Freelancers appeal to govt to tap all resources, address issues, boost IT exports

By Syed Wahaj Ahmed

Lauding the approval for establishment of the country’s largest IT park to ensure cutting-edge facilities to around 6,000 freelancers, Pakistan Freelancers Association (PAFLA) and coaches urged the government to tap all resources aimed to harness skills-cum-creativity of the workforce truly, address IT challenges and boost exports of e-services.

They said establishing an IT park bodes well but the government must consult Pakistan Freelancers Association (PAFLA) and Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) aimed to tap all resources and nip down to a right direction. If the government runs this IT park, it will make it with a lot of formalities where a freelancer will be unable to reach because of much security and protocols as it generally and unfortunately happens in government organizations. Then the newly-approved park will be a dead loss. The government must take services of the associations to ensure facilities to freelancers.

The Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) recently approved setting up of the largest IT park in Islamabad for honing skills of freelancers to substantially contribute to the national economy through IT services.

They said there is some need of mind-numbingly boring and tedious work as competent think tanks who are resting on their laurels in bureaucracy and secretariats must think out of the box to take the policy initiative, make regulatory reforms, launch supporting programmes from grassroots level (schooling system) to university level, regulate apprenticeship/internship programmes, engage university wits in projects initiated by public organisations. The government also must impart training to ethics of freelancers as there is a big difference between sayings and deeds, they must know.

They said qualified freelancers succeed in procuring businesses and ensuring a contribution to the national economy. They said at this moment, the economy is of paramount importance every individual tends to hunt something in US dollars. Those freelancers who have not better skills are struggling to make good contents, and those who have good skills in their respective field intend to sell one higher level of skills in terms of Artificial Intelligence (AI). If the national economy improves and people go on spending, and if people free their minds from property and stock businesses, they switch over to the tech industry to develop state-of-art software-cum-startups, these acts will generate a lot of jobs which will definitely fix many economic issues of locals.

“Freelancers are facing a number of challenges in various cities such as the availability of fast and affordable internet connectivity and uninterrupted electricity, which poorly affect their productivity and deliverables to clients on time.

A few of the major issues have also been resolved by the government lately and other problems should be addressed gradually to support these foreign exchange earners,” PAFLA Chairman Ibrahim Amin said.

He said the government, through banks, provided freelancers with a facility to retain 50% of their dollars in foreign currency accounts of the banks for scaling up their big projects. He said various options are also available for receiving payments through banking channels from foreign clients in different countries. He said the government’s plans to set up freelancers’ workspaces like IT park are good to address issues of internet and electricity.

AI Strategist-cum-Consultant and Freelancers Coach Khawaja Fahad Shakeel said there are a number of issues including payment delays and disputes, access to international clients, limited access to online payment methods, quality of work, lack of legal protection, limited access to training and skill development, work-life balance and others.

Speaking about solution to problems, he said the government should ensure skill development, payment facilitation, legal protection and regulatory reforms.

He said working with financial regulators and international partners to improve access to online payment methods like PayPal can help receive payments easily and securely.

He said the government can support initiatives that help freelancers market their services to international clients through training in marketing and networking skills. It (govt) can raise awareness about the importance of work-life balance among freelancers to manage workload effectively.

IT Analyst Muhammad Yasir said freelancers worldwide, including Pakistan’s, are facing a tough time these days due to the emergence of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), which is replacing their jobs or workload imminently.

“Freelancers keep adapting themselves to new technologies while grooming expertise to accomplish their projects quickly. They must be adept in learning policies and techniques of attracting business and making money with a good image,” he said.