Entrepreneur)
What we’re doing is we are building a sales platform that allows anyone to get more business. So we are all in the business field, and the way we get more people to come to us is through sales. That is what we do. We make it easy for you with our platform. We have an AI platform and a suite of applications that make it super simple for you. One thing that was very fascinating to me was that sitting in Pakistan, we always like to believe that we’re left behind from the international technology and the international AI wave but when we were there in DAVOS, that was the narrative that was being pushed around as well, so we are not behind, we are leading that wave we are some of the companies here as well they are pioneers in the field and that was really fresh to there that you know we’re not behind, and we are in the competition and leading that change so that was sort of a conversation. I’d love to lead it as as peers instead of somebody who’s just there to learn, so we were not only getting value but also transitioning and giving value to the people there, which is really fascinating for me, so that is what we’re building, and that was my experience from that.
Saad Siddiqui – Edversity (Entrepreneur)
I’m Saad, and I run a company and we upscale and reskill people in high emerging technology that we’re doing. We have a lot of young sultans sitting here because they got the right pathway, but there are a lot of people in Pakistan full of potential and talent, but that is raw talent, and we need to channelize it. So what we do is that we work on the production side, how to train people, where to train people, and what to train, and we have been doing this work for like four years. We have trained and placed a lot of people, like entrepreneurs. Pakistan is a tech-savvy country, and we develop tech and do a lot of good work. The only feedback that was given to me was that we want to come to Pakistan. We want to source talent from Pakistan because international talent is expensive, and Pakistan can export less expensive and high-tech talent. So the only thing from the DAVOS experience and from the people that we have met, especially the international people, was please give us access to the talent that you have in Pakistan.
Imran Jattala – Vice President, Pathfinder CITADEL
Being a part of CITADEL, we’re upskilling, and that’s where we have overlap with adversity, and out of our DAVOS travel and working with young entrepreneurs, we have worked out a collaboration with adversity. We’re announcing that CITADEL is launching AI cybersecurity and blockchain training, and the day of the class will be the first week of April 2026.
Dr. Salma Malik – Associate Professor of DSS, QAU (Moderator)
Would these select STARTUPs always remain your preferred young sultans, or are you going to adopt more entrepreneurs as time goes on?
Air Cdre (Retd) Farhan Ahmed – Project Director, Pathfinder CITADEL
We are going to make a very big family out of these entrepreneurs. We’ll continue to adopt more and more, but you said it very rightly, they’re going to be the pioneers and the dearest ones. Thank you.
Dr. Salma Malik – Associate Professor of DSS, QAU (Moderator)
Khalid Banuri, you have a lot of experience in leadership, especially Gen Z leadership training. What are your takeaways from this set of young Gen Z, and how was your experience while co- traveling and co-existing in a nuanced environment?
Air Cdre (Retd) Khalid Banuri – Principal Advisor, Pathfinder CITADEL
I think it’s very important to deal with this. Gen Z in a Pakistani context is a misnomer. Many of the people who fall in that age bracket do not necessarily think that kind of thinking, which is seen globally. There are some Gen Z who are at hard boomers or millennials, and so on, so forth. So, one has to look at what their experience and outlook are. The group that we see here on the stage and elsewhere, and the ones who went along, are the true depiction of sustained hard work. Those who welcome failure, and then learn a lesson out of it, and go forward. I have always told various groups of young people that I believe in their potential, but you have to work terribly hard to actually be there, and these gentlemen and ladies are the ones who understand this and are resilient about it. I have no experience so far with the ones who came along to DAVOS who are overwhelmed by time or challenge. There might be situations in which there would be like this would happen. So, here’s a takeaway from this situation. Don’t look at Gen Z as one homogeneous outlook. Some people think that they have the potential, they have the right, we will be running this country forever, etc. But they’re also lazy, not these, these are the ones who are resilient, who are confident about their quality of work and who are willing to accept challenges, so that’s the difference that I saw, and I believe several others will take inspiration from them. You know, right here on this forum. We once did a mentorship for young people with various experts. Some of those experts are also here right now on the stage, and we actually told them, you know, wherever you think you are, get better. And some young entrepreneurs came and talked about their success stories, and several at least came to me, and I’m sure they went to others to say I want to be like this person. This person is almost my age and successful. I’m going to do this with the determination that I saw, so the inspiration is spreading, and that’s the thing we need to focus on. Surely there are anxieties about work about the time that they think they need to catch up on, but overall, it’s a very welcome experience.
