TiECon 2001

The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE), an organization dedicated to the advancement of entrepreneurship with its roots in Americans of South Asian descent and now expanding globally, held its largest annual event called “TiEcon 2001 Entrepreneurship-Back to Basics” at the Westin Hotel & Santa Clara Convention Center between Friday – Sunday June 22-June 24, 2001. And in spite of the recent downturn in the hi-tech business/industry as reflected in the stock market valuation of companies that till recently could just not do anything wrong, the dark clouds that currently hover over many a dream of young technology startups trying to either attract Venture Capital or in the process of attempting an IPO (Initial Public Offering) in the year of the piranha on Wall Street, the attendance level and enthusiasm at this TiEcon defied previously lowered expectations. And to this, one is pleased to report that 2001 was the first year that Pakistan was officially represented at and welcomed by TiE.

That the TiE Organization can attract John Chambers President and CEO of Cisco Systems, Carly Fiorina, President and CEO of Hewlett-Packard, and Vivek

Ranadive Chairman, Founder and CEO of TIBCO Software, to deliver the keynote speeches, speaks volumes of the kind of clout that TiE in particular and the South Asian Community in general have been able to retain in Silicon Valley, the hi-tech Capital of America (and the world).

As the theme of this year’s conference suggests the “back to basics” approach was pondered over at length by John Chambers of Cisco Systems who spoke very eloquently about survival during market transitions. For close to an hour John commanded the stage and in a very impressive delivery spoke of the of Cisco, its current challenges and the future. “You have to retain the ability to thrive in change”, he said. He also stressed the need to increase productivity and cost-cutting to maintain a competitive edge.

HP CEO Carly Fiorina in her much shorter keynote followed on a more positive note. “The internet era has only just begun”, she said. She reflected on how “the powerful shift to a global communications medium” was causing “a power shift from institutions to individuals.” In the question and answer period she ended on a very touching note on the need for business to learn from the villages of Bangladesh and India amongst others what they could not learn from Silicon Valley.

It would not be possible to cover the events of a 3-day conference in this one report or even to list the sub-events or even list all of the speakers and the topics of discussion here. With three tracks going at the same time with standing room only at some venues and the various companies showcased during this time, and the mini-conferences going on, this report will have to concentrate on the Pakistani perspective only for Saturday.

As mentioned earlier, this was the first year that TiE officially recognized its newly formed Karachi and Lahore Chapters. This was also the first year that it hosted a official Pakistani delegation headed by Dr. Atta-ur Rahman, the current Minister of Science and Technology. Dr. Atta also participated in an official press conference (conducted by Idris Kothari) titled “Globalization”, held at 5 pm on Saturday in which he gave details of the infrastructure related changes that that have been implemented in Pakistan to facilitate the development of IT related business and the attractive access to educated men and women that Pakistan can provide along with many tax exemption incentives. Dr. Atta said that a large part of the country now has access to the internet and that bandwidth has increased tremendously, lowering costs considerably. He said that over 1800 kiosks are being set up in Pakistan at Petrol Pumps (gas stations). He also mentioned the names of some private enterprises that are setting up shop in Pakistan in the IT arena, specifically Align Technologies which is setting up a huge campus in the Lahore area.

Also present at the press conference were Shaikh Khalid Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his advisors from Dubai and Vivek Kulkarni who was promoting Banglore as an IT attraction. TiE President Kailash Joshie took the same opportunity to promote a very interesting book put together by Gurmeet Naroola called “The Entrepreneurial Connection”.

Over the afternoon the “IT Board” held a long meeting with Dr. Atta and Salman Ansari, Advisor to the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Pakistan. Spearheaded by Idris Kothari, Sohaib Abbasi and Safi Qureshey and attended by a number of other people from both Pakistan and the US, this was a gloves off approach taken to discuss the problems associated with setting up and attracting the IT Business In Pakistan. “The objective is to make Pakistan a billion dollar player within four years(in IT)", said Dr. Atta.

Just to name two companies amongst many showcased at the event, it was a pleasure for Pakistan Link to visit the booths of XSP Software and Barbedwires Technologies, both founded and managed by young Pakistanis and see them promoting their business.

After the recent success of VpNet and meeting Idris, Zoaib Rangwala and Saeed Kazmi, its founders at this event, one can add that TiE has provided encouragement to many. One can also hope that Ahmed Allauddin and Moidul Hassan of TiE Karachi and Khalid Chowdhry of the TiE Lahore Chapter amongst others can also similarly benefit someday.

The last event for Saturday was the Dinner and Entertainment without which no TiE event is complete. Zain Jeewanjee gave us the bad news that Comedian Moin Akhter could not make it from Pakistan but the variety of food from Chandni Restaurant and the melodious voice of Sonali Vajpayee (this lady can sure sing) and the gregarious Bali Brahmbhatt (Mr. Excitement) kept everyone very well occupied and had may people tearing up the dance floor.

In spite of the many difficulties “back home”, the majority Indians and the minority Pakistanis (and other South Asians) continue to work very well together here (and have done so for quite some time). But by the arrival of TiE Chapters from Pakistan and by the inclusion this time of Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, the top IT person in the Government of Pakistan, is it possible that TiE may play a very positive role in the future of the region from right here in the USA? Business and commerce may just succeed when other avenues appear exhausted.