The importance of corporate governance lies in its contribution both to business prosperity and to accountability. The Securities and Exchange
Commission of Pakistan (SECP) thus endeavors to raise the corporate governance standards in the country. The first major effort was made in March 2002, when the Code of Corporate Governance (Code) was issued by SECP. It was subsequently made part of the listing regulations of the three stock exchanges and became applicable to all public listed companies.
The revisions in the Code are indicative of the fact that governance standards are dynamic and need to be reviewed to keep the governance framework relevant and effective. Therefore, in order to keep pace with the constantly evolving corporate sector and financial markets and the resultant governance benchmarks, the process of revising the Code was initiated. The objective was to further improve and raise the standards of corporate governance in the country while at the same time taking into consideration the global developments in corporate governance.
While all suggestions were taken into consideration, the Code has been finalized keeping in view the global developments in corporate governance and the overall objective of raising the standards of corporate governance in the country.
A comparison of the 2002 and 2012 Codes is available here.
Posted by: Majid Shabbir
Official Moderator BSO Forum
“The Young Entrepreneurs’ Forum is committed to addressing the prevalence of barriers that prevent aspiring entrepreneurship from taking the first step towards an entrepreneurial career” – Shaban Khalid, Chairman, YEF.
Promoting entrepreneurship is an important priority for Pakistan’s economic development. According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s 2010 report, Pakistan lags in startups, with less than half the rate of early-stage entrepreneurial activity found in other factor-driven economies. Part of the problem is that most young people coming out of universities prefer searching for a job instead of exploring entrepreneurial career opportunities – one of the key findings of CIPE-P@SHA dialogue with students and start-ups. Even young people who choose to enter paid employment often have trouble finding a job, are badly paid, or wind up in casual or informal jobs, according to the World Bank.
To help encourage a more entrepreneurial spirit among young people, the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently organized a major conference for young entrepreneurs focusing on the theme of “Inspiring a New Wave of Entrepreneurship,” part of the Young Entrepreneurs’ Forum. Established in 2008, the goal of the Forum is to encourage young entrepreneurs to take on a role in policy advocacy and nurturing the next generation chamber leadership. The conference was sponsored by the US Embassy, with additional support from CIPE Pakistan.
In his welcome address, Yasser Sakhi Butt, President of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, noted that “the potential benefits of youth entrepreneurship for improving livelihoods, expanding economy and promoting jobs have not been fully realized in Pakistan.”
One of the major themes of the conference was how Pakistanis who live abroad, many of whom have been successful in business, can support entrepreneurship in Pakistan. Aakif Ahmed, who represented the Pakistani Diaspora Community at the conference, concluded that the community needs to overcome the barrier between Pakistani and Pakistani-Americans. Building trust between these two communities is essential in order to help Pakistan.
A portal to connect the Pakistani American Diaspora with potential entrepreneurs in Pakistan was also launched at the conference: 
www.pakistanbusinessconnect.com
In her video message to the participants of the conference Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said:
“It is an honor to help bring so many talented young people together in one place to talk about how entrepreneurship can promote economic growth, peace and prosperity in Pakistan – The United States is working to promote entrepreneurship around the world through initiatives like our Global Entrepreneurship Program and by working with organizations like Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry”
During the conference, three breakout sessions were also organized to generate recommendations on promoting the participation of women in entrepreneurship and on social entrepreneurship development.
Blog Contributed by: Hammad Siddiqui, Deputy Country Director, CIPE-Pakistan, who also led the session on social media at the conference. He has previously written on the blog about how social media is shaping debate in Pakistan.
All Market Intelligence surveys of 2011 for all sectors have been uploaded to CBI market intelligence database. Furthermore, to be of better assistance in searching for all market intelligence surveys, the existing search criteria has been improved on the website. It is now not only possible to search by sector and keyword, but you can also search by language.
To view new market information from CBI, market intelligence surveys and search for specific documents, please visit the market intelligence database on CBI website.
Posted by Majid Shabbir
Official Moderator BSO Forum
