One of OPEN’s goals has all along been to support businesses in Pakistan in a manner consistent with our core principles of staying “Hungry and Foolish” with respect to entrepreneurism. OPEN chapters have historically gone out of their way to assist Pakistani businesses efforts to gain traction in the US and global markets.  We started off by assisting those Pakistani businessmen visiting the US, as we were busy establishing ourselves. We, then with the assistance of MIT Enterprise Forum, started the MITEFP-OPEN Business Acceleration Plan competition in Karachi Pakistan. This allowed us to gain traction with the young and budding entrepreneurs their. There were some hesitancy within OPEN about opening a chapter in Pakistan as some other similar organizations did not do as well due to lack of right kind of leadership needed. The winners of BAP competition showed us that there is a new breed of Pakistani businessmen who have the credentials and zest who could be worked with.

The writeup below was written by one of the member of the OPEN Karachi Chapter that was recently inaugurated.

Rabia Garib

It was the Worst of Times, ’twas the Best of Times

Such are often the words often used by businesses operating in Pakistan. Amidst the geopolitical crisis that has plagued Pakistan since forever, the past 3 years or so have seen a constant rise of buzzwords such as “entrepreneurship”, “Start-ups”, “Business Plans” and “Angel Investment”. Despite the turbulent times, companies that have been driven by IT have continued to thrive.

On the other side of the world, Pakistanis working through OPEN’s 7 chapters across the US, have been working through associations and individuals through one connection or another, trying to figure out what the temperament and potential on the ground really is. An increase in the amount of information being sent out of Pakistan through websites and blogs has helped to raise the profiles of many companies, but there really was a growing need to have a more “intimate” presence.

That’s why the turnout to the launch event of OPEN Karachi, OPEN’s first presence outside North America, was attended with such fervor. Getting some of Pakistan’s major IT players to sync their calendars isn’t an easy task, but here’s the thing: if the cause matters, Pakistan’s best make it happen.

The decision to set up OPEN’s first international chapter in Karachi couldn’t have been an easy one, but considering Karachi contributes almost 70% of the total GDP, is the financial capital of country and houses the bulk of the gateways to the region and rest of the world, it makes sense. There are more corporate gatherings in Karachi as compared to the rest of the country and the number of IT-run businesses are probably larger in number here, than elsewhere.

Having a chapter in Karachi helps the associations across North America to fill in another puzzle on a map of opportunity. That’s why one of the mandates OPEN Karachi has is to raise the awareness of local organizations and opportunities to the other Chapters. Raise the profile of the Pakistani companies who have achieved their peak, so to speak, in the local ‘ecosystem’ and allow them to collectively benefit being part of OPEN.

Packaging more intelligent messages about actual work being done in Pakistan, mentoring students and businesses and establishing collaborative projects between organizations and institutions in Pakistan and those in North America. There is a lot that has to be done, and a combination of experienced professionals with young and vibrant members of OPEN Karachi will hopefully get the ball rolling quickly.

But starting up an Chapter with the track record and profile of OPEN is also not an easy task. There is a great deal of work to be done and a lot many activities and opportunities for interaction to add onto what is usually a really heavy national event calendar. Only once the groundwork has been done from our side, will we be able to allow local companies to really benefit what OPEN Global has to offer.

Please watch this space for more updates from the OPEN Karachi team.

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In the history of nations, there comes a time, when the chasm between what its people deserve and what they are getting is so huge, that revolutionary changes are needed to restore the balance. I believe that time is now for the people of Pakistan. It does not take much to look around at statistics and news from nearly any perspective to see that the State and the existing mind set amongst the Pakistanis has moved astray from the vision of the founding fathers. I have received countless e-mails, calls and tweets from concerned Pakistanis who all want to see a fundamental change in the dangerous trajectory that Pakistan is on.The time for idle drawing room wistful talk is long gone. Nor do we have the luxury of time available to us. As individuals we have a choice to make.
Do we let the forces that are at play act themselves out to the detriment and possible destruction of the country? Or do we in our own small, individual little way do something… anything positive to stem the slide and define a path towards a New Pakistan.
We have reached this state not because of a single cataclysmic event, but because of a long series of wrong policies, wrong decisions, wrong attitudes, lack of action when it was sorely needed and wrong values. Pakistan is bleeding from a million cuts ranging from suicide bombers, drones firing missiles into people’s homes, schools being blown up, corruption amongst the leaders and power holders, Arabization of our value system to name a few.

The journey out of this deep hole is going to be equally arduous and long. But it is a journey that MUST be undertaken. This journey is not to go back to some point in our history, but to chart out a new and shared vision for a New Pakistan, in the spirit that was first formulated by the founding fathers. It is a vision in which ALL PAKISTANIs irrespective of their ethnicity, religion or social status have

Security and Access to Timely Justice.

Access to Quality Basic Education.

Access to Basic Health Care.

Access to Gainful Employment.

I’m starting an ART (AMAN,ROZI & TALEEM) social awareness campaign across Pakistan. Everyone from across the spectrum can agree on the slogan of Aman (Peace and regional harmony), Rozi (economic security) and Taleem (Education). This is a non political, non partisan and non violent movement which Pakistani women and men of all ages and inclinations can agree upon.
The first phase will require social media (twitter, facebook and skype ,TV & radio) to reach out with a new message of hope and change. Once people from all sides of the spectrum can agree on these three basic needs (Aman, Rozi and Taleem), we can initiate the second phase.

In the Second phase we will conduct town hall type events with Pakistani intellectuals, entrepreneurs, artists and humanitarians who will echo the need for pluralism and unity to counter the extremism and lack of hope that is spreading like wildfire.
Our goal is to bring about a fundamental change in the contract between the individual and the state as it is being currently practiced. It is to recalibrate the implementation of the existing Constitution and the obligations of both the State and the individual.
Our vision is for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Pakistan engaged positively with the world community.
Nelson Mandela once said “It always seems impossible, until its done”

I encourage  you all to come together in unity and take the First Step on this journey.

Salman’s Message to you

Thanks for your interest in this Urgent Pak initiative. Our first step is galvanizing a social network of Pakistanis and friends of Pakistan to agree on these three imperatives (Aman,Rozi & Taleem) for all Pakistanis. We’re working on a documentary film which will highlight through arts and culture the power and resilience of Pakistan. Friends like you can help us in many ways,

• Help amplify the message of A.R.T. Campaign throughout your social media networks.
• Help us identify organizations who would like to amplify this movement across Pakistan.
• Expand your imagination on the three words (Aman,Rozi & Taleem) and what they mean to you as a Pakistani, and write an op-ed /blog in the media
• Help support our media out reach and town hall events with resources.
• Think of a better way than above to help spread ART across Pakistan.