Dr. Salma Malik – Associate Professor of DSS, QAU (Moderator)
Am I jumping the gun if I ask about the JEDDAH experience, or shall we just leave it for Sara in the next session? But if you can just sort of link up a little bit about the journey from DAVOS to JEDDAH. Student the young Sultans are going to pitch today, and any possible STARTUPs as the ecosystem director, manager or team lead, however you would like to be called. What do you look for in a STARTUP when they come and pitch their venture to you?
Air Cdre (Retd) Farhan Ahmed – Project Director, Pathfinder CITADEL
Well, I leave that part to the judges, frankly speaking, what they look for, because as a policy of the CITADEL, and given by our chairman, that all judgments and such decisions will be external to the judges. Nevertheless, once we have the STARTUP with us, what we’re looking for the team, the focus, the jelling of the team, I mean there may be little hiccup in their selling part of it and the tech part of it that can be corrected as long as the attitude and the team jelling is there rest of the thing can be adjusted too, the human values. Yes, that has to be that story.
Dr. Salma Malik – Associate Professor of DSS, QAU (Moderator)
If I may add for the audience, and please correct me if I’m wrong. Being there, I was hardly familiar with how the STARTUPs were handpicked and selected. I mean, to me, everyone would look great. Still, I did overhear Sehgal Sahab telling someone that it was a very tough job to decide who to bring to DAVOS, but actually what we went for were those STARTUPs which would be for the public good and help more disadvantaged, economically and socially, people in improving their quality of life. So that is the human value that you have talked about, the teamwork, having that empathetic viewpoint and all that goes with making a team actually part of a family. So wonderful, hats off to you people, Saad.
Air Cdre (Retd) Farhan Ahmed – Project Director, Pathfinder CITADEL
The JEDDAH part of it, as you see, we’ve been talking through our previous sessions that collaborate, share, and that’s your pathway to the exponential growth. Our plan was once we ventured into JEDDAH, and as per the vision, which I don’t know how he conceived these visions and seeing buly on the horizon. Let’s take the OIC region into our folds and unfold the program of the CITADEL to OIC. I was a little apprehensive in the beginning that not many people would come in, but to our surprise, I already been informed by Asad that a total of 56 STARTUPs applied from not only from OIC countries, but also from all around the world, that includes Amsterdam, Denmark, USA, UK, and there’s one other country that I’m forgetting Sweden, yes, and they all were international STARTUP they applied, I would say that is the message that we sent across the globe through this platform of DAVOS, provided by Pathfinder. Our ecosystem is known to the world. We manifested our tech prowess to the globe, so that is the right takeaway for us and very encouraging for our team.
Dr. Salma Malik – Associate Professor of DSS, QAU
Starting from you, Saad, what do you really need from Pakistan’s ecosystem to scale now and if you had prior and continued institutional support, how much faster could you grow?
Saad Siddiqui – Edversity (Entrepreneur)
I think a lot faster. The reason is that at the stage where we are, you know, we are now beyond going from titles right, we need collaborations, we need partnerships, and we need business to sustain. I firmly believe that if your company and your STARTUP are not generating revenue and you are not sustaining yourself, you should think about it. And I think the only thing for now that we need the most from this ecosystem is that we need more collaborations, we need more partnerships, and we need to open more business avenues from where we can generate more revenue to sustain ourselves and to grow ourselves as well, and I’m at this stage, I’m truly thankful to this group as well. I call this a family now, because we have spent a lot of days in DAVOS. I was in Lahore. Farhan Sahab called me, saying you have to be here, I’m here now, and whenever he invites me, I will be there. So, this is an experience, and this is a family, thankful to the group that they have given us as well an opportunity, which Imran Sahab recently mentioned that we will be business partners now. We need more such opportunities, and you know if any of you are interested in speaking to us, we are here, we would love to collaborate, and we need to now open such things for us and for our business as well so that we can grow.
