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Can Asif Ali Gohar Bring an Economic Revolution to Pakistan?

One of the major reasons for the inability of developing countries to transition into developed countries is that they are unable to sustain a positive growth rate. This means that while they develop, it only happens in short spurts. The transition from developing countries to developed countries requires a positive growth rate sustained over a long period of time. However, developing countries are not able to do so. While there would be periods of high growth rate, they would be followed by zero growth or a negative growth rate. Therefore, the progress achieved during the positive periods is lost or compensated by the negative period.

Other than this, developing countries rely on agriculture to generate most of the economic activity in the country. However, the techniques and technology used in agriculture in such countries are obsolete and far from modern farming methods.  This results in a lower yield and low-quality products. Lastly, developing countries do not produce finished products but instead trade raw materials. An example of this can be Pakistan. The country is one of the largest rice producers in the world and contributes a significant share to the global trade of rice. However, since it does not export finished products made out of rice, it is unable to benefit from the trade in a substantial way. 

In order for a developing country to grow and build an economy that can sustain a positive growth rate, it is imperative that it operates on an export-led growth strategy. An export-led strategy would not only ensure that the local industry is expanding but the foreign deficit would reduce. Similarly, the foreign exchange would also increase. Knowledge and goods that involve human capital should be the first priority. This is because they are expensive, require research, and have a greater market. Now, addressing the elephant in the room, how can Asif Ali Gohar help to bring an economic revolution to Pakistan?

 

Asif Ali Gohar has come up with an ingenious solution to producing vegan leather. Asif is a Pakistani ex-pat who moved to Germany back in 2004. He has been there for 18 years and is a popular entrepreneur. Asif was able to formulate a method that allowed him to produce vegan leather sheets from rice. He used rice and some other ingredients such as yeast and acetic acid that allowed him to convert the mixture into a slime that resembled leather. He has been working on this idea since he was fifteen years old. A school project made him think about vegan alternatives to leather and he started some home-based experiments. However, due to a lack of resources, Asif was not able to produce any results. Yet, he never abandoned the idea. 

 

Later on, during his time at the University of Hamburg, he was able to conduct experiments and he came up with a method that converted rice into vegan leather. Although Asif is now a German citizen, he always had a soft corner in his heart for his home country, Pakistan. Initially, Asif wanted to start the project in Germany but now he is more focused on setting up operations in Pakistan. There are several other reasons for choosing Pakistan apart from his love for the country. Pakistan is one of the largest producers of rice. However, as mentioned above, it is unable to generate economic benefits from it. Asif believes that he can use the rice supply in Pakistan and produce finished products that can help the country to contribute more and better to the global economy. Asif is currently in the planning phase and is looking for investors for initiating the project in Pakistan. With Asif Ali Gohar’s idea and potential, he can make Pakistan the first country to produce vegan leather in the South Asian region. We hope that Asif Ali Gohar can bring an economic revolution to the country of Pakistan.