Telenor Pakistan welcomes tech leaders from the United States to discuss the collaborative digital potential in the country

Islamabad (Muhammad Yasir)  Fortifying its commitment to empower societies across the nation, Telenor Pakistan welcomed Pak Seattle Tech Connections, a community of entrepreneurs and professionals from Seattle to its 345 campus. The delegation comprised of leaders and senior resources from tech giants like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Oracle other companies along with some successful tech entrepreneurs. The purpose of this visit was to engage in a fruitful dialogue on the significance of partnerships and how technology can empower societies.

Pak Seattle Tech Connections visited Pakistan for the second time this year for a better understanding of the Pakistani technology sector and to explore future collaborative opportunities. These delegates were briefed about Telenor Pakistan’s efforts in revolutionizing the telecommunication, digital and financial sector of the country by introducing innovative technologies to enhance customer experiences. As a result of their previous visit earlier in July this year, a number of promising tech collaborations have already taken form, and stakeholders expect many more to come.

Speaking on the significance of the delegation’s second visit, Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO Telenor Pakistan, commented, “It’s a great pleasure for us, at Telenor Pakistan, to once again welcome Pak Seattle Tech Connections to Islamabad and a joy to see the two countries’ tech leaders building bridges that enable collaboration, empower the people, and strengthen the economy. This unique opportunity allows us to share ideas and leverage on digital technologies to create a socioeconomic impact, and we look forward to making the Digital Pakistan vision a reality and to see more similar teamwork in the coming years.”

The delegation included Taimur Rashid from Redis, Adnan Ijaz, Nauman Khan, and Rasim Bokhari from Amazon Web Services, Fahim ul Haq from Educative, Raja Tanveer Iqbal from Data Science Dojo, Farrukh Usman from Byonyks, Raza ul Mustafa from Leverify, Aftab Farooqi from Inabia Software & Consulting, Adnan Siddiquie from The Startup Council, and Bilal Khokhar from Amazon, among many others.

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) Pakistan’s No.1 LED TV Manufacturer – TCL Pakistan reached another milestone with the opening of its third flagship store in Karachi, located at Bin Hashim Supermarket, Munawar Chowrangi, Gulistan-e-Johar. The store aims to provide customers with top-of-the-line products and a shopping experience that is interactive and amazing. Moreover, the brand is offering superb discounts, offers, and gifts with every purchase for a limited time.

The flagship store aims to strengthen TCL Pakistan’s footprint in the country, by bringing its entire range of latest televisions including Mini LEDs, QLED TVs, UHD TVs, and Smart TVs alongside Air Conditioners, Soundbars, Smart Air Purifier, and Vacuum Cleaner at discounted prices all under one roof.

Sharing his thoughts on the launch of the store, Majid Niazi, Marketing Manager of TCL Pakistan, said: “The new flagship store reflects TCL’s strong relationship with their customers in Pakistan and portrays the brand’s commitment to making the best technology readily available all across Pakistan. We will continue with our mission of bringing the most innovative products and giving the best experience to our customers. We will continue to strengthen our foothold in the country by opening more stores.”

TCL has been a name synonymous with quality in the Global Consumer Electronics Industry which, has allowed it to become a leading player in the industry. With a global presence in 150+ countries, TCL is working towards building a strong image and presence in Asia, particularly focusing on the Pakistani market by offering high-end, cutting-edge technology at affordable prices in the country. 

Map Location: https://goo.gl/maps/UQQk3JQzPAKaJstB8

Huawei also among the prestigious Global Top 25 Startup Star Laureates

Lahore (NUT DESK) Pakistan: Huawei has ranked second in the 202 1 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard,up from third place in the previous year’s edition. The 2021 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard is a European Commission publication that ranks the research investment levels of 2,500 companies around the world that comprise 90% of the world’s business-funded R&D. The report is prepared by the EU Joint Research Centre (JRC).

“Huawei is now ranked as the second-highest private sector investor in research and development in the world. The European Commission Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard 2021 is recognized as one of the most authoritative global studies into private sector investment in research and development. International collaboration in the areas of research and science is very important so as to guarantee that the most innovative products and services are developed” said Tony Jin, Huawei’s Chief Representative to the EU Institutions.