Dr. Salma Malik – Associate Professor of DSS, QAU
Plainly, patronage is exactly a partnership, and that is the word from patronage to partnership, yes Mohib.
Mohib Mirza – Founder of Ai Team Force (Entrepreneur)
Absolutely, just building on top of what Saad said, what a beautiful thing that we are part of a family now, and a family is only going to grow further. The bond is just going to grow stronger, so we don’t feel like we’re here as guests; we feel like we’ve been called here as part of that family. What we need is more platforms like the Pathfinder Group has initiated, so anything that allows the youth to be given an opportunity. Anybody from any city of Pakistan, as they said, even from the underserved markets, underserved areas, can go to an area like DAVOS and be a part of that global ecosystem and, that is only going to be possible when leaders like Sir Ikram and the Pathfinder Group give them that opportunity that it is for everyone and not for somebody who has decades of experience because I relate to that story.
I come from a background where I dropped out of MBBS, and I don’t have any academic record. When I came here and I pitched there, the only thing I had was the story and the vision and the drive, and I think that really stuck with the judges as well. So, one takeaway would be to be yourself, go for the thing that you really believe in, and you’re going to be sitting on this stage one day as well.
Maaz Ali Nadeem – CEO, VECTOR Inc. (Entrepreneur)
So I’m going to take a different turn and it’s not controversial but it’s something that I feel like we should definitely think about first things first when we went to DAVOS we realized that we don’t align with the western playbooks we come from a South Asian part of the world that has a completely different dynamic of how we do things, what cultural values we bring or what sort of personality traits we bring, and they need to be aligned with a different playbook, not from a Y combinator playbook and I don’t read a lot of YC because I don’t relate to the entrepreneurs of YC what I do is I relate to entrepreneurs from other South Asian countries. I did ask this question to our finance minister that wasn’t taken very nicely by our neighboring country and you know they posted an entire snippet of the video from the annual meeting where I asked that question from the finance minister with not very good words but you know that’s fine some people did actually take it as a positive indication so my positive indication is when I was sitting on the table at the annual meeting it was called the South Asian table six people from India, two people from Bangladesh, one from Nepal, one from Pakistan one, and from Afghanistan so the Pakistani representation is lacking.
Lutfey Siddiqi, one of the ministers from Bangladesh, from the interim government, had absolutely amazing things to say about the Bangladesh ecosystem. I’ve been following Dr Yunus for the past one and a half years, and there are people that we need to look up to, and they’re not in the west they’re right across the borders. There are amazing entrepreneurs, and even when we talk about Pakistan, we don’t need governments and ministers and advisers to be our representatives. We need people like Ikram Sahab. Thank you, Salman, for introducing me to Ikram Sahab as well. One and a half years ago, we met. I’ve been following Hussain Dawood Sahab. I’ve been following Arif Habib Sahab and Sayed Babar Ali. We need to actually start following these people, and we need to be introduced to them more often. Maybe the government can do what it can do, introduce them to us. We don’t want to sit with leaders who are, you know, who are not going to be in governments maybe two years later or three years later, and, you know, that keeps changing. We need conglomerates that we can meet because they’re going to be there for decades. So maybe that’s the thing we need. I feel it that way. Sorry.
Syed Aman Shah – VECTOR Inc. (Entrepreneur)
What I would like to say is that one of the biggest challenges that we face is that I am in AI, working in an AI avenger studio, and I need the top AI talent. Pakistan has been producing it for the last three years, and unfortunately, 70% of our senior people who were more skilled than us left Pakistan.
So, I believe there is a gap between the understanding of where Pakistan stands, and this gap needs to be filled. People need to get their trust that this is the country where you can build for your country and for your people, and we need to make people realise that if you are leaving, it is damaging us.
You know, like preparing a talent for 2 years and then suddenly starting them leaving for an educational purpose actually makes us sad. We have to prepare a talent. It’s hard to survive. Brain drain is an actual problem. Apart from that, thank you, sir. I cannot put into words how grateful I am to you because if one Sir Ikram Sehgal Sahab can do it, there are 10 more conglomerates in Pakistan who can do it. And actually, we only need people like Ikram Sehgal Sahab.