Supporters of A.R.T

Dr. Tahir Ul Qadri, Maulana Ghamidi, Pervez Hoodboy, Akbar Ahmad, Syed Babar Ali, Amin Hashwani,Beena Sarwar, Dr.Samina Ahmad, Reza Aslan (author of How to win a cosmic war) Amy Tan (author), Stanley Wolpert (author of Jinnah) Dr.Azra Raza, DR.Tasnim Raza, Abid Shaban, Mehmal Sarfraz, Taimur Rahman (professor LUMS / Laal) Pakistani students Lums, Harvard, Columbia,Princeton, AIESEC, Dr. Mahjabeen Islam, Imraan Ghazali, Rashid rahman, Nosheen Rahman, Suhail Shaikh, plus hundreds of others.

“It’s time we understood that the Arts are huge drivers for change. Whilst many policy-makers consider the Arts to be a fluffy luxury in times of crisis, it is up to us – the creatives – not to simply produce good work, but to evaluate the success of it and to present it in a meaningful way. No where in the world is the potential for using the Arts to develop peace, jobs and education greater than in Pakistan”
- Caroline Jaine – artist, film-maker with a background in diplomacy and communication

“The 21st century is an era of connectivity and communication. The global community wants to see a strong and stable Pakistan become a vital place for A.R.T. ( peace,economic security and education).”
- Deepak Chopra

“Art transcends human frailty and weaknesses and elevates human emotions to levels that bring the best out in us. The Pakistan ART campaign promises to stir the soul of Pakistanis in these challenging times and elevate thought and action to a level that brings out the best in every human being. Most importantly, I am sure this campaign will kindle a strong desire in the hearts of Pakistanis to work towards peace with its neighbours and foster brotherly love between all those who are blessed to live in South Asia.”
-R K Pachauri, (Nobel Prize Winner)

“In my visits to Pakistan, I found a country facing tremendous difficulties with poverty, access to healthcare and education. But everywhere I went, I found a vibrant, optimistic people with a deep sense of culture and the arts. The ART campaign could not be better timed, especially for the youth of Pakistan. There can be no better effort to lift the spirits of all Pakistanis than to know that their culture and arts are gifts to be shared, not only with each other, but also with the whole world.”

-Jeff Skoll (Chairman of Skoll Foundation, co-founder and ex-President of E-bay,Chairman of Participant Production film company)

“Art enables us to look directly into the heart of the artist and appreciate his or her unique vision of the world, sense of beauty, nobility, compassion and empathy. The Pakistan Art Campaign will enable Pakistanis to appreciate the soul of their nation. And it will enable the rest of the world to look into the unique soul of Pakistan and – at a time of international tension – learn about the reality of Pakistan, which lies beneath the headlines, and come to a new understanding of the beauty, generosity, compassion and courage of the Pakistani spirit’. ‘I have come to love Pakistan and would like the world to see the country and the people as I do.”

- Karen Armstrong (Author and creator of the Charter for compassion)

“When I listen to people talk about peace efforts and concerns about Pakistan, I worry that much of the focus is short-sighted.  The future also depends on addressing the heart, soul, and mind of the younger generation–the children, youth, and young adults, those under 29, who constitute half of the world’s population.  Sooner than we think, they will decide what happens in an expanding world.  How can we prepare them to address the issues of peace that relate so much to poverty, disease, inequality, and lack of education?  One answer is obvious: By creating more gateways through the social media they are adept at using daily–Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, and other connection points.  That is where they create communities and have real-time dialogue about both shared interests and their uniqueness.
.
ART creates the new important portals for bridging communities.  Pakistanis are individuals with their own ways of thinking about their lives and their attitudes about the rest of the world.  ART emphasizes the daily, ongoing concerns of youth–jobs, education, and opportunities, what they need to take care of for themselves as  they look outward.  ART can go beyond the limitations of  world politics and diplomacy by going directly to the ongoing source for daily positive change:  children and youth.

I am grateful they have come on the scene. ”

–Amy Tan (Author & Activist)

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President Obama’s state of the union focused on investments into education and innovation as the key engines for maintaining USA’s leadership position in the long term. The same is equally applicable for developing countries like Pakistan. OPEN has been facilitating entrepreneurs in America for over ten years. OPEN joined hands with MIT to conduct Business Acceleration Plans as a way to doing the same in Pakistan.  It was felt that rather than focusing on start ups it would be socially more effective to take companies whose sales were $1M-$5M to the next level. This is the reason for naming it as an acceleration plan. BAP has impacted 120 companies over the last four years that it has been conducted.  The four finalists of the BAP were in Boston today and interacted with OPEN’s New England Chapter members.

As the global economy tumbled, and local conditions, both economic and political conspired to arrest their growth and development, alumni companies of the Annual OPEN/MIT Enterprise Forum of Pakistan Business Acceleration Plan Competition have somehow seemed to defy conventional wisdom and establish themselves as world class operators in their specific domains. You may not have heard of these entrepreneurs, nor their stories of entrepreneurial struggle and success, but it’s very likely that the products and services they provide intersect with your digital lifestyle here in the US, or directly impact the lives of friends and family members in Pakistan. Astronomical revenue growth rates that range from 3x to 50x (year over year and 3 year), addition of international operations and leverage of OPEN members’ reach and experience in international markets have made the OPEN/MITEFP BAP a signature event of Pakistan’s innovation economy.

The event for the finalists  was held at Cambridge Innovation Center, which houses nearly two hundred and fifty start ups in the Kendall Research Area of Cambridge MA.  Dr. Kenneth Morse, who has been instrumental in getting BAP off the ground, opened the event with an overview of what is happening around the world and how it relates to Pakistan.  He said that BAP’s objective was to create a vibrant and supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem for Pakistan’s ambitious tech entrepreneurs. He said that BAP was from conception tethered to OPEN and that it was the wind beneath our wings. The finalists of BAP are given one week intensive training at MIT and also get to visit most of the six OPEN chapters. There they interact and network with charter members.  Each of the OPEN chapter offers a different and complementary areas of expertise.

There were two winners this year. They were accompanied by two finalists as guest speakers.

