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Telenor Pakistan and Serena Hotels bring breakthrough hospitality solution

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Telenor Pakistan and Serena Hotels Partnership to launched first-of-its-kind digital platform for hospitality 

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) To ensure seamless connectivity for tourists and guests, Telenor Pakistan, in partnership with Serena Hotels Pakistan, has launched a revolutionary, first-of-its-kind digital platform. This solution, called ‘S TEL,’ will be a complimentary service for Serena Hotel guests allowing them to enjoy free international and local calls along with 4G internet and hotspot options, all packed in a dedicated smartphone placed in their rooms. S Tel was unveiled at an event held at Serena Hotel in Islamabad where management of both organizations was present alongside their teams.

Telenor’s ‘S TEL’ works as seamlessly as it meets the connectivity challenges of travellers while on the move. Through this platform, the guests will be able to stay in touch with the hotel for their basic amenities and also connect with their friends and family around the world.

 “Telenor Pakistan’s ‘S TEL’ is an innovative breakthrough not only in Pakistan’s but the region’s hospitality industry,” said Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO Telenor Pakistan and Head of Emerging Asia Cluster Telenor Group, while sharing his thoughts on the development. “We pride in being industry leaders in introducing technological innovations and after our digital interventions on agriculture and social inclusion fronts, we are now aiming to transform businesses by providing them state of the art solutions that makes their processes more efficient. I’m pleased to partner with Serena Hotel for this solution and hopeful that this partnership will go a long way in setting new trends that are necessary to boost the tourism and hospitality industry in Pakistan.”

“We are ecstatic to have partnered with Telenor Pakistan for making this digital platform a reality,” said Aziz Boolani, CEO Serena Hotels – South & Central Asia. “Being the country’s hospitality leaders, we want to deliver our guests a wholesome digital and connectivity experience that is hard to match. With ‘S Tel’ we have come closer to achieving our goal as it offers guests a robust connectivity solution that makes their stay comfortable, safe, and memorable. This feature-rich application not only makes roaming charges and connectivity issues a thing of the past for our guests, but also works to lift tourism in the country with features such as the city guide. We trust that our guests will further enjoy their experience at Islamabad Serena Hotel with ‘S TEL’ being at their disposal.”

 As the guests check in to their room, the smartphone already has their basic details on ‘S TEL’ that can be accessed and used instantly. The smartphone is removable and the guest may take it with them to anywhere in the city. This means that the guests may place an order for their favourite meal or request for laundry pickup remotely, even before reaching back to the hotel. ‘S TEL’ also works as an absolute virtual local city guide which includes tourist attractions and sightseeing spots.

 Both organizations have ensured that this platform keeps user privacy a priority. To keep the user data secure, the device operates in Kiosk mode only allowing guests to stay connected to their friends, family and hotel management.. Upon check-out, it ensures privacy and protection of guest information by wiping all usage and communications data.

Uber hosts media training

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Uber Hosts Media Training at National Press Club

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) A one-day training  was organized by Uber at Islamabad Press Club for journalists. The global ride-hailing giant, as a part of their initiative to impart marketable digital skills to create successful freelancers, employees, and entrepreneurs.

Keeping pace with an increasingly digital world that requires an in-depth understanding of technological trends and advancements across the globe. The workshop discussed the role of disruptive technologies in terms of transforming the landscape of a Digital Pakistan. 

Speaking at the training, Hyder Bilgrami, Head of Communications-Uber, commented, “With the digital shift challenging old norms, it has become a necessity for the media to acquire skills to keep pace with emerging technologies. Capacity-building initiatives enabling innovation and growth are imperative for the media fraternity to be digitally equipped.”

While giving an overview of rapidly transforming communication technologies, the session discussed the need for the media to have an in-depth understanding of emerging trends in the digital era. With the right training, journalists can play a crucial role in the technological revolution by enhancing society’s readiness for Digital Pakistan.

“Innovative trends in communication technologies are transforming traditional journalistic practices. New techniques of story-telling have now enhanced reporting styles with multimedia platforms. Using these skills, the media can play an important role in creating a more digitally literate population,” said Shakeel Qarar, President-National Press Club. “We are happy to see initiatives like these aimed at ensuring the journalist community plays an active role in ensuring the digital future of Pakistan.”

Journalists reporting on various beats including business and IT from print, electronic and digital mediums were part of the workshop. The goal of the training was to equip reporters with marketable digital skills that can be turned into a sustainable stream of income.

Emerging technologies have provided the world with new avenues in overcoming economic problems by disrupting economies and businesses. The right skills will create jobs that can not only help the economy grow quickly through poverty alleviation but also improve the country’s business environment.