Dr. Salma Malik – Associate Professor of DSS, QAU
But actually, there’s only one Ikram Sehgal. So, you guys have to become innovative enough and clone him so that we can have an Ikram Sehgal beta model in every city and have the CITADELs and the STARTUPs.
Air Cdre (Retd) Khalid Banuri – Principal Advisor, Pathfinder CITADEL
I just want to take on from the last point, there’s excess right, and what Ikram Sehgal does is to facilitate that excess, but what is really the challenge thereafter is for sustainability. For sustainability, there’s a lot of hard work that we are fortunate that these people are willing to do that hard work because it’s a win-win.
So, CITADEL is the institution that has actually been made to facilitate it to create a win-win for them. If there are gaps, if there are challenges which need to be solved by others. So, there’s an institution that exists now. So, it fills the gap. It depends on how much the CITADEL as an institution interacts with the people who are actually interested in proceeding further, and then real force will come out through the absolute win-win of everyone, basically in the private sector.
Dr. Salma Malik – Associate Professor of DSS, QAU
Khalid, if I can also ask you if you have any last-minute takeaways and then I’ll just give you people half a minute each for your last words before I open the floor for limited Q&A.
Air Cdre (Retd) Khalid Banuri – Principal Advisor, Pathfinder CITADEL
Yeah, I think I’ll carry on with what I started by saying that once you achieve some success, that is the time to think of the next steps instead of just being overwhelmed with, we did very well. That’s the kind of resilience. I see in these people the confidence and the resilience and I have been skeptical about some situations and I have probed asked questions to understand how much of resilience actually exists can they sustain the pressures and I’m happy to report that I have at least the people that I have talked to and I see that is quite sustainable, so institutions exist in the process. This matters now of how we take it forward.
Imran Jattala – Vice President, Pathfinder CITADEL
I would like to conclude and build on two phrases which I am very happy to steal from my colleagues. One Pakistan has arrived, and second in terms of CITADEL from what you said from patronage to partnership.
Air Cdre (Retd) Farhan Ahmed – Project Director, Pathfinder CITADEL
The right takeaway for me, as a matter of fact and for all of us, as it has been said several times, and it’s been in our religious books also. If you want to grow, share. If you want to go stronger, collaborate. Don’t wait. Take the steps; nobody else would do a job for you. Don’t wait for others to start a thing. He started alone, took a step, a lot of risk.
And this is where we are. And that’s the step that we all have to take. We all have to hold hands, collaborate, and move forward. We find a good guy with energy aligning with our vision. We’ve brought them home, and not only that, we are launching in Islamabad in April, sir and Insha’Allah in May, we’ll be heading up in Karachi.
I think just to let everyone know pulling off an event is one thing but then what’s important is what to do after this and I want to report that we are following up with people who are at DAVOS with investors we’ve had several online meetings already with them the starters themselves are also doing that so we have to complete that cycle that’s important it’s never easy it’s difficult but it must be done. What needs to be done has to be done.
Saad Siddiqui – Edversity (Entrepreneur)
I think the last final thing from my side is for all the STARTUPs because they are the people who will be coming next. Whatever happens today, please stay connected with these people, please stay connected for much more opportunities, because I’m telling you the World Economic Forum (WEF) is a life-changing experience.
Before going there, I was also not expecting what happened with us, so please take this opportunity if you are not selected today, come again in the next cohort with preparation to do that, but this should be your priority step; you have to go to DAVOS because this will be a life-changing experience for all of you guys. Thank you.
Mohib Mirza – Ai Team Force (Entrepreneur)
Absolutely, as Saad said, it was a life-changing experience for all of us. I think I can speak for all of us first, all in the industry, that the narrative is changing, and we are seeing that Pakistan is taking a very headfirst approach towards sovereignty and control towards a local AI. So, my takeaway, my advice would be for anybody who’s building here, build locally and take pride in it that you’re building locally for Pakistan.
