This story originally appeared in the September 2011 edition of the Searchlight South Asia newsletter created by Intellecap for the Rockefeller Foundation.

By Usha Ganesh

In an attempt to deal with the mounting energy crisis in the country, the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet in Pakistan has approved a new framework for operational and maintenance contracts that essentially handover management of power generation companies to the private sector for a period of 10 years.

This move is expected to improve efficiency at the power plants, which are currently maintained and operated by the government, and increase power supply to the tune of 1,243 megawatts of electricity. The cash-strapped Government of Pakistan cited paucity of resources and capacity to undertake the much-required upgrade for these power plants as the main reason for privatization. This move would also mean a reduced subsidy burden for the government, which otherwise bears the differential between a higher cost of production and a lower distribution cost. » Continue reading “Privatization of Pakistan’s Power”

This story originally appeared in our May 19th, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

It’s hard for either the government or the private sector to completely serve poor populations. Oftentimes, the best way is to team up. We look at a private-public partnership providing clean water and sewage services in Pakistan.

Water is an essential ingredient for life, but 1 billion people – or nearly 1 in 6 of the planet’s population  – do not have access to clean water. Many see it as a government imperative to provide its citizens with clean drinking water, but what happens when the government can’t meet that need alone?

In the Union Council 60 area of Lahore, Pakistan, the drinking water was contaminated with sewage causing residents to suffer from cholera, typhoid, diarrhea, dysentery and Hepatitis A. More than half of the residents were unhappy with the quality of the water, but only 5% were aware that boiling the water could improve the quality.

The Government of Punjab wasn’t able to meet the need on its own so it called upon Anjuman Samaji Behbood (ASB), an NGO working on integrated models for water and sanitation in Pakistan, to implement their participatory planning model – where communities are involved in the planning – in the area. » Continue reading “Partner for the Greater Good”

This story originally appeared in our December 31, 2010 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

In Pakistan, the young and poor struggle to afford a home of their own. A successful low-cost initiative offers a solution.

By Usha Ganesh from Intellecap

With increasing rural-urban migration and the relatively young population of Pakistan, demand for low- income housing is expected to grow to alarming proportions. And yet, this demographic may find it impossible to invest in owning a home in a major urban area.  Nearly 30% of Pakistan’s population lives in rented homes. As per a monthly cash flow presented in Acumen Fund’s Working Paper on Property Rights, families with an average monthly income of US$118 (Rs 5,310) end up saving only US$12. With an average plot costing US$4946, it would take over 30 years to meet this cost.

Saiban, a Pakistan-based NGO, has a successful model with its Khuda Ki Basti-4 (KKB-4) initiative, currently being implemented near Lahore. It engaged the House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC) to offer mortgage loans to the poor. One of the few developers to apply for legal permits for construction from the local Tehsil Municipal Corporation, the Saiban team had to work very hard to obtain the permits and raise capital for actual construction. » Continue reading “Pakistan’s Low-Cost Living”

Sattar is leading the way for entrepreneurial women in Pakistan.

After a trip to Pakistan in May, Beyond Profit has created a multi-part series, The Other Side of Pakistan, about a side of the country you may not have heard about before. We look forward to your comments and questions.

I can’t get a word in edgewise. I’m sitting in Maimoona Sattar’s office, trying to have a conversation about women in business in Pakistan, but between the two phones in Ms. Sattar’s ears, her office assistant, and a potential woman entrepreneur, I’m the lowest rung on the ladder of priorities. If Ms. Sattar is any indication of the big picture, the tables are turning for women in Pakistan.

Ms. Sattar is the head of the Women’s Business Incubation Center (WBIC), (a project of SMEDA which we covered last week), and an entrepreneur in her own right. She’s been charged with increasing the number of female small and medium enterprise owners in Pakistan. “Look,” she tells me matter of factly, “Pakistan is half women. How can women just be consumers? They have to produce something, something other than children.”

» Continue reading “The Other Side of Pakistan: Entrepreneurial Women”

After a trip to Pakistan in May, Beyond Profit has created a multi-part series, The Other Side of Pakistan, about a side of the country you may not have heard about before. We look forward to your comments and questions.

Small potatoes. That’s what one might call 99% of enterprise in Pakistan. These “small businesses” comprise most of the enterprise activity in the country. Many of these entrepreneurs prefer to keep it that way. Whether keeping afloat a family business passed down by a relative, or running a small shop or food stall, Pakistan’s entrepreneurs fail to see the potential of growth. But, there is movement in the medium-sized enterprise category, which can make a great impact in a developing economy. In Pakistan, these businesses are employing 100-250 people, and hold assets up to US$300,000. The challenge is to encourage and help them to grow.

Were the government not preoccupied with terrorism and poverty reduction, perhaps they would do more to support this sector. A deft move was to outsource this work to SMEDA, the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority, a decade or so ago. The organization, operating out of Lahore, hangs in the balance between government and the private sector. » Continue reading “The Other Side of Pakistan: Medium Enterprises on the Rise”

Saiban Office, Karachi

About forty-five minutes from the city center of Karachi, the land starts to stretch into a flat field of dust. The Karachi wind is strong, and if you turn your head the wrong way at the wrong time, you’ll get a mouthful of sand. Plastic bags from a nearby landfill get caught in the shrubs creating ugly fake plastic trees. Of late, this land is being snatched up by Karachi’s land gangsters: land mafia, land suppliers, middlemen, and illegal sub-dividers.  But, years ago, before anyone wanted this land, a man named Tasneem Siddiqui envisioned this as a field of dreams and staked his claim.

Siddiqui is the founder of Saiban, a housing development organization targeting the low-income population. Here in this dusty expanse, Saiban has created a township of 2,800 houses. This settlement is a unique joint venture between the government, who gave the land, and Saiban, who took on the onus of developing it for the low-income segment. In return, Saiban got 100 extra plots to sell at market rate, which serves as a revolving kitty for the project.

In the last issue of Beyond Profit, we published an article called What’s Wrong with Being Poor. As I toured the settlement, I thought of that question, and came back with the answer. I was looking at it. » Continue reading “The Other Side of Pakistan: A Room of One’s Own”

Lack of Access to Financing  – A Case in Pakistan

A recent survey conducted by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority in Pakistan is a clear case in point of how SMEs struggle from lack of access to formal financing opportunities.

According to the results, only 16% of SMEs surveyed applied for bank loans in the last two years; more than half of these applications (53%) were rejected. In fact, a great majority of SMEs resort to personal connections for financing.