Nestlé to recycle 220,000 kgs of plastic waste

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Nestlé to recycle 220,000 kgs of plastic waste

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Nestlé Pakistan, District Council Hunza, Gilgit Baltistan Waste Management Company (GBWMC) and Karakoram Area Development Organization (KADO) have signed an MoU for “Clean Hunza Project”. The project is supported by the company’s NESTLÉ FRUITA VITALS and NESTLÉ PURE LIFE brands.

“Clean Hunza Project” shall focus on infrastructure development for a waste segregation, management and recycling system for Hunza – a popular tourist destination – with District Council Hunza, GBWMC and support from KADO for raising awareness in the communities.

The collective action initiative will encourage waste management of 150,000 kgs of plastics annually in Phase I, followed by collection of 50,000 kgs paper packaging (used beverage cartons) in Phase II in the area with an increase of 10% annually.

The Project’s focus shall be on the segregation of Plastics and paper packaging at the waste site which, after the compressing and bailing process, shall be brought down the country for recycling. Nestlé Pakistan shall provide a compressing and bailing unit to the Hunza district government. The company will also be distributing 10,000 reusable bags in the community during 2020 as part of the project. KADO will extend support for different community awareness activities.

Waqar Ahmad, Head of Corporate Affairs, Nestlé Pakistan, while highlighting the company’s global commitment to tackle plastic waste, said, “This project marks the beginning of Nestlé Pakistan’s journey to reduce the environmental impact of plastic packaging by improving the management and recycling of various kinds of plastic packaging, in line with UN SDGs. Globally we aim to make 100% of our packaging recyclable and reusable by 2025.”

He further added, “The Clean Hunza Project is a pilot project with a focus on streamlining the management and recycling of plastic waste, with a forecast of increasing waste collection to 220,000 kgs by 2024. This project will result in lesser plastic ending up in water bodies downstream.”

Commending the cause, Babar Sahibdin, Deputy Commissioner Hunza, said, “We applaud support from Nestlé for providing us with 10,000 reusable bags, which will create awareness amongst the locals to stop using plastic bags and incline them towards a more environmentally friendly solution. We appreciate Nestlé’s for providing the Compressor, Bailing and Recycling infrastructure and capacity building of our staff on waste segregation site.”

Talking about the initiative, Ghulam Mustafa, Chairman KADO said, “We fully support District Government Hunza and Nestlé Pakistan partnership and are proud to collaborate with them in reaching our shared goals.”

 

Ajoka Institute’s play “Aimna” appreciated at PILAC.

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Ajoka Institute’s play “Aimna” appreciated at PILAC.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir)  “Aimna” debut performance presented by aspiring students of Ajoka’s Art of Acting and writing course enthralled the audience completely at the auditorium of Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture (Punjab complex) on Thursday evening. Director General of PILAC Ms. Saman Rai and chairperson Ajoka theatre Zara Salman were chief guests of the evening who distributed the certificates among students who completed their acting and writing courses successfully from Ajoka institute. Passionate theatre lovers and people from different walks of life attended the performance.
Ajoka’s executive director Shahid Nadeem told the audience that play was a joint production of acting and writing class students under the direction of Nirvaan Nadeem who jelled into a brilliant performing team within a short span of time.
Written by Zainab Yousaf (student of writing class) the play was a light hearted humorous account of memories of domestic maid “Aimna”. Ishrat Shaheen played the title character with great perfection and received applause from the audience. The story explores the relation of woman maid and daughter of household in the flashback with interesting encounters. The other cast included Khawar Latif , Fahad Amir , Arhum Butt , Humza Iqbal Khan , Zubair Ahsan Bhatti , Elsa Shabir , Ishrat Shaheen , Noor us Sabah , Komal Bhatti , Asghar Ali , Muqaddas Rana , Zainub Yousaf etc. All the actors received outstanding response from audience for brilliant showcase of their talent and skills.

The play was directed by Nirvaan Nadeem, the director of Ajoka’s institute. Nirvaan thanked the audience for encouraging the aspiring talent and vowed that Ajoka is committed to spread the social awareness and meaning entertainment through theatre and will continue this mission with the same spirit and dedication by supporting and nurturing the upcoming talent and actors.

Sarsabz Fertilizer marks December 18 as ‘Kissan Day’ in Pakistan

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Sarsabz Fertilizer marks December 18 as ‘Kissan Day’

Islamabad (Muhammad Yasir) Sarsabz Fertilizer, a flagship brand of Fatima Fertilizer under the Fatima Group, marked a special initiative to recognize December 18 as ‘Kissan Day’ in Pakistan. This is because unlike in many other developed countries around the world, Pakistan never had any such day to celebrate its farmers, despite being an agri-based economy and having 60% of its population residing within rural communities having 100 percent reliance of income on Agriculture.

