P@SHA/PASHA (Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT and ITeS) organized a meet-up for CXO-level executives of the Animation, Games and Graphics (AGG) Sector in Pakistan. Crosshair Technology and Finz Games sponsored this gathering that brought together nearly 70 seasoned and budding industry leaders, all working towards the goal of disrupting the existing IT ecosystem through an innovative and lucrative industry.
The event was the first-in-line of several promotion events scheduled to promote the AGG Industry Research and AGG Survey. For context, M-Labs and P@SHA are conducting the first comprehensive research into the AGG Sector to measure its size and overall health. P@SHA, utilizing the research expertise of M-Labs, recently floated the AGG Survey that attempts to measure and understand various aspects of the sector, such as the industry’s size, business models, investment opportunities and skills requirements for growth.
Ali Ihsan (Senior Vice Chairman P@SHA; CEO FRAG Games) opened the event by highlighting P@SHA’s work in the AGG domain in 2022 and reiterating its continued imperative to support the growth of the potential multi-billion dollar sector. He stressed that an important step in the direction of growth would be collecting validated data points on the industry and making informed decisions to support it through investment opportunities and policy decisions. Ali’s address included a call to action – asking leadership to complete the survey and play a part in the industry’s upward trajectory.
Ali’s address was followed by the sponsors’ notes and a panel discussion titled, “International Payments and Banking Challenges.” The insightful panel discussion moderated by Kashoon Leeza (Policy Advocacy Lead – P@SHA) and paneled by Abdus Samad (CEO, Finz), Asad Mehmood (CEO, ConsoliAds) and Tahir Iqbal (CEO, Terafort) shed light on the current monetary policies (State Bank Pakistan, SBP) and its impact on the industry’s development. In particular the impact of restrictions on the outflow of capital, the dearth of local payment gateways, and policies around foreign currency accounts.
The event came to a close after multiple interactive round-table discussions on the history and evolution of the games industry. The interactive group discussions/round-tables were led by the research team at M-Labs and facilitated by Yaser Awan (Director – MLabs), Gulfam Asghar (CEO, Sablo Studios), Khurram Samad (CEO, GeniTeam), Fasieh Mehta (CEO, Senior Manager Business Operations, Quixel) and Ali Ihsan.
Overall the event was a success and proved a promising step towards garnering support for the AGG Industry Report.
Author: Sophia Richards (Research Officer – MLabs)