Syed Aman Shah – VECTOR Inc. (Entrepreneur)
Last but not least, as Khalid Sahab and Farhan Sahab have mentioned, CITADEL is starting the courses. Please get enrolled because, as I mentioned in my last point, there are not enough engineers with these degrees. You have to step in. You have to manage this gap, secondly everyone sitting in this room when we started when we came here for the first time we didn’t know anyone then we now this is a family I know like 50% of the people in the room connect on LinkedIn take WhatsApp be a super connector. Last but not the least Sir you are at an age where you have seen everything and I have nothing that I can do for you but I promise you with my friends and colleagues the people who went there that 5 years from now we would have our own companies in PAKISTAN PAVILION representing Pakistan. This is a promise.
Question & Answer Session
Air Cdre (Retd) Khalid Banuri:
Yes, just a one-liner. something that has happened consistently but hasn’t been talked about. The Pathfinder family’s immaculate teamwork has set an example that all of us need to emulate.
Dr Salma Malik:
There are so many people sitting in this audience right now, and many others who are at this moment placed in their stations across the country doing the work that the Pathfinders group is proud of and busy doing. I personally would like to offer my deepest gratitude.
Salman Sahab, I see you sitting in the audience, who is a massive troubleshooter who kept the humour alive, who absolutely did not let us sit still for more than five minutes. He had something up his shoulder, and he had to tell us to do something and believe me, so many things became possible. The dreams turned into reality.
The point of sharing is to grow from prosperity by collaborating. From the point that was said, that many big names in the room that we talk about, we hear about, we read in the newspapers, not only shared the space with the young Sultans, but they became friends. They were on a first-name basis, and that was primarily the magic the PAKISTAN PAVILION had to pull, and I think this magic is being realised since the last 22 years and we wish this to continue, Insha’Allah, for another two to three to 10 decades from now. So, with that, I open the floor for any Q&A.
Audience:
I just wanted to ask you that I really appreciate that you guys put together something awesome at such short notice, but I just wanted to ask that there’s a certain lack of diversity among the STARTUPs. Was that because there were not a lot of STARTUP founders that applied, or just like to understand more about that? Thank you so much.
Air Cdre (Retd) Farhan Ahmed:
We have a broad spectrum of all the fields in it. However, we are presently targeting the digital part of it. That means that it includes fintech, health tech, EdTech and anything that has tech in it that is completely open for anybody from all across the country to apply, and now all across the voice region and the world can apply, and the platform is available for all.
Air Cdre (Retd) Khalid Banuri:
To answer this question, what we’ve been doing here is exposing Gen Z, which is typically BS students, to various ideas about how to be resilient with an all-around personality that has been happening right in this room for several months, depending on the kind of subject that you’re following in your degrees. Some opportunities will come in handy when you start to look at what is typical of Gen Z, such as anxiety or the kind of discipline of the timing and all, so what we do here and if you don’t look at the acronym only, but read what it’s all about, it looks at every aspect and gives opportunity to everyone. So, innovation, technological advancement, digital entrepreneurs and leadership. But these are not clearly divided sections. They contribute to an overall personality pie for everyone interested and willing to work. Thank you. The registration will be open by next week, and you can see the topics and the prerequisites for that registration. You can apply for that.
Mohib Mirza:
I guess her question was related to the relative, I mean, Farhan Sahab is the youngest, but to answer your question, I think it’s like she said, when you look at a platform like DAVOS, you get a fire inside you. When I came here to pitch, I was coming from an 8-hour flight. I flew in from Bangkok to Lahore. I didn’t sleep all night. I drove to Islamabad, so I think that drive inside of you really pushes you beyond boundaries. It’s not really about the short-term dopamine when you’re there, when you’re present there, that sort of adrenaline, right now it is inside us, the Sultans are sitting here. So that is going to be with you for a lifetime. So that’s what I would recommend. Go for the long-term goals. Go for the things that are going to be with you for long term.
Dr Salma Malik:
Thank you so much. God bless. A huge round of applause for our team, CITADEL. Once again, thank you very much. I wish you people all the best and also the fact the (masumana sawal) that has asked is very important because being a teacher I usually see my students having great ideas but many a times really not the drive but if the drive is there it is very limited and the fact that what Mohib has said that it was not only the drive, the passion that brought him here, and again talking about the Pathfinder Group the team work Ikram Sehgal Sahab because the way he made this entire trip work there was this work segment that you see here and then. We also had the excursion part. We are not talking about that because we really enjoy it, right? And at times, we would wonder why the excursion was part of this entire trip. The lesson that we all drew from that excursion was that some of us had travelled for the first time. We had not even seen our own country, let alone another country.
