Asad Rafi

Pakistan's IT exports crossed $400 million in a single month for the first time. Everyone is celebrating.

Nobody has read the second number.
Freelancer exports grew 51 percent last year to $856 million.

That's roughly a quarter of everything Pakistan earns from technology, earned by individuals working alone.

We have 34,420 registered IT companies.

Read those two facts together.
This is not an industry growing. This is an industry failing to form, and being congratulated for it.

The fastest-growing part of Pakistani technology consists of people who found a way to reach a foreign client without a Pakistani company standing in between.

And they are right to.

Look at what a firm here actually offers a talented twenty-six-year-old. A salary set by a local market. A ceiling determined by someone's cousin. Equity that is absent or unenforceable. And a company that will not exist in nine years.

He is not failing to build something. He is declining to.
We buried our capital in land for the same reason. Land is where trust goes when institutions have exhausted it.

The freelance economy is what that same distrust looks like when the asset is talent instead of money.

A freelancer cannot be acquired. Cannot compound. Cannot train a successor.

The money arrives. Nothing is built.

Pakistan does not have a technology problem. It has an institution problem.

The individual here is not backward. He is rational, and has concluded that nothing is safe to build inside.

AI is a powerful tool — not a replacement for human creativity, judgment, and expertise.

Happy Father’s Day to all the incredible dads, mentors, and father figures out there!

Today, as we celebrate the profound role of fatherhood, here’s a thought that stays with me:
If every man truly realized that one day he could become a father to a daughter and a son the deep weight of that responsibility might fundamentally change how we view and protect the next generation. Understanding that our actions today shape the world our children will inherit could be a powerful force in building safer, more respectful societies.

Empathy, accountability, and responsibility aren’t just personal values they’re the foundation for real change. Let’s honor fatherhood by committing to raise the bar for ourselves and future generations.
What are your reflections this Father’s Day?