‘Kissan Day’ was celebrated during a special event organized at the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad on December 18, 2019

‘Kissan Day’ was celebrated during a special event organized at the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad on December 18, 2019 with a recommendation to the Government to recognize and announce it officially as part of the Country’s annual national calendar of special days to be celebrated. The event was attended by high profile dignitaries from both Government and agriculture sectors. Representing the Government included notable figures such as the Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan Asad Qaiser, Member of National Assembly Syed Fakhar Imam. Also present at the event were Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, His Excellency, Yao Ling and Srilankan High Commissioner to Pakistan, His Excellency, Noordeen Mohamed Shaheid. Representing the Agricultural sector were renowned agriculture entrepreneurs including Imdad Ali Nizamani, who is also a progressive farmer, as well as top management officials from Sarsabz including Ali Mukhtar, Director at Fatima Group, Khurram Javed Maqbool Director Marketing and Sales at Fatima Group and Rabel Sadozai, Head of Marketing at Fatima Group.

Member of National Assembly Syed Fakhar Imam

Having a special day for farmers meant to recognize and honor their important role and contributions to the national economy. On the occasion of celebrating Kissan Day, Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan also took to social media to highlight the importance of this day and to encourage and appreciate the Pakistani farmers. Speaker National Assembly, Asad Qaiser while addressing the ceremony also reiterated the fact that farmers play a pivotal role towards economic development of Pakistan and lauded the efforts of Fatima Fertilizers for recognizing the contributions of the farmer community. He also agreed, on behalf of the Government, on the fact that a special day for farmers should be celebrated every year in Pakistan. Sarsabz Fertilizer has been active since a long time advocating on giving due importance and recognition to Pakistan’s underserved farmers in order to curb national food security challenges on the face of constantly increasing food demand. Sarsabz’s Salam Kissan initiative recognizing December 18 as Kissan Day holds a unique importance of being the first-ever initiative not only to celebrate the farmers of Pakistan, but to also serve as a constant reminder about the importance of agriculture for our economic betterment.

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, His Excellency, Yao Ling

While speaking at the occasion, Khurram Javed Maqbool, Director Marketing and Sales at Fatima Group stated, “Farmers are the backbone of our great nation and a key driving force to enable growth and prosperity within Pakistan’s agriculture sector. Without their contribution, it is impossible to resolve our food security challenges, keeping in view the growing population in Pakistan. We need to provide an enabling environment for them and remove any impediments in the way of their growth. Let this day become a reminder for everyone every year that within the progress of our small-scale farmers, lies the prosperity of our beloved Country”.

Pakistan being an agri-based economy depends on farmers for its prosperity. The farmer community needs a conducive environment to revive and flourish, therefore, a business as exposed to the vagaries of nature and as important as farming, a day to celebrate, support and encourage these farmers is the only right thing to do. In this respect, Fatima Group is striving to become a voice of the farmers by engaging the common man as well as the policy makers for an issue that holds the utmost importance.

Fatima Group through its ‘Salam Kissan’ initiative has been working conscientiously to modernize Pakistan’s age-old agriculture setup through an efficient digital revolution by introducing innovative tech-based new products and services to transform the current challenges of farmers into growth opportunities. With a day to celebrate the farmers now, Fatima Group is more determined than ever to persistently highlight the issues of farmers at the policy making level. The campaign will continue its momentum in Multan, Hyderabad and Sialkot thereafter in a bid to make the voice of small-farmers heard at a national level.

 

IAC signs an MOU with Khana Farhang Iran

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The Institute for Art and Culture (IAC) signs an MOU with Khana Farhang Iran

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) In keeping with the Institute for Art and Culture’s mission of forging strong academic linkages and relationships with other academic and research institutions of the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the Institute for Art and Culture, Lahore (IAC) and Islamic Republic of Iran Khana Farhang Lahore (IKFL) on Jail Road, for a cooperative program including the development of mutually beneficial academic, educational and cultural exchange programs for faculty, artists and students, conduct joint research and other collaborative projects for the mutual benefit and academic advancement of both sides. Director General and Cultural Attaché for IKFL, Mr. Ali Akbar Rezaeifard and Vice Chancellor of IAC, Prof. Sajida Haider Vandal signed the MOU.

MOU is to enable IAC to identify and collaborate with similar institutions in Iran with the assistance of IKFL

The main purpose of the MOU is to enable IAC to identify and collaborate with similar institutions in Iran with the assistance of IKFL. Both parties are interested in increasing awareness about art, culture and heritage of each country among the global arts, media and cultural fraternity. It was establishes a mechanism to nominate a Film Director or a Film-maker in Iran to visit the Institute for the purpose of delivering master classes, lectures or courses, advanced study or research and workshops.

