Japan’s IT giants aim to tap Pakistan’s FinTech potential

TOKYO: A consortium of two of the Japan's largest IT (information technology) firms have unveiled major investment plans in Pakistan amid a rising demand of industry professionals in the world’s third-largest economy, an envoy said on Friday.

“…Japan Communications Inc and Safran Group want to start a FinTech (financial technology) project in Pakistan,” Pakistan’s ambassador to Japan Imtiaz Ahmed said, while talking to The News in the Japanese capital.

He said these companies had already visited Pakistan in December last year and held meetings with many important personalities associated with this industry. On July 17, 2020, the firms had announced they would launch a financial technology project in Pakistan and introduce the FinTech Platform over SIM, which allows financial transactions with digital cameras.

In addition, Safran Group and Japan Communications Inc (JCI) were running a program to invite IT engineers from Pakistan to Japan to train them, Ahmed said adding that they would also work in Pakistan and bring them to Japan.

“Moreover, they will also introduce other technologies in Pakistan,” the ambassador said.

Climb, another company, had also announced to go to Pakistan to bring 100 IT engineers from Pakistan to Japan in the next three years,” he said.

The ambassador said an IT firm Aventon has already hired 20 IT engineers from Pakistan and was looking to hire more, and many companies had expressed the same desire.

Japan's Industrial Development Center has also launched a project called ICT Pakistan, which is being funded by JICA. Under this, information about Pakistan's IT resources is being gathered and matchmaking is being done, they had planned to go to Pakistan in March-April 2020 which was postponed due to Coronavirus.

“We want Japan to select Pakistan for offshore development work, at the same time we are in touch with many companies including Rakuten, Maebashi Corporation, Climb, Aventon Corporation, Access Corporation, and DTS Corporation.”

To a question on the future enhancement of the business partnerships between Pakistan and Japan in the IT sector, the ambassador said, “This is a very wide field and there is a huge demand for IT engineers and products in Japan”.

According to a survey of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry in Japan, there was a severe shortage of IT engineers in Japan, but by 2030, there shortage would reach four and a half million.

“We are in touch with our institutions in Pakistan; we are also in touch with the universities to provide skills to our students that are in demand in Japan as well as to teach them the Japanese language,” ambassador said.