Returning to opportunities in the aftermath of Covid

LAHORE: After losing his catering sector job to Covid-led economic shutdown in Germany, Rashid Ali Qureshi, 65, was devastated, but with the right support from the right people successfully turned a new page in his professional life that too in his hometown in Pakistan. It wasn't easy at all.

“Opening a restaurant of my own in Pakistan was a dream of mine, but before giving it a shot, I wanted to work in the local catering industry to get the hang of it,” said Qureshi talking to The News International.

Once a successful caterer, he returned to Lahore -his native city- after spending 20 years in Germany. Qureshi had some savings, which he didn’t want to lose to a misstep or an uncalculated risk.

He lost his job in Germany due to coronavirus pandemic and decided to come back to Pakistan. He was not sure of what was waiting for him back in the country he had left 20 years ago. In Germany Qureshi was in catering industry, but he also had to do menial jobs before finding a place in this sector.

“It was a struggle I cannot explain in words,” Qureshi said.

Living away from his family during this time was not easy and he missed them badly.

Qureshi said though he would be losing an earning option, he was glad he would be connected with his family members.

“Then the big question was what would I do in Pakistan?”

Anyhow, something came up. While still in Germany, he learned about the ‘Returning to New Opportunities’ programme, which is being run in 13 countries including Pakistan by German government in collaboration with Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF). This programme provides different types of support to migrants returning home after losing overseas jobs.

When he had decided to leave Germany for Pakistan, Qureshi had a chance meeting with Pakistani advisers from Pakistani-German Facilitation and Reintegration Centre (PGFRC) in Lahore.

It is an an entity established by the German development agency (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit – GIZ in cooperation with Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development and Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) with the financial support of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation & Development (BMZ).

This came as a pleasant surprise for him. He discussed his restaurant idea with them on Skype.

“I was excited to find support even before flying to my homeland,” said Qureshi, who returned to Pakistan in 2020 and started looking for a job right away.

In fact, his advisor here has been thinking over about Qureshi’s restaurant idea. It was he who advised him to start off by looking for a job in the catering industry.

This work experience would later help him understand the dynamics of local sector, putting him in a better position to start his own business.

He knew coming back home was easy but settling here after a that long a gap, while staying in other countries wasn’t, especially when you have been working there in some industry.

The suitability issue and different working conditions make it hard for the returnees to find jobs. The experience they have obtained abroad does not match the needs of the local market, where even locals are searching for jobs. It is at this moment they need a helping hand and guidance to enter the local job market and find a decent one.

Qureshi said the PGFRC helped him write his CV (curriculum vitae) and register on various online job portals.

It also gave him tips on how to highlight the strengths.

“I applied to some companies, and was luckily shortlisted for an interview,” Qureshi said and added that it actually worked out, and he was hired as an event manager.

“This was an unbelievable experience for me – I was over the moon.”

Catering service was not new for him as he had been working in this sector in Germany. Anyhow, after starting the new job, he soon discovered he had a lot of free time in the evenings, so he decided to make the best of it and started working as a courier service guy. Once again, PGFRC supported him and arranged a bike for him from Mojaz Foundation -their partner organisation.

The foundation enabled me to take part in a four-day training course on business development. It taught me how to prepare an investment plan, and I learned a lot about different strategies for developing a business, according to Qureshi.

He says he is very happy and satisfied as two jobs are taking him closer to the long-term goal of owning his own restaurant, Qureshi expresses.

It is pertinent to mention here that when these migrants leave their homeland, they think they are going for good but sooner or later a large number of them returns to Pakistan. This happens due to various reasons including growing up children, rejected asylum appeals, job losses, and the will to re-establish bond with their homeland.

Qureshi’s case is about job loss due to pandemic, which has rendered a huge number of workers jobless worldwide.