Dr. Zakiuddin Ahmed, CEO NexSource - Joint Winner – 2010 OPEN/MITEFP BAP

Dr. Zakiuddin Ahmed is a visionary strategist specializing in developing innovative solutions for Healthcare Services through information technology. He holds the following positions in various companies and organizations: As a globally recognized speaker Dr. Zaki has presented on eHealth / mHealth in many international conferences around the world in the last 10 years. His list of “Pakistan’s First” include: First “Medical Call Center”, First “Hub & Spoke” Telemedicine model, First Family Health Membership Program, First Videoconferencing Studio and Services, First National & International Telemedicine / eHealth Conference and Exhibition, First TeleRadiology project, among many others. His areas of interest, expertise & experience are eHealth, mHealth, eMarketing & MedicoMarketing, eLearning, Videoconferencing & Web Conferencing, Medical Tourism & Medical Ethics.
Dr Ahmed holds a Bachelor’s degree in Medicine and a Master’s degree in Health Management and serves on the boards of various organizations.

Mr. Tanveer Sharif, CEO Vopium – Joint Winner – 2010 OPEN/MITEFP BAP

Tanveer Sharif is the founder and CEO of Vopium involved in the overall management of the company by starting it from scratch and listing it today on NYSE EURONEXT in Paris. He holds a B. Sc in Business Administration from Copenhagen Business School. He initiated his career in the IT field by working for Danish companies like Soft Design and Columbus IT partner. He also worked as an advisor for Danish Parliamentarians and various Danish ministries. In 2000, Tanveer Sharif joined a Not-for-profit organization where he was appointed CEO arm for Venture Cup. The main purpose of Venture Cup was to help entrepreneurs in their business start-ups. This was a successful venture for him where he created almost 80 companies and raised 40 million dollars in venture capital along with his team. In 2002- 2006, he worked as an elected member of Copenhagen County Council, where he represented his party in the Social and Health Committees. In 2010 he raised another 16 million dollars for Vopium, the largest investment that year in a Danish startup. He was runner-up for business leader of the year 2010, awarded by the crown princess Mary of Denmark.

Mr. Reza Samad, CEO Noblet – Finalist – 2010 OPEN/MITEFP BAP

Reza Samad is the founder and CEO of Noblet. His business experience spans over 15 years within the technology space. Having founded Pakistan’s Automated Clearing House (ACH) for banks (nift.com), he helped revolutionize the cheque processing system in Pakistan. NiFT currently handles 95% of Pakistan clearing instruments for all banks operating in the country. Reza simultaneously founded a logistics company that could handle the transportation of clearing instruments to and from bank branches 4 times a day across the country. The operation stands at over 400 people in 20 cities catering to over 200 cities/towns in Pakistan. Reza then established Noblet Consulting representing Manpower Inc (among others) in Pakistan. A host of Soft-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications covering HR, Admin and Finance have and are being developed for roll out across the MEAA region. Noblet made the top 5 companies in the MIT Business Acceleration Program 2010 competition.

Mr. Faisal Khan, CEO, Ovex Technologies – Finalist – 2010 OPEN/MITEFP BAP

Mr. Faisal S. Khan is the CEO of Ovex Technologies Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd and is a Chartered Accountant by profession. Prior to his joining Ovex Technologies, he has been working with KPMG TaseerHadi& Co. as a Partner for approximately a year and half. During his tenure of all inclusive 20 years, with KPMG TaseerHadi& Co. He spent two years with KPMG Oman, on international secondment. With KPMG, Mr. Khan has been involved primarily with assurance and some advisory work. His areas of expertise included banks and financial institutions, manufacturing concerns and retails businesses. He is well conversant with risk management and SOX requirements. He has also worked in an educational institution primarily in the field of Accountancy. He is a member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan.

The panel discussion was moderated by Imran Nasrullah, the Chief Business Officer of Massachusetts BioTech Council and Dr. Scharukh Jalisi, Directorof Boston Univerty’s  Head and Neck Oncologic Surgery. It was interesting to see that the Pakistani businesses are viewing the Middle East, Asia and Africa as areas of operation. They see these regions as not being adequaltely serviced by the established western corporations. It was exciting to see highly democratized technologies of communication and medical devices being effectively employed to deliver quality health care services to widely dispersed populations in the rural areas of Pakistan. With the infrastructure in place, these technologies and processes could be expanded to deliver other services like education. The are potentially 120 Million Pakistani who can eventually benefit from these efforts.

One thing that was evident right from the start is that the next generation of Pakistani Americans are now running OPEN. The young Dr. Bilal Zuberi, who runs VC fund, encouraged the participants to come forth with new ideas. He said that he could write a check for $200K today, without going through any process. This was also reflected by younger Pakistani students studying in the Boston universities also being present. The event was moderated Raza Sarwar is the new Vice President of OPEN New England chapter.

The Incredible OPEN Spouses

OPEN would not have been formed without the active participation of spouses. I would like to appreciate the incredible support provided by them to OPEN right from the early days to today. They were also present today to encourage the OPEN activities.

The Right Revolution

In conclusion I would like to observe that as we see revolutionary events unfold in the Middle East and Africa, that create the potential of great uncertainty but also hope;  a better way to bring about transformational change in developing countries is through innovation and entrepreneurial activities. Pakistani leadership in different domains have a unique opportunity to encourage their incredibly talented technology entrepreneurs to achieving their true potential. They also have an opportunity to leverage the Pakistani diaspora in speeding up the societal transformation that the burgeoning youth of Pakistan so desperately needs.

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Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs of North America “OPEN” is now in its twelfth year of existence.  At its core it is a philanthropic organization of like minded innovative and entrepreneurial people who contribute their time and efforts for the greater good of the society that they live in. Its top driven loosely coupled model of chapters has enabled it to grow to all corners of the US, extending its impact even outside these borders. Each chapter has evolved based on the inherent local business strengths as well as the level of support from the community.  In celebration of OPEN’s tenth anniversary in 2008 all the chapters got together at the organization’s  birthplace in Boston. During this event the leaders from different chapters presented their vision for the future. The purpose of this blog is to capture some of what has transpired since then.