Some of us were there. There were seasonal travellers. Many of us hadn’t been to DAVOS, many of us hadn’t been to Europe. But by the end of the trip, believe me, everyone knew which side alley shop was selling what, where you could find good food, and what the places to visit were. And those of us who we really didn’t consider much because we are so jazzed by our own vision actually became the team leaders. And the team leaders like Salman Sahab, like Zeeshan, like many others, all of them took a back step, and they allowed the young people, the first-time travellers, those who had no experience, to become the leaders, to become the managers. Someone was handling the money very badly. But still, we did it.
At the end of the day, when we were splitting, it was with a very heavy heart. Right, going to all those places was amazing, but what made it beautiful, what made it a memory that will last forever, is becoming part of a group which was so diverse, but we became one. So, these are the things that you carry with you, I’m sure, such a vision, and again, as I said, there were young people, and there were old people, but we were all the same age at one time, and these are the visions that actually make this thing a long-term process. Thank you very much.
It is now a great honour for me, for the Pathfinder Group, for all of us to welcome a representative of a nation which is synonymous with chocolates, cheese, Heidi, my favourite play, and childhood favourite. But on a serious note, with diplomacy, with innovation, stability and global dialogue, the very country that hosts the World Economic Forum (WEF) in DAVOS, Switzerland, has long served as a bridge between nations and ideas.
DAVOS itself reflects Switzerland’s commitment to creating spaces where global challenges are addressed through collaboration and forward thinking. It is a personal privilege and honour to have with us the HE Georg Steiner Ambassador of Switzerland. Before I start, DAVOS is not a very big city, but with the Swiss work ethic, there was no chaos, although there was a traffic jam, because everyone was exiting at the same time on the two big avenues that DAVOS has.
So that is natural, but not a single honk, no one yelling at each other and a beautiful way of executing an event, a forum which had all the who’s and who’s of the world coming together for a good one week, and that is the Swiss diplomacy, Swiss work efficiency, the work ethics and precision. sir over to you, we would like to really listen to you and thank you for facilitating everything for us.
HE Georg Steiner – Ambassador of Switzerland to Pakistan
Thank you very much, Ma’am. It’s a pleasure to be here, Ikram Sehgal. Good afternoon to every one of you. It was a pleasure and a joy for my colleague and for me to come here to Ikram Sehgal’s home this morning and to hear what your experiences are after your trip to DAVOS. I’ve heard many of course very intelligent things very reasonable conclusions, very precious personal impressions that you have taken away from DAVOS. One thing that will always remain on my mind when I leave Pakistan is DAVOS and Ikram Sehgal. When we started to discuss this project of bringing these young entrepreneurs to DAVOS.
I still remember the passion, and at the same time, the wisdom and the intelligence that you, Ikram, brought to the discussion and whenever we discussed such a project to bring a large number of people to Switzerland, then of course, certain questions go along with it. I think everything played out as we had planned it, and I think to see that all the promises were upheld, the plans were implemented, and the administrative aspects were respected very well. I think that’s a real sign of excellence, and I would like to congratulate everyone involved for having really implemented it in the way it was meant to be. It’s a joy to see how motivated the participants were and how positive the feedbacks are that you have taken away from DAVOS.
I think the real added value of DAVOS is indeed to provide a platform to very experienced persons, to very experienced politicians, to very experienced businessmen, and to very motivated young people to come together and to implement what we have heard this morning, from patronage to partnership. I think that’s indeed what can make a huge difference in what young Pakistanis can bring to the world stage. After three and a half years in Pakistan, I still have the same hope that I had for Pakistan when I arrived. But I think I can, of course, see it in a much more diverse way. And indeed, the strength of Pakistan is the younger generation who are so able and so excellent at reaching out to the international community and presenting allies very competently, the strength of young Pakistanis. So, I think that these young professionals who were chosen very well in the context of this procedure here brought an excellent image and sign of competence of Pakistan to Switzerland, and it was said many times this morning, this was an important beginning for these youngsters who are not so young anymore.
