Virtual Secretary Puts New Face on Pakistan

The Resource Group, which employs 4,000 people worldwide and reports $170 million in revenue, operates under the philosophy that catching up is possible.

"It makes perfect sense. The basic structure of Pakistan is very similar to India," Chishti said. "The labor pool is totally untapped."

The company's strategy is rooted in acquiring U.S. call centers and supporting them via operations in Karachi and Lahore, where workers perform the telemarketing services and tasks such as payroll, accounting and human resources work. Telephone operators are trained in American English and culture -- and the secrets of success in an industry where most calls are not welcome.

"A smile can be heard," Musa recited in an interview via her flat screen. She worked as a call-center operator before being promoted to secretary. "Posture can make a difference. A dress code makes a difference."

A recent job fair in Falls Church sponsored by the Pakistan American Business Association yielded a handful of companies in the Washington region that either outsource work to Pakistan or have an office there. They stressed the lower costs, but to their country brethren gathered at the event, they also articulated a loftier goal: to transform their homeland.

"After 9/11, there are a lot of good people in government who are empowering business to change the image of Pakistan," said Shakeel Tufail, president of Alexandria's Insyte LLC, a computer-training and education company that operates a call center of about a dozen workers in Karachi. "Everyone needs some sort of sustenance, and business brings people together. If it's mutually beneficial, if you're increasing prosperity, there will be less sectarian violence, less crime."

Pakistan, a country once married to India under the British Empire, still operates under a quasi-feudal system in which elite landlords profit mightily off the poor. Unemployment is high and wages are low; the per capita income is $2,200. As in many developing countries, corruption can be a problem.

At the Resource Group, where the chief operating officer is a Rhodes scholar and Harvard degrees are commonplace, Chishti says he tries to "steer clear of the political stuff." Still, he wonders if his company can play a role in creating a new Pakistan. "If you've got a guy without a job, that's the prime candidate for radicalization," Chishti said. "By giving those people hope, you're taking the edge off the potential. We're stressing not separation but integration with developed markets."

Last month, the information technology minister of Pakistan's Sindh province, where Karachi is located, embarked on a U.S. tour from Silicon Valley to Washington to drum up support for offshoring to Pakistan.

But so far, the U.S. tech industry has not noticed Pakistan, said Harris Miller, president of Information Technology Association of America. "They haven't really shown up on the radar screen as being a major player," he said.

And while the two countries demonstrated their nuclear prowess in a series of 1998 tests, Miller said India has been better able to reassure the global community of stability. He said the Indian tech sector has lobbied its government to keep the peace.

In Pakistan, companies are more likely to lobby for the infrastructure they need to do business with the United States, said Jehan Ara, president of the Pakistan Association of Software Houses. "If you look at our government incentives, they are pretty good," Ara said in a phone interview from Karachi, where she runs a multimedia company.