Silicon Valley Chapter

OPEN Silicon valley is having the largest OPEN event called OPEN Forum on June 5th.. OPEN Silicon Valley has been proud of many firsts on behalf of OPEN. One of them was the start of the Annual conference in 2003. The conference has grown from a couple hundred people at the SAP Campus to up to 500 people now held at the Tech Museum in San Jose. There have been some renowned Keynote speakers and attendees including Imran Khan, President Pervez Musharraf, Governor Jerry Brown and various CEOs and Venture Capitalists from the Silicon Valley and beyond. Members and Charter Members from all other chapters attend annually and make it the most successful Pakistani American gathering in the US.

With regards to the forum, the Silicon Valley chapter has added some new things this year; one of which is the youth track (to appeal to generation y, young people and teach them how to organize their life and start their careers). A second new aspect of the conference is the birds of a feather session, the goal of which is to let the community come up with a topic that interests them and have their own small conference around the topic.

By and large OPEN SV is trying to broaden its appeal and reach out to the greater community beyond engineers and professionals. Two main target groups are women and young people.

In keeping with this goal, OPEN SV added the women’s leadership conference 2 years ago and it has had great success. The second part of broadening outreach is creating programs that people are interested in. To do this OPEN SV has introduced weekly sessions on Wednesdays where people can attend and pitch their ideas and in essence do what they want with OPEN’s facilitation. Lastly, OPN SV hosts mentor-ship breakfasts where small groups of people meet during breakfast with senior members of the organization to bounce ideas off one another and to gain insight from one anothers experience.

To sum up, OPEN SV is reaching out to more diverse groups of people and those who are currently underrepresented by the organization. OPEN SV is also moving towards being an organization that allows its members to personalize their participation. Allowing people to do and discuss what is important to them but with the help of the organization.

Chicago Chapter

Since its launch in January 2009, OPEN Chicago, the latest of the OPEN Chapters has hosted a number of events both individually and in partnership with other local organizations. The launch event featured both the professional and entrepreneur tracks and was attended by over 200 people including Executive Committee and Charter Members and of other OPEN chapters. Dr. Sergio Robello of Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University was the keynote speaker.  OPEN Chicago hosted a summer networking event in July 2009 in partnership with the Pakistan Students Association at DePaul University. In November 2009, it held its first Women in Leadership Forum‘’ featuring Nazneen Razi, EVP of Jones Lang Lasalle as a Keynote speaker.

Other speakers spoke about following their ambitions and founding personal and professional success were:

• Faheen Allibhoy -- Investment Officer, International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group)
• Ela Booty -- Supervising Editor, National Geographic School Publishing
• Dr. Rabia Bhatti -- Breast and General Surgeon, Resurrection Medical Center
• Ayesha Akhtar -- Founder, Mosaic Soap Bakery
• Chareen Goodman -- President, Consulting By Goodman, Inc.
• Alia Faiz -- President and CEO, Medfolio Inc.

The event was a huge success in the community especially the women leaders and the Executive Committee received countless requests to make such an event an annual feature.

OPEN Chicago started 2010 with a bang by hosting an MBA- To Pursue or Not to Pursue workshop in March. The purpose of this workshop was to discuss the merits and de-merits of an MBA and to provide the audience with a dialogue helping them with the complex question of ‘Should I pursue or should I not pursue an MBA?’.  The topic of next event scheduled for July 2010 is ‘The Entrepreneur within us – From Vision to Reality’ focusing on startups, business acquisition, financing and social entrepreneurship. One of the featured speakers of the event is Mas Khan, President and CEO of Subco Foods.

Houston Chapter

The Houston chapter covers all of Texas and held a variety of events ranging from those focused on developing young leaders, fireside chat with Bapsi Sidhwa, engagement with community and an event focused on Opportunities in the Green Tech Space.  Houston is considered as the energy capitol of the world; with more than 3000 energy related companies in all facets of the industry. As the world yearns for fossil fuel price relief and ways to achieve lower greenhouse gas emissions, over the next 10 years the Green Tech revolution is estimated to grow into a trillion-dollar annual economy.

Houston is also famous for the nations’ largest medical center. The chapter appropriately chose the topic: “Future of Healthcare & Energy Sectors and their Impact on Houston’s Economic Security.”

Opening topic in the main hall was “Invention to Innovation” by Sammy Haroon, Managing Director of the RBR Group and Sammy Bashir.  He said our lives have become digitized and because of that our distances have lessened. However to be successful in any enterprise, one needs to be innovative and innovation comes from solving issues of the day in timely fashion. “Just making money does not make someone a successful entrepreneur. Actually it is touching in a positive manner maximum number of lives by solving problems that makes someone more successful in the 21st century. There is need to have harmony in the tracheotomy in today’s wired world: Tracheotomy is Socio-Cultural, Intellectual, and Economical,” stressed Mr. Haroon.

After the workshops on Energy and Healthcare,  the keynote speaker Stephen Klineberg, Director of Urban Research Center of Houston at Rice University, gave an eye opening presentation on “The Changing Face of Houston: Tracking the Economic and Demographic Transformations Through 29 Years of Houston Surveys.” He explained how due to the efforts of immigrants, the Houston region recovered from the collapse of the oil-boom in the 1980s to find itself squarely in the midst of a restructured economy and a demographic revolution. He reviews the history of US, how at so many times in the history American policies were anti-immigrants and racists, but how then the same policies helped educated immigrants from Asia and Africa to come to USA in large numbers after 1965 to transform this country to a state, where pretty soon Non-Anglo will be majority in this country. He gave remarkable insights and the need to consider implications for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for Houstonians.

The Energy Track Panelists were

• M&A OUTLOOK,  Waqar Syed, MD , Macquarie Capital
• ENERGY AND TECHNOLOGY,  Dr Tauseef Salma, Chief Engineer Baker Hughes
• OUTLOOK FOR THE ENERGY SECTOR IN PAKISTAN,  Jamal Akbar Ansari, CEO, Akbar Associates
• FINANCING IN THE BRAVE NEW WORLD, Shauvik Kundargrami, RBC Capital Markets
• CAREERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY,  Doug Leyandecker, Leyandecker & Associates

The HealthCare Panelists were

• LAB TO MARKET, Arthur Sands, CEO Lexicon Genetics
• HEALTHCARE IN 21ST CENTURY  Dr Faisal Masud, Asst Prof, Health Science Center in Houston
• IT AND HEALTHCARE, Zubair A Faiz, Executive Director IT Group - HCSC
• CAREERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY, Amy Adams, Partner Healthcare Practice, Richard Wayne & Roberts
• STATE OF THE INDUSTRY AND HEALTHCARE REFORMS, Randy Zarin, UHY Healthcare Practice

New England Chapter

The Boston area being an educational and a high tech hub, the New England Chapter added OPEN Web Seminars to the mix of its activities. The idea here is to leverage the local high quality talent and capture what it has to offer in a more persistent manner on the web. These webinars have been recorded and once a critical mass has been acquired, they will be made available to OPEN members of all chapters.  The list of OPEN seminars held to date are:

• Clean Energy-what it’s all about.  by Imran Qidwai
• What’s HOT in Healthcare IT: Views from a Corporate Acquirer. by Mohamed Ali
• Zen and the Art of Life-Style Entreprenuerism. by Imran Khan
• Agile for Executives.  by Mario Moreira. Accompanying the book launch of “Adapting Configuration Management to Agile Team.

