Virtual Secretary Puts New Face on Pakistan

Indeed, there are trade-offs in doing business in a developing country. In August, Bob Beringer, chief executive of Rockville's Electronic On-Ramp Inc., traveled to Karachi with a delegation of American businesses. He had already hired one Pakistani firm to handle a contract for his information-technology and security company, and he wanted to check on other prospective partners.

"The power grid's not stable, so once a month, workers might lose a day and a half," Beringer said. And having been escorted by armed guards, Beringer acknowledged he did not feel totally safe. Being a Westerner made him feel, at times, self-conscious. "There was a bomb threat while we were there," he said.

Still, most entrepreneurs say even a cursory cost-benefit analysis can help clinch a decision.

Mid-level programmers can be hired for as little as $6 an hour. Those low rates make it less costly to test new ideas. "There's no better way to reduce the risk of investing in something that doesn't exist yet," Beringer said.

So despite his anxiety, Beringer signed contracts with two more companies in Karachi.

His quandary, though, is one familiar to Pakistanis. Consider the cover of Newsline, a popular Pakistani magazine: three women, one clad in a burqa, another sporting a sequined, leather mini-skirt and the middle filled by a call-center worker donning a headset. The headline implores, "Will the real Pakistani woman please stand up?"

For Musa, the Resource Group's secretary, the changes unfolding around her are refreshing. At 21, she says there's no pressure to get married and she wants to wait until she's a millionaire; "by the time I'm 30," she promises. She spells her name and chuckles that the last three letters -- u-s-a -- are no coincidence.

She turns the camera -- which is usually focused on her face -- to offer a view of her surroundings in Karachi: a lounge, a cafeteria, a pool table. "You walk into this space and think, 'Am I still in Karachi?' " she said.

Just then, a phone call interrupts her. It is 1:15 a.m. where Musa sits.

"Good afternoon," Musa says brightly. "Thank you for calling the Resource Group."