Encouraging job-oriented business imperative for poverty alleviation, economic prosperity
PESHAWAR (APP): The career options vary from person to person as per their choice as some would opt only for government jobs, others try their luck to get settled abroad and some would go only for entrepreneurship – to become job creators instead of job hunters.
Initially, it does not seem easy to launch a business as it carries the possibility of financial risks but it is also possible to generate handsome revenue as was true for Akhsaar Ali (38) who lived a satisfied life after entering the solar panels business in Peshawar where he employed six laborers for assistance.
Known as Akhsaar Lala in the solar penal market at Dalazak Road, the motivated youth wakes up early in the morning and comes to his shop after performing fajar prayer and breakfast along with his two younger brothers: Tariq Ali and Younas Khan before going for installation.
“I entered the solar panel business in 2010 after my several applications were rejected by the public and private organizations owing to lack of professional experience, and rented a shop on Rs 1000 per month at Pabbi, Nowshera after seeing the people’s positive response towards the installation of solar panels in the wake of long hours load-shedding in the peripheries of Peshawar and Nowshera districts,” he told APP.
“Following the early death of my father Noorzada Khan, I left my education incomplete at graduation and knocked on the doors of different government organizations and NGOs for jobs but my applications were not considered due to lack of professional experience.
Keeping in view the financial constraints of my family, I immediately started sale and purchasing solar panels at a small shop in the main bazaar of Pabbi tehsil of Nowshera district to support my widowed mother and meet education expanses of my two younger brothers who were under the heavy loans burden due to expansive treatment of my ailing father,” said Akhsaar, while loading solar panels in a pickup brought by his brothers, Tariq and Younas from Karkhano market, a hub of solar and electronics goods in Peshawar.
“In recent years, the demands for solar panels have increased manifolds due to the widening of the demand-supply gap of electricity as 650-watt panel was being sold at Rs 50,000, 610 watts on Rs 47,000, 550watt on Rs 40,000 and 450 watt on Rs32,000 in Karkhano market,” he said, adding that earning in every business was primarily depended on timely actions and initiatives besides required surplus money.
In summer, he said solar penal business shines while in winter’s profit is comparatively low due to its lesser demands.
Akhsaar is planning to expand its business to Punjab, Dubai and Afghanistan due to its huge market demands’ there.
“Pakistan’s industrial future is linked with solar and wind energy and the time has come to divert financial resources to bolster these renewable energy resources to create jobs for youth,” said Zilakat Khan Malik, former Chairman of, the Economics Department, University of Peshawar while talking to the news agency.
He said that Pakistan has several well-known wind corridors with average wind speeds of 7.87 m/s in about 10 per cent of its windiest areas most suitable for energy generation.
He said one of the reasons for the high rate of unemployment and lack of businesses growth was the shortage of energy in Pakistan, adding by utilizing just 0.071 percent of the country’s area for solar photovoltaic (SP) power generation besides Karachi and Balochistan coastal areas, wind could meet the country’s growing electricity demand easily.
“The significance of solar and wind energies has increased in Pakistan after its energy shortfall touched a record 8500 MW this year, necessitating urgent expansion of solar and wind power to at least 30 percent of the country’s total electricity generation capacity by 2024, which is equivalent to around 24,000megawatts.”
Dr Zilakat Malik said that the expansion of renewable energy resources would not only make electricity cheaper but also achieve greater energy security, and reduce carbon emissions helping Pakistan to save up to USD 5 billion over the next 20 years.
Dr Malik said that the Alternative and Renewable Energy Policy 2019 report of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) has confirmed that Pakistan’s target to increase Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) to 30 per cent of its electricity by 2030, magnifying higher penetrations of solar and wind energies would be economically beneficial in terms of job creation and overall production of industrial units.
He said that work on all ongoing energy projects should be expedited after the World Bank commitment of about $425 million in financing to the National Transmission Modernization Project aimed at increasing the capacity and reliability of selected segments of the national transmission system in Pakistan and modernizing key business processes of the NTDC.
He said the National Solar Energy Initiative was approved in September 2022 by the then government to produce 10,000 megawatts of electricity through solar energy projects that would help reduce the import bill of costly diesel and furnace oil besides meeting the country’s utility and business sector requirements.
The SMEDA spokesman said that over 400 pre-feasibility studies were prepared to bolster self-employment and bolster SME sector in the country including KP. Besides preparation of National SME Policy 2021, he said that about Rs 89.24 million were allocated for pre-feasibility studies of air conditioner and generator rental service centres, Rs7.94 million for bread and biscuit manufacturing units, Rs51.75 million for dairy farms beneficiaries having 25 cows helping them establishing environmentally controlled shelters and Rs166.64 million for sitting up of shelters of dairy farms with 100 cows to bolster milk and dairy business in the country including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The first phase of the Rashakai Special Economic Zone (RSEZ) has been completed under CPEC before six months of the scheduled time aimed at promoting business and employment besides turning KP into a hub of trade and investment.
Phase I of RSEZ encompassed 247 acres of modern facilities designed to attract domestic and foreign investors besides spurring economic growth and job creation for a skilled workforce. Phase I housed 18 zone enterprises with seven being under construction mobilising an estimated investment of Rs85 billion.
Different projects were launched in the second phase of RSEZ that would generate approximately 250,000 jobs for the youth of KP.