It’s a start, but I think it’s an excellent start and seeing that there is international capital that would like to invest in these young Pakistani companies in this young Pakistani talent I think is testament to the success of this enterprise and that this can happen in the context of a well-established institution like the web in Switzerland I think is an absolutely wonderful thing. I have heard two more important aspects this morning. We have heard some colleagues talking about values and about integrity. And you may have thought about these aspects also in the context of certain discussions that are currently going on with regard to the web and that are going on with regard to political aspects in general. I think every successful businessman who makes a lot of money should never forget that business is also very closely connected to values and integrity.
When I was recently in Karachi, and I spoke to Swiss firms who are operating quite successfully here in Pakistan, I kept on telling them that making money in a huge market is, of course, very important. Business is about making money. But I think the real sign of excellence is the benchmark to what extent you manage to reach out into a market and into a society and to provide added value with regard to corporate social responsibility. That means the added value that you bring to a society. Of course, you can only do that if you make money and if you’re successful. But one should never forget that making money is not the end of the story. That’s basically just step one, or step two, and then the real sign of excellence comes later on. So, in short, I’m very happy with all the great energy that I could feel from the participants this morning.
I’m very happy to see that everyone considers this journey as the beginning of the journey and that we have not yet reached the middle of it, and most certainly not the end. I would like to encourage all the young entrepreneurs who were here to keep up the good work, to continue to go in the direction that was outlined, and everyone who is considering being part of that journey and considering becoming part of this family, as we have heard this morning. Do not hesitate. Go for it. Try to be part of it. If it’s not happening this year, if you cannot go to JEDDAH, then it may be next year, if it’s not next year and maybe the year after. But you represent the Pakistani youth, which has been a joy for me to talk to over the last three and a half years. I’m very hopeful for Pakistan, and I wish both the young entrepreneurs who went to DAVOS, but also, of course, all the others who are involved with the Pathfinder group, who are involved with CITADEL and who have now become part of this wonderful family. Good luck, and of course, I wish you a lot of success and personal satisfaction. Thank you very much.
Ikram Sehgal Co-Chairman, Pathfinder Group
Thank you, Salma. Your Excellency, I want to express my sincere gratitude for your active cooperation and encouragement. It is important to note that none of this would have been possible without your engagement and support. I run a private security company and interact with many diplomats. I truly appreciate your involvement. The media have been deeply diplomatic. You have been very refreshing and what you have said and what you have done to facilitate this is something that just what you say I want to paraphrase somebody says one small step for Pakistan and another giant step for this region as a matter of fact because like the CITADEL team is saying that we are reaching out now not only into Pakistan but reaching out to other countries. So, thank you very much. I want to especially put on record that, unlike diplomats, I must say human beings make sure to serve the humanity that represents and blends it with the humanity that you are meant to serve here in your country. I would like to start by thanking Salma. Thank you for having moderated this session so very well. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge and thank the entire CITADEL team, starting with AVM (Retd) Asad Ikram, Air Cdre (Retd) Farhan, Air Cdre (Retd) Khalid Banuri and Imran Jattala, because this achievement would not have been possible without you. So, it’s all right, you can have a vision, but somebody has to translate that vision into reality. You can keep on having visions, but you have to make sure that the vision goes into reality. I am very lucky because God has blessed me with a lot of good people in my corporate entity, and I don’t call them my corporate entity, I call them my family, and I can say that with great confidence that those people who were not part of the Pathfinder group before they went to DAVOS came back as part of the Pathfinder family. Each one of Pathfinders, starting with Salman, Shakeel and Jahangir, who’s and others right down the line, all of them did so well that we were very fortunate to have a very successful PAKISTAN PAVILION in DAVOS.