Separately, Huawei has also recently been named among the top 25 Global Corporate Startup Stars as part of the annual Corporate Startup Stars Awards, organizedby Mind the Bridge under the European Commission’s Startup Europe Partnership initiative. In total, 50 companies located in every region of the world have been recognized for their work: 25 as Global Corporate Startup Stars and 25 as Global Open Innovation Challengers. Along with Huawei, companies named in the 2021 Top25 Global Corporate Startup Stars include AB InBev, Allianz, Aramco, AXA, BNP Paribas, Bosch, BP, Engie, Haier, Hyundai, Mastercard, Nestlé, Orange, Samsung, SAP, Schneider Electric, and others.

Alberto Onetti, Chairman of Mind the Bridge, commented, “We recognized Huawei’s effort in working with startups, and in particular its ecosystem approach that takes into consideration the ‘give’ as much as the ‘take’. In fact, Huawei makes use of its CLOUD infrastructure and of its Huawei Mobile Services to support startups’ growth, the development of new products, and the expansion to new markets, while taking advantage of being close to countless cloud-native, AI, big data, and other hi-tech startups.”

Catherine Chen, President of the Public Affairs and Communications Dept at Huawei, said, “34 years ago, Huawei opened with just 5,000 dollars in registered capital. At that time, we luckily benefited from the generosity of other major companies who were willing to take a chance on a newcomer. So it is no surprise that we have wanted to do our part and pass this warmth and support on to more startups today. We believe this idea of paying it forward is important for healthy ecosystem development. Together with initiatives like our Shining Star program and the Huawei Developer Program designed for individual developers, we want to increase the number of startups in the market and support individual entrepreneurs and developers.”

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Packages Mall, home to over 200 local and international stores, is kicking off the winter season with its annual Packages Mall Shopping Festival. The festival officially started on the 26th of November and will continue till the 30th of December.

The Packages Mall Shopping Festival brings a ton of exciting deals, lucky draws, and entertainment for shoppers. The mall will host surprise performances and flash mobs every weekend (Saturday & Sunday) of the festival as added entertainment for mall patrons.

Mall visitors who shop for PKR 10,000/- or more will get a chance to enter a lucky draw. The lucky draw allows five lucky shoppers to win PKR 10,000/- for shopping at Packages Mall every day. The grand prize will be an MG-HS, of which the winner will be announced on the 30th of December. The final grand lucky draw will also include other exciting prizes for those who entered. The announcements will be made by the beloved actor, Ahmed Ali Butt.

Mr. Shahzad Anwar, Marketing Manager At Packages Mall stated “Packages Mall has always remained a step ahead to create an amazing experience for its customers and through Packages Mall Shopping Festival, we aim to further enhance their shopping experience by giving them a chance to shop for Rs.10,000 and win an MG HS and several other exciting prizes. Not only that, in order to make it an experience worth remembering we are also giving out 10,000 rupees cash for shopping to 5 customers daily.PSF’21 is all about Entertainment, Discounts, and Amazing prizes for our customers! The team at Packages Mall has worked day in and day out to make this event a success and we have received an overwhelming response.”

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) In furtherance of its commitment towards overall development of Karachi, K-Electric has launched the 2nd KHI Awards. The purpose of this awards is to honor and support the organizations that are serving the city of Karachi and working towards its development. Building on the resounding success of 1st KHI Awards, the utility has returned with its 2nd iteration through which it will commemorate the rich history of Karachi by paying tribute to entities from all walks of life whose work benefits Karachi through social, infrastructural, and environmental contexts.

TECNO Announces Innovative Memory Fusion Technology to Boost RAM and Apps Running Efficiency

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir)  TECNO, the new generation smartphone brand, released a new virtual Random Access Memory (RAM) expansion technology for its users, the Memory Fusion Technology. This new tool increases the RAM capacity of smartphones for optimal efficiency and processing power and will be available in the new CAMON 18 series phone in the coming week.

