Background:
My name is Ammar, and I have been living in Houston, Tx for the last 6 years. I completed my undergrad in computer science from University of Houston in 2005 and am just about to finish my MBA from Rice University. I also have been working full time since 2005 in a software firm here in Houston as a software engineer.
After spending all this time in the States, I am seriously thinking about moving back to Karachi (where my family lives) or somewhere closer to my family (e.g middle east). I am currently single and will have to partially support my family financially once I finish grad school.
The conundrum
Currently I’m considering 2 career options:
- Find a job somewhere in the Middle East (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain etc) and settle down over there. I will still be living away from my parents but will have a better standard of living and Karachi will only be a couple of hours away. Expected starting salary is about 15K Dirham/Month – with my expenses being around 10K /month.
Opportunities via this route:
- Get further relevant work experience after my MBA and position myself to work up the corporate ladder in the middle east region.
- Take my current US job with me to Pakistan and work remotely from Karachi. Expected monthly salary is Rs. 180K. Monthly expenses around Rs. 50K/month. My manager can only guarantee this job to exist for about a year and half. So, I might be jobless after 18 months or it could even go on for longer (depending on the work that needs to be done). I have been working in this firm (Lets call this company Xyz Technologies) for four years now and have a thorough understanding how the whole system works etc.
Opportunities via this route
- Besides doing my regular job, I can try and get more projects from Xyz Technologies and hire a few people in Karachi and try to do most of their software development in Pakistan. This would give me a good boost to start my own business in Pakistan, but I would be dependent on ONE client for some time until I get my act together and find more clients.
- I can start participating part time in my father’s small business in Karachi while I’m working my xyz technology job. He’s got a small setup in the garments industry with both local and a small exports arm. My father will probably retire in 5-7 years, so I’m hoping to learn the ropes from him and then if I loose my xyz job in 18 months, I can work with my father full time.
- Since I’m currently single and have little responsibilities, I can take the risks associated with dumping the cushy corporate level job and try out on my own. I have two opportunities, starting my own tech business and working with my dad, while still making decent money to support myself. I might not get a chance like this later on in my life (esp when I have more baggage to carry around)
Problems via this route
- Everybody tells me that I might be wasting the $70,000 I spent on my MBA if I just wanted to go work in some dusty factory in Pakistan. Even though I dont completely agree with that, I do believe that I have a better chance of securing a good job in the middle east right now (when Im coming from the US) and a fresh graduate compared to later.
- I might be out of work in about 18 months if things dont work out .. am I willing to take that chance?
- I’m pretty sure I can do it, but everybody in Pakistan (including my family) keeps telling me that I’m too naive and spoiled by the good business ethics in the US. Doing business in Pakistan is really horrible and I won’t be able to adjust easily. Everybody is trying to get out of Pakistan .. I’m just crazy if I wanna go back there!
I’ve tried to paint the big picture here .. and I’m sorry this email has become really long .. but I hope people at pkstudent can give me some advice regarding this .. especially by somebody who is working currently in Pakistan.
What do you think I should do ?
Thanks
Ammar
No related posts.
Hi Ammar,
Younas had asked me to take a look at this and offer some advice.
I wish you well but to be fair and honest there isnt any substantial answer that I could give that would help with your decision.
The dilemma you’re faving is your standard “should I jump on entrepreneurship or strike it in a corporate life?” question and there’s really no answer to this at all – even in the 8 startup insiders events we held with CEOs and entrepreneurs from all over the PK industry we couldnt get an answer out.
There are some perspectives that came out regarding this question:
- Some people start companies because they’re just so proactive that they dont have the appetite or patience for corporate approvals. Really.
- Others go in the self-employment route because they like risk, they love succeeding against all odds. They’re the time who’d run into an enemy battlefield carrying only a knife.
- Having an MBA will put you into a possible disadvantage in your own business – MBA knowledge applies very well but only when a company is a certain size. Applying MBA thinking on much smaller sizes can often be suicide when the person tends to trust so much on the MBA that he forgets to learn the new rules of the game with entrepreneurship. If you’re a sharp learner and adapter though, you’ll do fine.
- You should never think of starting a startup for money, or because you’re free and have nothing better going on. That desire will unbalance your decision. You need to think about money AFTER launching a startup for some other purpose – A startup will typically require 2 hrs of sleep / day for the first year, and no amount of money and “part-time trying things out” will make you push that hard.
From that angle, if you’re deciding between a startup and money, my first thought might be that you may not be ready for a startup’s grueling lifestyle yet, so consider the place with the most money and stability and go for that.