I try to interact with the government as little as possible. I’m grateful to the Pakistan mission in both BERN and in GENEVA for helping out. They did help in the sense of providing me names and timings, etc., of the official delegation, so that I don’t miss anything, but above all, let me tell you that it would not have been possible. I actually am very lucky that our logistics partner in Switzerland is here today, Ashfaq Ahmed. He has been in the business for the last 31 years and owns two restaurants in Zurich, along with a transportation company that provides bus services. It can be a logistical nightmare at times to transport people from various airports to different hotels. This becomes even more challenging when high-profile visitors like Mr Trump come, as everything tends to come to a halt to ensure they arrive at the right hotel. I want to emphasize something very important: we have worked together for five years, but we do not have a written agreement—nothing in writing. That is what I want to bring as the bottom line of the Pathfinder Group. Can anybody tell me if in the Pathfinder Group there is a written instruction for this entire exercise? No, everybody was told this is what you have to do, and they did it, every one of them.
In September, CITADEL approached me with a comprehensive plan and outlined a two-year strategy to make CITADEL a household name. I confidently stated that I would help them achieve this before the end of January. Now, CITADEL has not only become a household name domestically, but also internationally. However, I want to clarify that this success is not solely due to me; I simply provided the platform. It is their incredible talent, potential, expertise and determination that have driven this success. They approached every challenge with exceptional skill, making progress seem effortless.
I’m excited to share that several STARTUPs have joined us today, not just from Pakistan but also from overseas. We are taking them to JEDDAH, and the World Economic Forum (WEF) is providing us with active support. They noted that they have never seen anything like this before in terms of the STARTUPs involved. As a result, several other countries are now interested in bringing their STARTUPs to this initiative. Pakistan is the first country to take this step, which will open doors for many Islamic countries and others that are also participating in JEDDAH. Additionally, there is a strong possibility that we will also have a presence in RIYADH.
Since we are going to JEDDAH, we’ve been informed that most of the investors coming to Saudi Arabia will be in RIYADH and they would like us to be there as well. But most importantly, I want to acknowledge COMSTECH, our association with COMSTECH and other people that we may have. We want to make sure that we make this partnership meaningful for Pakistan. That is my entire objective. My entire objective is Pakistan, Pakistan and Pakistan. So please, I may have forgotten some people who have worked very hard beyond the lines. I want to particularly be very thankful to my team at Amanibagh that they, at short notice, created this, have this auditorium, people like Asia and Fozia who make sure that shampoos and towels are in the right place and that people have toothbrushes in the morning, we have clean places and everything in place.
So, thank you, everybody. Let me tell you one thing. I believe in Gen Z. History was made two days ago in Bangladesh because of Gen Z. The Bangladesh National Party (BNP) may be the rulers, and the Jamaat Islami may have benefited, but it is Gen Z that has taken this to that level. I said something which may not be right when this was happening, and somebody asked me a very senior person from Bangladesh. I said Gen Z is good for revolt, but for some time left to rule, but they will learn, and they will learn on the job. So, thank you, Gen Z, you are our future, make no mistake, Your Excellency, we have people from Gujrat University, and Peshawar University, they’ve come all the way here. We brought them in so that they could participate with us, and we expanded this horizon beyond the confines of the Federal area.
Last but not least, let me recognise Aziz Penwala. Aziz is here, he is one of the people that for the last 10 years I have shared my most, let us say, thoughts, which are sometimes others don’t believe in. He always believed in them; he is now working with CITADEL. He’s got his own firm, but he’s working with CITADEL for the south so that NED, IBA and Habib University and others come in the Gen Z crowd there, and we have to include the entire country, whether it’s Sindh, Balochistan, FATA, Gilgit, Gujranwala, etc. I want to take this opportunity to express two things. First, I have a little surprise. As we’ve discussed Generation Z and digital trends, I decided to approach it from a different angle by introducing SUFI MUSIC. We took those young musicians to DAVOS, and one of the senior individuals I spoke with, mentioned that these young QAWWALI artists might not return. Well, they did go, and they did come back. And not only that, today they drove in from Lahore and they themselves said, “Sir, we’re driving. They’ve got a show at 10:00 in Lahore tonight, but they drove in from Lahore early in the morning, and they’re here, and they will perform for you here during tea break for 15-20 minutes, and later during lunch. So, thank you, everybody.
Contributed by Laiba Maqsood
