CurrentAffairs : Cote D'Ivoire and Pakistan blaze to be the next I.T superpower
Information technology professionals watch out! A bright new future heralds you in, of all places, Cote D'Ivoire and Pakistan.Two news items caught my eye today@ the following link: (http://www.bpowatchindia.com/news/news958.asp)
First, Cote D'Ivoire (which accounts for 40%of the world's cocoa besides being rich in oil and minerals) has established a I.T and Biotech park. The park is strategically situated - opposite the Presidential Palace - so that should a coup take place, the flight back home is not too far away, provided the Presidential plane can accommodate you, of course. Several executives, from my ex-company had to be airlifted by the French Army in a Chopper, last time around. Maybe the President forgot to offer them a ride, because they were not in the I.T line.
Intrigued by Cote D' Ivoire's diversification into this unrelated economic endeavor, I decided to check up on some facts about the country in the C.I.A's fact book, and found that it indeed has some wonderful advantages over Silicon Valley and Bangalore, in terms of giving your employees an adventure filled work life- ain't that today's new H.R mantra, anyway? Some excerpts: ".........In December 1999, a military coup - the first ever in Cote d'Ivoire's history - overthrew the government. Junta leader Robert GUEI blatantly rigged elections held in late 2000 and declared himself the winner. Popular protest forced him to step aside and brought runner-up Laurent GBAGBO into power. Ivorian dissidents and disaffected members of the military launched a failed coup attempt in September 2002. Rebel forces claimed the northern half of the country, and in January 2003 were granted ministerial positions in a unity government..........Growth was negative in 2000-03 because of the difficulty of meeting the conditions of international donors, continued low prices of key exports, and severe civil war. In November 2004, the situation deteriorated when President GBAGBO's troops attacked and killed nine French peacekeeping forces, and the UN imposed an arms embargo. Political turmoil damaged the economy in 2005, with fear among Ivorians spreading, foreign investment shriveling, French businesses and expats fleeing, travel within the country falling, and criminal elements that traffic in weapons and diamonds gaining ground"
Ready to go west and catch that plane to ' Yamoussoukro', young man ?
Just right below this gem, another piece caught my eye. Pakistan, which has also diversified into I.T, after Uncle George from the States, pulled down the plug on its chief export viz., Terrorism, seems to have hit pay dirt! Check this out :
Pakistan's IT exports hit $72 Million (!!!)
Islamabad: Pakistan's information technology (IT) industry has registered exports worth $72 million in the financial year 2005-06, a record 56 percent annual increase over exports of $46 million in 2004-05.
(http://www.bpowatchindia.com/news/news959.asp)
Our chief correspondent tried to find out the main product and service lines of the Paki companies and it turns out that they specialize in the installation, measurement and analysis of explosions in crowded areas (especially commuter trains). That’s the product offering. Service wise, they can offer state-of-the-art DIY packages in smuggling and putting together of components, to build your very own 'Enola Gay', in your backyard. Once you do that you HAVE TO use the products to install, measure...you get the idea. How's that for forward and backward integration?
And at this rate they could soon overtake India, which is expected to end up with a measly $24 Billion, in domains as unexciting as Banking, Insurance....YAWN ssss