New England chapter also held an Open Career Fair focused on assisting professionals in educating them how to find the right jobs in a challenging economic climate. An event titled

“Monetizing the Innovation Economy…via Pakistan!” focused on showcasing some of the innovative new companies out of Pakistan.

New York Chapter

The New York area, in addition to being the center of Finance, has emerged as the hub of the “Converging” Media, Telecommunications and Technology Industries. The OPEN NY Membership is as diverse as the community, representing several industries such as Finance (Banking, Private Equity, VC and Hedge Funds), Consumer Products, Life Sciences, Health-care, Media, Telecoms and Technology.  They offer mentoring dinners and networking meetups. Over the years, OPEN NY has organized events focused on a diverse range of industries and  topics, including Hedge Funds, Private Equity, Women in Leadership, Pakistani-American Film-makers, Socially Responsible Entrepreneurship, Media and Telecoms, Career Management, etc.  Keynote speakers at OPEN NY events have included: Faran Tahir (leading Hollywood Actor), Prakash Melwani (one of the top Private Equity professionals), the late Ismail Merchant (luminary Filmmaker), Mark Coblitz (Head of Strategy for Comcast), Shirin Tahir-Kheli (Senior Advisor for Women’s Empowerment to the United States Secretary of State), among other successful entrepreneurs and professionals.

They spiced up last year with 2010 Go Global Fashion Event which focused on fashion designers and their innovative work from Pakistan.

Washington DC Chapter

Their first event of the year was “ Meet three CEO’s of MIT  -- OPEN awardees who won the OPEN – MIT BAP (Business Acceleration Program) 2009 competition.

Being in Washington DC, OPEN DC has the benefit of having close access to federal programs and policy. They also have access to a wide variety of personalities visiting the capitol from all over the world.  The chapter made use of this proximity by organizing fireside chats, which ranged from

• “Entrepreneurial Success and Social Change”  Keynote speakers Ms. Seema Aziz of CARE Pakistan.  Ms. Seema Aziz   has diligently built her social organization (CARE Foundation) which educates over 135,000 children through 190 schools in Pakistan. And Dr. Asher Hasan  of Naya Jeevan.   Dr. Asher Hasan is founder and CEO of Naya Jeevan, a non-profit that focuses on Micro Insurance for the urban poor.
• Pakistan 2030: what will it look like? Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy.
• Islamic Investing: A Viable Alternative? Monem Salam.
• Unleashing the Potential of People and Making Positive Change Happen. Todd Shea.
• Prospects of and Opportunities for Expanding Trade Relations between Pakistan and the rest of the World. Ambassador Abdullah Haroon, Permanent Rep of Pakistan to the UN.
• Round table conference with executives from BMA (an asset management company from Pakistan)

OPEN Global

Open National organization’s name was formally changed to OPEN Global to reflect it’s widening scope.  Its main role is to establish new chapters and to organize events that transcend the boundaries of individual chapters. The organization has been sponsoring Business Acceleration Plan competition over the last three years in Karachi, Pakistan. They have done this with collaboration with MIT Entrepreneurship Center. The winners of the plan get two months of mentoring in Pakistan and another two months in the USA. Some of the increases in the valuation of the winners of 2007 are:

• Sofizar US $ 800 K  -- US 15 M
• Aclchemy US$ 200K – US 1.2 M
• Tohfay     US $ 100K – US 1.M

President Obama and his administration have made entrepreneurship and innovation a top priority both in keeping America competitive on the global stage and as a key to economic recovery. The US government will be implementing a new Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship within the Department of Commerce, “will be geared toward the first step in the business cycle: moving an idea from someone’s imagination, or from a research lab, into a business plan.”

Separately, a study reported in Nature Biotechnology illustrated that 31% of US patents filed for global coverage in biotechnology had foreign born inventors. A testimony to the fact that immigrants to the United States power the innovation and knowledge economy.  Consider the fact that roughly 11% of the US population and 22% of college educated work force are immigrants.

The success of the US economy depends on large part on a highly educated, vibrant immigrant community.  Fear dominated politics represents a great threat to America’s recovery as xenophobia often drives current anti-immigrant policies.  The culture of fear, exemplified by short sighted policies has the ability to drive the global talent pool away from the United States.

Voice of America’s urdu service made a news report on OPEN that can be seen below.

As a commitment to the US economic success, OPEN Global must consider its role as a vibrant and dynamic diaspora in affirmatively contributing to the current Administration’s innovation agenda.  The business and entrepreneurial success of Pakistanis and Pakistani-Americans in the United States has been remarkable, yet it remains understated. As an ethnicity, our economic contribution across all sectors in the economy, particularly the knowledge economy remains strong-- moving forward, we aspire to also be recognized for this contribution.

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I had the good fortune of meeting three amazing Pakistanis who are in the process of changing the Pakistani society. They are young in years but mature and savvy in technology, business and the art of managing dynamic organizations. They share traits that are common to global entrepreneurs of self drive, respect for time, global market awareness,  getting quickly to the bottom of things and balancing priorities. All three of them got their education and training outside Pakistan and are now inculcating and mentoring Pakistanis with what they learned abroad.  As it turns out they are spearheading in the three synergistic technological areas of education, research and industry. Sometimes the stars get aligned and the right opportunities are given to people with the right credentials and motivations.

Dr. Qasim Sheikh

Dr. Sheikh is the CEO of ICT R&D fund that was created to fund research from the profits of the telecom sector in Pakistan. This is one of the great things that has happened for research in Pakistan.  It is unusual to find an academic with a strategic sense of research to maximize social impact.  His background of having worked in industry, research and academia is serving him well in his current role.  His vision is “to transform Pakistan’s economy into a knowledge based economy by promoting efficient, sustainable and effective ICT initiatives through synergistic development of industrial and academic resources”. Some of the notable ICT funded projects are

• Development of Open Source Human Machine Interface called OpenControl.