Memory Fusion Technology is specially designed to channel RAM operations by using unused read-only memory (ROM). For instance, a typical 8GB + 128GB smartphone can be optimized with an enlarged onboard RAM of up to 13GB + 128GB. By allocating more storage to RAM, the Memory Fusion Technology further enhances the device’s multitasking capacity, seamless switching between apps, and stabilizes the phone’s systems for more sustainable performance and longer battery life.

Kelvin Zeng, CEO of TECNO Mobile Pakistan, said “This is a great occasion for our fans to rejoice in. With Memory Fusion Technology, TECNO users can enjoy the fullest capabilities for a better smartphone experience. It will not only optimize the phone in a better way but will make usage smoother and quicker.”

Compared to a phone without Memory Fusion, the TECNO phone equipped with the technology allows for a lot of things. Specifically, on TECNO’s 8GB + 128GB phones which allow for up to 5GB increase of RAM, devices saw an 81% (up to 20 apps) increase in actively running applications, a 122% increase in warm reboot speed, and a 61% improvement in the time it takes to load frequently used applications.

Memory Fusion Technology will be available to CAMON 18 series phones from December 2021 following a software update notification.

The shoppers can enjoy upto 20% cash back, with every payment done through Alfa QR at Naheed Supermarket.

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir)  Naheed Supermarket, a leading name in the retail shopping sector in Pakistan, has entered into an agreement with Bank Al Falah to enable its Alfa QR at its retail outlet. The agreement enables the QR payment option for the Alfa QR customers, providing them ease of payment at the Naheed Supermarket, and can also enjoy upto 20% or Rs 1000 cash back by making payment through Alfa QR as the launch promotion

The Alfa QR, a product backed by Bank Al-Falah, enables the valued users to make payments with just 3 taps within the app. With AlfaPay the customers can simply scan AlfaQR codes to make instant payments now at Naheed Super market as a Masterpass merchant. Payments can be made using the Bank Alfalah Account, Credit Card, Wallet or with Orbits.

Sharing his thoughts, Mr. Munsub Abrar, CEO Naheed Supermarket said, “We at Naheed Supermarket facilitate our customers in terms of shopping with ease of payments and implementation of Alfa QR facility is our latest addition to it. The enablement of digital payment system is aligned with the national vision of Digital Pakistan.”

The agreement was signed by Munsub Abrar, CEO Naheed Supermarket and Adnan Nasir, Head digital Payments, Bank Al-Falah at Naheed’s head office in Karachi, in presence of Abraruddin, Founder and Chairman, Muhammad Fahad COO, Hassan Raza, Head of Creative, from Naheed Supermarket; and Rabia Atlas Unit Head Proximity Payments, Arwa Saleem, Manager Proximity Payments, and Yahya Inam, Business Manager Proximity payments, from Bank AlFalah.

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) Meezan Bank, Pakistan’s first and largest Islamic bank, also became the first bank to launch the Islamic SME Asaan Finance Scheme (I-SAAF) for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) under State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) SME Asaan Finance Scheme (SAAF). The launch ceremony was held at Multan Chamber of Commerce and was attended by Dr. Reza Baqir – Governor, SBP, other senior officials of SBP, Mr. Ariful Islam – Deputy CEO, Meezan Bank, Mr. Khawaja Muhammad Hussain – President Multan Chamber of Commerce – and members of the business community.

Under the Scheme, Meezan Bank will extend Shariah-compliant short-term and long-term facilities of up to PKR 10 million to eligible customers, at a subsidized rate of 9 percent per annum. The Scheme was introduced by SBP, and eight participating banks were selected through a transparent bidding process. Meezan Bank was one of the successful bidders, with a sizeable share in the overall program, and the only Islamic bank offering its Shariah-compliant alternate, in-line with its Vision of establishing ‘Islamic banking as banking of first choice…’  I-SAAF will allow access to finance to SMEs that despite being credit-worthy are unable to avail financing due to collateral or other requirements. 

While distributing cheques to I-SAAF customers, Mr. Ariful Islam – Deputy CEO, Meezan Bank reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to invest in human resource and technology to ensure success of the Scheme and enable a swift and hassle-free application process for its customers. Mr. Ariful Islam also presented a memento to Dr. Reza Baqir for gracing the event with his presence.