Former Federal Board of Revenue chairman Shabbar Zaidi has urged Pakistani startups to reconsider their dependence on venture capital funding and instead explore broader investment avenues better suited to local market realities. Speaking at a session titled “Securing Capital and Global Survival for Pakistani Startups” held at Institute of Business Administration Karachi City Campus, Zaidi addressed student founders, entrepreneurs, faculty members, and participants from Pakistan’s startup ecosystem on the challenges of building sustainable businesses in the country.
During the discussion, Zaidi emphasized that investors are ultimately motivated by returns and advised founders to avoid limiting themselves to traditional venture capital expectations. He encouraged startups to consider alternative funding pathways and business models that align more closely with Pakistan’s economic environment. According to him, founders should avoid blindly adopting Western startup narratives and instead study companies that have succeeded within Pakistan’s own commercial and institutional realities. He specifically pointed toward local business examples such as TRG and Rehmat e Shereen as models that expanded successfully while operating within the country’s market conditions.
Zaidi also spoke about the structural difficulties faced by entrepreneurs in Pakistan, particularly in relation to weak institutional systems and limited access to formal financing channels. He noted that a significant amount of capital in the country remains tied to the grey economy outside documented financial structures, creating challenges for legitimate startups attempting to scale through compliant and transparent operations. His remarks reflected broader concerns often raised within Pakistan’s startup ecosystem regarding taxation, access to capital, regulatory uncertainty, and long term business sustainability.
The session was hosted by the Center for Entrepreneurial Development and Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialization at IBA Karachi. Director Dr. Lalarukh Ejaz welcomed participants and described Zaidi’s combination of public policy experience and private sector exposure as an important perspective for emerging entrepreneurs. Zaidi previously served as chairman of Federal Board of Revenue from May 2019 to April 2020 and earlier worked as senior partner at A. F. Ferguson and Company, now operating under PwC.
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