• Design and Implementation of Health Level 7 (HL7) Open Source Application for e-health Services

The aim of this project is to carry out research in healthcare by developing Health Level 7-based software framework in order to provide health services for diverse communities of the world. The envisaged development of HL7 middleware software will be focused on healthcare information systems already in use. The objective is to facilitate e-health services interoperable among various domains in the field such as laboratory, patient administration, pharmacy, billing and accounting etc.

• An Artificial Immune System Based General Purpose Intrusion Detection System

• Conversion of NGOSS Compliant, Web 2.0 Enabled Mediator, Rater and Biller Applications

Open source Billing and Customer Support software is a suite of applications that will fulfill all basic requirements of back office Billing and Customer Care of any Wireless or Wireline Service Providers.

• Massively Parallel Fingerprint Recognition System Architecture for Performing Multi Million Matches per Second

This project will develop a high speed FPGA-based scalable Fingerprint Recognition System Architecture. The architecture will be scalable for higher throughput applications. The project aims to develop algorithms, which can be efficiently mapped in Hardware for subsequent mapping on FPGA-based system. The project proposes to develop this massively parallel fingerprint recognition system architecture for performing multimillion matches per second for high-density applications.

He is in the process of establishing Centers of Innovations across Pakistan in

• Developing Next Generation Service and Network Management Systems
• SME Productivity Improvement
• eHealth
• Agriculture Sector
  
• Education Sector
  
• Energy Sector
• Security Sector

Dr. Arshad Ali

Dr. Ali is the Director General of School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS) and the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Islamabad Pakistan. He blends the diverse traits of an academic, administrator and an entrepreneur. When he showed me around the SEECS building, I was struck by the fact that he has established numerous relationships with industries in leveraging his educational facilities. This practical education is going to prepare NUST students to hit the ground running as they enter the work force. It also inculcates a culture of entrepreneurism which is so much needed in Pakistan.

He has over 90 publications to his credit in national and international conferences & refereed journals. He has been awarded gold medal by Pakistan Academy of Sciences and COMSTECH for IT research, Presidents’ Gold medal for best researcher of the year 2005 and “Distinguished Scientists of the Year 2006” award by Pakistan Academy of Sciences. Dr Arshad initiated research collaboration with Center for European Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland and earned the Associate Institute status of CMS-CERN for National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST). Dr Arshad formed a joint consortium with University of the West of England UK, Beijing Institute of Technology China , University of South Britteny France and NUST Pakistan.

You can see his interview with “In the Line of Wire” here.

Mr. Monis Rahman

It is difficult to do justice to Mr. Rahman in one blog. He has done more in his short lifetime than most of us can do in our entire life. He went from being a hard core chip designer working on the Itanium CPU for Intel into building world class portals on the web. Being a hardware engineer I can only marvel at the plasticity of his brain. What I found intriguing in listening to him was his drive and business sense that most of the engineers tend to lack. One of the lessons is that you don’t have to get an MBA degree to learn how to start and grow a company. His decision to go back to Pakistan when he was at the peak of his carrier in the US and change his skill set to make that happen, is a true sign of an entrepreneur willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve a goal. He is the CEO of Naseeb Network ” A Muslim Social Network”  and Rozee, the number one jobs portal in Pakistan. Even OPEN has collaborated with Rozee to create a jobs portal for the Pakistan Americans in the US at http://open.rozee.pk .

You can learn more about how he started his internet companies and where he is headed in the video below.

He likes to think big. His next endeavors are going to blend the web portals with cell phones and mobile devices to bring real time location centric services to the web.

These three gentlemen represent a new breed of entrepreneurs that will create the high margin intellectual property based industries that will be globally competitive. They are in the process of changing the social landscape of Pakistan by empowering everyone with the possibilities of acquiring advanced skills and deploying them efficiently.  They are Pakistan’s only hope in developing high value jobs and generate foreign exchange that will make her truly sovereign.

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Pakistan’s current export of engineering goods stands at around $243 million out of total exports of $19 Billion. If we are to also include $300 Million in defense oriented exports and $169 Million in Software products and services exports, the total high margin high tech industrial export is a meager $712 Million for last year.

Bulk of Pakistan’s exports is either in commodities or in textiles.Both these categories are low margin and resource intensive in nature. Because of Pakistan’s inability to generate foreign exchange it has to depend on unpredictable foreign remittances and foreign aid.This increased dependence is resulting in increasingly intrusive terms associated with such packages, as exemplified by the Kerry-Lugar Bill. The cost of maintaining the seventh largest armed forces cannot be maintained by export of commodities and textiles. The defense equipment unit costs are in the order of $80 Million per aircraft and $300 Million per submarine. This structural weakness is strategically going to have an adverse impact on Pakistan’s defense posture as well as the ability to provide an adequate standard of living for her increasing population. Pakistan has many things going for it that should help her in overcoming these shortcomings if the leadership decides to make the necessary structural changes and put into place longer term plans. Most developed nations transitioned from being agrarian societies into modern post-industrial societies over centuries. Pakistan on the other hand needs to make this transition within the next twenty years or it will slide even further backwards with respect to countries in its neighborhood.
There is no reason why Pakistan’s high tech exports over the next twenty year period should not be more than $60 Billion per year based on the number of quality engineers she creates and her investments defense and infrastructure. This will not happen in a haphazard manner of stove pipe thinking and lack of focus and planning. There is a need for establishing a long term plan (over 20 years) which focuses resources in just a couple of markets. By excelling globally in those markets will bring in the necessary Return On Investments (ROI). Pakistani defense forces have developed capabilities to produce complex weapon systems. No leading defense manufacturer in the world is run by a defense force. There are many reasons, too numerous to enumerate here. Pakistan needs to transition the defense industry to responsible civil ownership that is globally competitive. Pakistan can overcome lack of middle and top management by engaging the Pakistani technical diaspora. She needs to create an eco system that is conducive to the growth of technical entrepreneurs. We have the world’s premier manufacturing base in China that could be leveraged in all sorts of ways. The leading educational institutions and research laboratories should be challenged to create intellectual property to excel in the targeted industries. Some percentage of defense expenditure should be channeled to funding research in these institutes in a model similar to that of DARPA in the US. A public private venture fund needs to be created that will fund the startups in the selected areas. The pace can be further accelerated by buying foreign companies. The diaspora can identify and provide the senior management needed of these key technology acquisitions.
Should we choose to make these changes; the impact will be felt across the society as the new wealth can be channeled towards the well being of the general population.