On the other hand, you’ve got atleast a good lead to *start* the startup – the most difficult part is building an initial projects profile and finding a client willing to support you through your youngest, roughest times and you seem to have one already. So that increases your chance for a “projects based business” considerably.
Note: I dont think too highly of “projects based businesses” because they will never be able to scale beyond a certain point in this industry, and never really become a global initiative to reckon with (my opinion but shared by many) – I only call something a startup which is focused 100% at solving an important global problem with innovative thinking.
Those “startups” have no affect from the bad business ethic in Pakistan (which does exist) because they’re solving a global problem and talking to global clients.
Those people get a lot more respect from me compared to people just trying to make short-term money via adsense supported portals or pretentious businesses.
See? I told you I didnt have much to say that would help with your decision – in fact I threw in a rant for free
Good luck-
Osama.
http://greenwhite.org
Ammar
The decision to head back home and the impact on your life over the next two years is going to depend on a number of personal factors. The most important being “Do you want it to work?”.
If you do, you already have a number of positives working in your favor. You come from a startup family, already have a customer that you have worked with for the last four years and have a head start of about 18 months to work things out in your head.
As far as Middle East is concerned. The only word I have for you is don’t. You will find working for yourself and living with your family in your home town a lot more fulfilling than working for a few dirhams more. Plus your ME experience, just like Pakistan, will be dependent on what you end up doing and who you end up working with.
Your MBA would get put to much better use here at home working for yourself or your father than it would be in ME. I know this goes against conventional wisdom but your own business is a lot more receptive to changing ideas and trends than an external employer. It is your own sandbox where you can set the rules and not follow some one else’s idea of what will work or what wont.
Ethics and moral compromises are a personal choice. The environment has an impact but ultimately you are responsible for what you do. The myth of Pakistan being a more difficult place to run a business is just that – a myth. I am not saying it’s easy, I am saying it is difficult every where not just here.
On a different note, if you do decide to head back home, be prepared for a transition period of about two months for every year you have been out of this country. In this period, you will wake up every third day and want to run away. If you survive that, you will be driving like a rickshaw driver and living comfortably like a native. It is not going to be easy.
The right perspective is not eighteen months. It is two decades. If you do ME, two decades down the road you will be an expat who will find it next to impossible to settle back home (would you want to?). If you opt for home and working for yourself, who knows what you will be able to do with your father’s business or your relationship with your current employer. There is only one way to find out…
Best of luck
Jawwad
Osama,
Thank you for such a detailed reply. I have a lot of personal reasons for moving back and I’m willing to give it all I have, to make this work. So there is fierce motivation present … I dont know if I’ll get a better opportunity to make the leap later on in my life. I think I have more chances of surviving on 2 hours sleep per night along with little money, right now, compared to if I attempt something like this 10 years from today.
And I totally agree with you on the project based business. I’m not such a big fan of that either. I do have some product based ideas that I’ve been mulling over in my head for some time and I’m itching to give those a shot once I get to Pakistan. But in the meantime I’m hoping that the revenues from some of these projects will give me the initial push and allow me to survive initially.
Thanks
Ammar
Jawwad,
Thank you for your insight. It does seem like a good opportunity to make the move and make the most out of this situation. Like I said in my previous comment, I dont think I’ll have the guts to do something like this 10 years from today if I choose the corporate path and put off the decision until later.
I read about your struggles with Alchemya in your blog and it’s quite inspiring as well as scary. But like you said … I won’t find out until I try. So lets hope it all goes well.
Thanks,
Ammar
Ammar
You are very welcome. You are looking at it correctly. You can afford to be hungry, broke and sleep deprived now. There are people who have done it when they are 50 but if you can give it a shot now, why not?
Jawwad
Ammar,
You might want to read this blog entry from an expat Pakistani who returned back to Pakistan a couple of years back.
http://backtopakistan.com/
Thanks for sharing the blog link Ammar. I am stuck in a similar situation. It was quite a bit of guidance
I’m in a similar situation and think about the move everyday, even though i have a successful career here in the UK and no plan of what i’m going to do when i go back. But it has to be done. Good luck to all those who are going to do it.
Hey guys,
Here’s another excellent article by a guy named Nauman Sheikh about how to weigh the decision regarding your move back to Pakistan. He’s got a simple score card to determine the chances of your move being a success. It’s a really practical way of approaching this decision.
http://nedians.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1119293%3ABlogPost%3A40984
(check out the pdf file for the complete article)