IT Minister Sindh Mr. Mustufa Kamal Visits New Jersey unit.
(April-26-2004)

MQM Minister IT, Mr. Syed Mustafa Kamal spoke to a large group of people on April 10, 2005 in New Jersey. Mr. Kamal shared valuable information with the Pakistani Community. He discussed the huge demand of high-tech outsourcing services mainly in the Call Center area, and encouraged all Pakistanis to invest in this business.

The saturation of the Indian market and thick Indian accent of the operators have opened the door for companies to look at Karachi for their next/alternate low cost destination for offshore Call Centers. Mr. Kamal shared the view of promoting the call centers sector; and the city of Karachi would become "cyberachi". The IT Minister informed, for the provision of infrastructure for call centers, the government had decided to hire a building with a capacity of 5,000 seats as part of provision of infrastructure for the call centers. He said arrangements were also being made for the training of 1,000 jobless graduates as call center agents.

Recruitment in all leading call centers is a very competitive process, where all candidates are put through a series of rigorous selection tests and interviews. At the end of his informative speech, Mr. Kamal answered all the questions raised by the potential investors. He addressed the issues of political instability, security, and frequent power outages are other factors that hamper the growth of the industry. As for the power problem, the investors do not even rely of K.E.S.C., they install their own power generator guaranteeing 24/7 uninterrupted supply.

The minister pointed out Karachi in general and the province of Sindh in particular was ideal for investment in the information technology sector. He also assured the Sindh IT Department's every possible co-operation and incentives for the investors in the IT sector.