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January 5^th., 2010

National University of Science and Technology is a combination of many colleges that were setup to take care of defense needs, as well as some others. Its main sprawling campus occupies a complete Islamabad sector of H-12. I had the opportunity to visit the campus in my recent visit to Pakistan and had the privilege of speaking at a seminar titled “Commercialization of Ideas”. There is a growing sensitivity at NUST to translate research being done there into the commercial domain. The three main speakers covered the subject from different perspectives.

From Mind to Market – Ms. Madeeha Owais
Business Acceleration Program – Mr. Azhar Rizvi
OPEN Platform Opportunities – Mr. Imran Khan

Dr. Arshad Ali (Director SEECS) opened the session by describing the research achievements by the NUST faculty and students. He also talked about the patenting activities undertaken by NUST. Ms. Owais focused on the different aspects of IP licensing. Mr. Rizvi talked about the success stories resulting from the three years of BAP activities and the establishment of angel network. The result of mentoring of BAP winners by MIT Enterprise Forum and OPEN has resulted in spectacular increases in sales as well as valuations. My talk focused on describing OPEN’s history, goals, structure and activities. I also shared my observations about Pakistani technology landscape based on running an operation in Pakistan for five years, and offered suggestions about how to effectively channel research and IP development. Secretary of IT, Mr. Nagibullah Malik, spoke about the government’s efforts to make IT as successful as the telecom sector. The seminar was attended by NUST faculty, students and business members who interacted with the speakers in the Q&A panel.

There are over a dozen research groups in the SEECS department alone. I was impressed by the works of Dr. Syed Ali Khayam in Network Security, Dr. Hafiz Farooq Ahmad in Semantics applied to Health solutions and Dr. Rehan Hafiz in Image Processing.

Dr. Qasim Sheikh educated me about the availability of considerable research money available through ICT R&D fund. This money is contributed through the profit of telecom operators and is available for any research area.

I had graduated from College of Aeronautical Engineering which is now part of NUST. The graduating class size of G courses was just twenty or so then. Despite this I was pleasantly surprised to see its graduates leading both in industry and academia. CAE was funded by US tax payer and modeled after US AFIT. If such a small college can make such an impact, NUST is destined to make a major impact on the technical future of Pakistan.

more photos at http://www.softserv-intl.com/NUST2010/

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by Imran H. Khan

Take a good look of the photo of Attock Fort as I am going revisit it towards the end. The use of term science and technology subconsciously suggests that science comes first and technology is a product of science. There is a growing sense in the West that this linear thinking is disconnected with reality. The new thinking states that most of the science could not have been made possible without the availability of technology. While this discussion is best left to people are a lot more cerebral, I would like to focus on the question of relative importance given to technology and science in the developing world in general, and Pakistan in particular. Countries like Pakistan have to make smart choices in terms of allocation of limited human resources and money. My experience in Pakistan leads me to believe that there is a simplistic view of technology and science. Now I know that every time I write “technology and science”, something in your brain says that this author is again miss-typing science and technology.  This is the mental programming which subconsciously makes us think of the science’s supremacy over technology.  So we have titles like “Minister of Science and Technology”.  Which is why most, if not all of them are scientists.  By choosing scientists to be in the leading positions in the policy making arm of the governments, results in policies that favor science over technology.  There is a lot of good science that can be performed in developing countries specific to the inherent uniqueness of their surroundings. Research in developing the right kinds of seeds, development of drugs against local diseases, material for construction suited to the local climate and terrain etc. are all worthwhile areas of research. But research in more general areas do not get the Return On Investment (ROI) as it does in developed world due to longer gestation period and lack of entrepreneurial structure.  By contrast, investments in technology are more immediate and contribute to a rapid creation of wealth.  The eight hundred companies created by just the MIT alumni, generate $60 billion every year.  Most in the Chinese Communist Party leadership have engineering degrees. I would argue that US was an ascendant power when engineers like Ford, Hughes, Hewlett Packard ran the companies, and has started to go down with leaders having MBA degrees.

Trying to formulate a science and technology (S&T) policy in the absence of a strategic development policy is like putting horse before a non existing cart. The web sites of the fifteen departments under the Ministry of S&T, have only a couple that have lists of projects. Most of the activities are procedural in nature. The research institutes are in many instances conducting developments of products that are implementations of existing products. It is a case of scientists attempting to do engineering.

There are some instances of commendable development under the leadership of Dr. Atta ur-Rehman in the recent past. Raising the salaries of teachers and investment in the infrastructure were steps in the right direction. Similarly increasing scholarships for studies abroad was a long term investment that will surely bring rewards. But these to me are hygiene factors. Identifying technical areas like biotechnology and nanotechnology as areas of investment are the result of bottom-up academic-centric thinking.

The first and foremost need is to identify markets of strategic importance that we would like to excel globally. In a highly connected world, the leaders of the respective markets tend to take the lion’s share of it. For any country to excel in any market there has to be something inherent in the eco system of the country that gives it an unfair advantage compared to other countries. If it was simply a matter of throwing money, then the oil rich Arab countries would be dominating many areas of the global market. In reality they are no where to be seen despite their incredible wealth. Timing is equally important in terms of investing in a particular market. Being too early results in a lower ROI due to small market size; being too late results in competition with established large players. Being a leader in a particular market takes a huge amount of human and monetary resources. So only a few markets can be realistically targeted. Nokia in Finland generates $60 billion in sales annually. It employs 40,000 engineers in its R&D. Pakistan produces only 10,000 engineers every year.

Mathematics is the language of both technology and science. My experience during running a technology company in Pakistan left a lot to be desired in the area of mathematics. This is very unfortunate as Pakistanis are inherently very good at mathematics. My sense is that the lack of capability is due to lack of good teachers. If there is anything worth importing from India, it is their mathematics teachers from Southern India. If that is too difficult to achieve due to political reasons, there are many other countries like Turkey where teachers could be brought in from to develop our teacher training programs.

