South Asia Investor Review

Satellite images provided by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) show that greenery in Pakistan has been growing at double digit rates over the last few decades. All of this rapid greening of the country is the result of  intensive agriculture  in Punjab and Sindh provinces. Greening Trends in Asia. Source: NASA Earth Observatory “China and India account for one-third of the greening, but contain only 9 percent of the planet’s land area covered in vegetation,” said Chi Chen, the lead author of a study he did with Ranga Myneni at Boston University. “That is a surprising finding, considering the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from overexploitation.” The Boston University research team found that "global green leaf area has increased by 5 percent since the early 2000s, an area equivalent to all of the Amazon rainforests. At least 25 percent of that gain came in China. Overall, one-third of Earth’s vegetated lands are greening

The Organization of Pakistani-American Entrepreneurs (OPEN) hosted a dinner on Wednesday Feb 20, 2019, for young tech entrepreneurs from Pakistan who came this year to  Silicon Valley  to attend StartUp Grind Global Conference. About 50 people, including 20 from Pakistan, attended the event. L to R: Shahjahan Chaudhry, Jahan Ara, Riaz Haq, Rehan Jalil StartUp Grind: StartUp Grind describes itself as a "global community of entrepreneurs connecting 1.5 million entrepreneurs in over 500 chapters". It has chapters in all major Pakistani cities.  StartUp Grind  organizes a global conference every year in Silicon Valley. Young Pakistani Entrepreneurs with Riaz Haq Pakistani participation in this conference is growing with 40 delegates this year, up from 24 last year. Arzish Azam, founder of Ejad Lab, organizes this annual pilgrimage of Pakistani techies to Silicon Valley every year under the banner of Pak-US Technology Exchange. Participants pay their own expenses. 

This winter,  Monis Rahman , a senior technology executive in Lahore, and his family decided to forgo their skiing spot of choice in the Alps to explore Pakistan’s Naltar Valley and its  skiing facilities . Monis, an experienced techie from  Silicon Valley , is an entrepreneur behind ROZEE.PK jobs site, SimSim mobile payments wallet and EasyTickets online ticketing platform in Pakistan. Read on to discover the how and why of this fun-filled trip to a winter wonderland. Here's Monis' interview with Asma Chishty of popular Pakistani travel site  Destinations.com.pk : Asma Chishty: Was this your first trip to Naltar Valley? How would you describe the place to potential visitors? Monis Rahman: Yes, this was our first trip to Naltar and the first to Gilgit and Hunza as well for that matter. Naltar Valley has incredible raw beauty with picturesque mountains, flowing rivers and unpaved roads. Reaching it is a bit of an adventure, but that just adds to its charm. It is located betw

Pakistan has a 1,000 kilometers long coastline on the Arabian Sea with maritime sovereignty over 200 nautical miles deep Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and 150 nautical miles of Continental Shelf. This adds 290,000 square kilometers of sea or about 36% of the country's land area open for tapping vast resources in it. Pakistan's "Blue Economy" in this extended economic zone includes seafood and energy resources as well as international trade connectivity with the rest of the world. It offers opportunities for water sports, recreation and tourism in the coastal areas of Pakistan. One sign of the recognition of Pakistan's blue economy is the ongoing three-day International Maritime Conference organized on the theme of ‘Global Geopolitics in Transition: Rethinking Maritime Dynamics in the Indian Ocean Region’ under the auspices of National Institute of Maritime Affairs. Offshore Energy Resources: A Pakistan Basin Study conducted in 2009 found that the country ha

Pakistani-American venture capitalist Asad Jamal hit it big with Baidu, China's search giant worth over $90 billion in market capitalization today. Jamal founded ePlanet Capital in Silicon Valley in 1999 and became an early investor in Baidu at its founding in 2000. Asad Jamal In addition to its search business, Baidu also runs an  e-commerce  platform with an online payment tool, develops and markets web application software, and provides human resource related services. Here's is how Jamal  has described his experience  of working with Baidu's founder Robin Lee: "I first experienced this  Chinese tech  dynamism when, inspired by the late-1990s Internet start-up culture, I moved to  Silicon Valley  and founded ePlanet Capital, a venture capital firm. I was new to the field and unsure what to expect. In 2000, I met Robin Li, a Chinese entrepreneur in his twenties who was seeking funding for his new company, Baidu. Based on conventional investment criteria, Ba

Imaad Zuberi, a Pakistani-American venture capitalist from California who gave $900,000 to  President Trump ’s inauguration committee in 2016, has been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in New York's Southern District. Imaad Zuberi and President Barack Obama Zuberi's donation paid for a breakfast event, which featured Trump’s first National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, among its 60 or so guests. It also included representatives from several countries around the world, according to media reports. Prosecutors suspect Zuberi funneled money from foreign donors which is a violation of the US Elections Laws, according to media reports. Imaad Zuberi is vice chairman of private equity and venture capital firm Avenue Ventures. He has “closed over $15 billion in transactions” at the firm,  according to his Linked-in profile. His firm's clients include start-ups, major corporations and sovereign wealth funds. Prior to donating to the Trump campaign, Zuberi is known to ha

Fitch Solutions, a global company focused on credit, economic, and political research, says in its latest report that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor  (CPEC) will drive Pakistan's construction industry in the next decade, as the risks associated with CPEC projects recede. Fitch forecasts that the real annual growth rate of Pakistan's construction industry will average 8.9% over the next 5 years. "We will adjust our forecasts to account for possible positive ripple effects across the economy, including the construction industry, in the event an IMF bailout is secured", the report adds. Fitch Solutions' report titled "Industry Trend Analysis - CPEC to Remain a Primary Driver of Pakistan's Construction Industry" says: "We expect debt concerns surrounding CPEC projects to ease after financial details are released. In addition, we believe political risks associated with CPEC projects have diminished since the 2018 Pakistani general elect

The West, particularly the United States and Canada, are geographically far removed from South Asia. This distance makes many think that any  nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan  would not have a significant impact on life in America and Europe. Dr. Owen Brian Toon and Professor Alan Robock dispute this thinking. They believe the nuclear winter following an India-Pakistan nuclear exchange will kill crops as far as the United States and cause a global famine. Another study by Nobel Peace Prize- winning International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and Physicians for Social Responsibility reached the same conclusion. Professors Robock and Toon have calculated that the smoke from just 100-200 Hiroshima sized atomic bombs exploding in South Asia would cover the entire globe within two weeks. This smoke would hang 30-50 miles above the surface of the earth where it never rains. This thick layer of smoke would block the sun causing farmers to lose their crops for yea