Focus on high margin higher tech products. It is impossible to maintain the seventh largest armed forces in the world based on the export of grey cloth and textiles. The bulk of value creation in the world has moved away from manufacturing to Intellectual Property based products and services. We are lucky to have the geographic proximity to China, which is the manufacturing super power of the world. We are also very fortunate to have an all-weather relationship with her. The development of JF-17 jet fighter and PAKSAT-IR satellite in collaboration with China are steps in the right direction. This strategy would free a lot of capital from having to invest upfront in the manufacturing infrastructure. We should make learning Chinese mandatory in engineering universities.

Just like narrow focus is needed in identifying markets, the investment in infrastructure for achieving excellence can only be done effectively in one or two regions. Even in developed countries there are only a handful of centers of excellence like the Silicon Valley, Bangalore or the 128 technology highway. Once the market has been identified, we need to identify the region for making it happen.

We need to create and grow the engineer-entrepreneur class that under stands how to effectively compete in a global market. No amount of technology and research is any good if it cannot provide a return on investment. This can only be achieved under the leadership of a civilian entrepreneur class. Our existing Seth class is totally unfit for the task at hand. Pakistan is fortunate in this regards in having a large technical diaspora. Some of whom have now started to return. Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs of North America (OPEN) is engaged in Pakistan in conjunction with MIT in encouraging entrepreneurs in the IT area through Business Acceleration Plan competitions and the establishment of an angel network. OPEN is interested in starting a chapter in Punjab next, so that we can provide mentoring in areas other than IT.

There is a need for a cross department, industry, academia, defense think-tank that identifies the handful of narrow markets that the country will focus on excelling. Some of the global markets that could be potential candidates are listed below with their dollar size and the local advantage:

1. Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles ($12 billion). Domain knowledge of using them.
2. Video games ($40 Billion). Large number of software engineers
3. Medical Devices ($100 billion only in the US). Access to sales channels through the existing surgical tools industry.
4. Health IT. ($50 Billion). Software engineers and need to deliver low cost healthcare to a large and distributed population.
5. Micro Satellite and novel launch vehicles.

These are all innovation driven nascent markets with no dominant player. It is possible to buy some of the early leaders in the West at very low valuations in the current market to get a head start. I have just glossed over these categories. Within each market are a number of underlying technologies. The food chain in each market is quite sophisticated and offers opportunities that can be incrementally exploited.

Pakistan currently exports goods worth $19Billion each year. The technology based exports are a mere $200 million. Software exports are $2.8B and military sales $300 M. While these are small numbers for a country of 180 million people, they are the early rumblings of a high tech and high margin industry in a historically agricultural society.

The principal challenges in technology are fundamentally social in nature. They are:

1. Education system geared towards creativity.
2. High quality engineer-entrepreneur class that has a global vision.
3. Secure and inviting society with good infrastructure.
4. Trust in private enterprise with public and defense funding.
5. Protection of Intellectual Property.
6. Creation of Venture Capital.

The photo of the fort at Attock, taken by a British photographer William Baker in 1863, is the birth place of the famous hindu mathematician Panini. Panini was born in 520 BC and is credited as the forerunner of the modern formal language theory used to specify computer languages. Attock was the center of the Gandhara civilization that rose in 600 B.C. The fort was constructed during Akbar’s reign in 1581 and served well to protect his empire. During this period European nations of Holland, Spain, France and Britain were developing the technology of putting guns on sea faring vessels.

The great moghul empire was overwhelmed because they did not develop this technology. In fact the inhabitants of a very small and remote island got to rule the world because they perfected this technology.

Had Akbar invested in developing a seafaring Navy, the photo of the fort could easily have been of a Scottish Fort taken by an Indian. As luck would have it the British Army is once again roaming just 100 miles West of this fort today.

The Karakoram Highway that connects Pakistan with China ends very close to Attock. Pakistan’s premier technology center of Aeronautical Complex at Kamra is just few miles East of Attock.

Figure 1 Gandhara Airport, Islamabad

With the development of Islamabad Airport, NUST, GIK Institute, UET, Heavy Mechanical Complex, College of Aeronautical engineering , PINSTECH etc., the region between Islamabad and Attock is primed to become the hub of technology with the right kind of vision and leadership in technology and science. This region was great in six century BC, magnificent in the sixteenth and could once again become a model modern society where sub-continent sensibilities blend in with the Chinese and Western technologies to raise the quality of life of the surrounding regions.

This blog also appeared at Pakistaniat.com. You can see the comments that people have left there that add to it.

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by Imran H. Khan

As a teenager trying to decide what direction to take my life, I vacillated between the vision of the future painted by Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World“/Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” and Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged“/”Fountain Head“. Growing up in Pakistan, I could readily identify with Ayn Rand; and came to the conclusion that it is Prime Movers who create great societies and countries. Prime movers can exist in a number of specialties, adding value to the society in their respective domains. But within the spectrum of Prime Movers, engineer-entrepreneurs are the cream of the crop. This is in evidence in all the dominant countries of the world today. In late 90’s, a group of Pakistani American business leaders got together to create Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs of North America (OPEN) in Boston. Since then five new OPEN chapters have come into being in different US large cities. We celebrated the Tenth Anniversary of OPEN’s founding in October last year. I am continuously amazed at the level of commitment and charity by OPEN’s charter members who contribute their precious time and money to galvanize entrepreneurism within the Pakistani American community.

This is manifestly evident by visiting their web sites at

http://www.opensiliconvalley.org/

http://www.openwashingtondc.org/

http://open-newengland.com/

http://www.opennyc.org/

http://www.open-chicago.org/

http://www.open-houston.org/

It is relatively easy to start an organization, but very difficult to grow and sustain it at an ever increasing manner over the years. OPEN’s success in doing so is remarkable for such a small and young community; transitioning from the immigrant status and struggling against adverse stereo typing and press. I wrote an article capturing the Tenth Anniversary Event that provides some historical back drop to OPEN that is provided below.

Ten Years of Connecting People with Ideas

Download (PDF, 374.88KB)

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The powerpoint of the presentation is shown below.

Zen and the Art of Becoming a Lifestyle

This information would be useful to potential or existing indepent consultants. Some of the details are somewhat US centric. But most of the presentation holds valid across the world.

The essence of the presentations is:

• If you are over thirty and have a marketable skill set, you should seriously consider independant consulting.
• Structure the practice as an enterprise to maximize profit and longevity.
• The marketing strategy should be oriented towards the pull side rather than push. This implies writing articles and presentations at the relevant conferences.

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