The MOU will also allow for the exchange of IAC film students and students of Iranian institutions to explore themes of common interest between the two countries. The IAC will hold an Iranian film festival where Iranian films will be screened and film professionals will be invited from Iran to deliver talks and hold seminars. The IAC faculty and students will also be facilitated to attend and document the Tazia Theatre and attend the Fajr film festival in Iran. The IKFL has also generously agreed to support to set an Utaq-e-Iran Shinasi at IAC.

Faysal Bank Limited sponsors IFN Pakistan

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Faysal Bank Limited sponsors IFN Pakistan to promote Islamic Banking

Islamabad (Muhammad Yasir) Pakistan’s leading banks, Faysal Bank Limited (FBL), was among the lead sponsors and participants in this year’s IFN Forum Pakistan conference. The day-long conference was held in partnership with the State Bank of Pakistan.

The IFN Forum Pakistan conference provides local regulators, market players and interested stakeholders an impartial platform to identify critical issues and objectively discuss potential solutions for the Islamic Banking industry. Faysal Bank Limited is committed to expanding financial inclusion through Islamic finance.

Speaking on the panel Mr. Muhammad Faisal Shaikh, Head Islamic Banking, Faysal Bank Limited

Speaking on the panel for Financial Inclusion through Islamic Finance, Mr. Muhammad Faisal Shaikh, Head Islamic Banking, Faysal Bank Limited, said: “On the Fintech side, to increase our reach to the mass population, we are working on a new digital strategy in which we are coming up with new payment strategies, including mobile wallets. We have also hired the services of an International Consultant who is advising us on developing our digital banking model. In order to increase financial inclusion in the country, we have also partnered with IBA Karachi and IMSciences Peshawar to increase awareness about Islamic Banking products and services in Pakistan.” Commenting with regards to what regulatory initiatives the Islamic Banking industry would like to see, to increase financial inclusion, Mr. Faisal Shaikh stated: “It is time we all collaborate on an industry level to make it easier for the investors and SMEs to simplify the process of Islamic Banking transactions through effective usage of Islamic Fintech solutions. This will not only benefit the industry, but will also help increase the penetration of Islamic Banking on the SME side.”

Responding to a question regarding the transformation process Faysal Bank is undergoing, he added, “As you are aware Faysal Bank is going through a conversion process, which is in fact the largest conversion process in the world. Nowhere in the world has a bank, with more than 200 branches, been converted. We are not just converting our existing branches but we are opening new branches as well. On 31st December 2018 we had 255 Islamic banking branches, by the end of this year we will have 414 Islamic branches. We have converted 64 branches and added more than 100 branches this year.”

Ms. Tayyaba Rasheed, Executive Vice-President and Head of the Investment Banking Group, Faysal Bank Limited, speaking on the panel for Infrastructure Financing – Potential for Islamic Finance said: “The State Bank of Pakistan has played an effective role by introducing the infrastructure finance regulations back in 2016. They have already established the footprint for taking infrastructure project financing and infrastructure sector spending to the next level, but this is not enough. Commercial banks who are involved in infrastructure spending are collectively spending, on an average, PKR 150 billion annually; whereas the requirement for infrastructure spending in the country is PKR 400 billion annually, so there is a huge gap. To fill this gap Public Private Partnerships, which are globally an accepted method of financing, is the need of the day.”

 

In the Wake of Disaster

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The IBA, Karachi hosted a talk by Dr. Ayesha Siddiqi on her book “In the Wake of Disaster”

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) The Social Sciences and Liberal Arts Department at the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi hosted a talk by scholar and researcher Dr. Ayesha Siddiqi on her recent book ‘In the Wake of Disaster: Islamists, the State and a Social Contract in Pakistan’.

Dr. Siddiqi who is visiting from Royal Holloway, University of London is trained in the discipline of human geography but described her work as being very inter-disciplinary in nature. Her talk presented key findings from the book.

The book is based on Dr. Siddiqi’s doctoral dissertation research conducted in the aftermath of the massive floods that devastated parts of Pakistan in 2010 and 2011. She spent seven-month in lower Sindh doing ethnographic fieldwork in three districts, Thatta, Badin, and Tharparkar, hoping to understand how natural disasters leave a political impact. Most communities devastated by the flooding continued to have high expectations from the state and expressed their belief that only the state is responsible for helping them, rather than local power-brokers and traditional sources of authority. The speaker argued that the common assumptions about broken state-society relations in Pakistan are unfounded and that her informants’ views show a robust social contract being present.

She also showed how the government’s cash disbursement to flood-affected communities created a sense of entitlement and further strengthened citizens’ claims on the state. The language of citizenship forged by Enlightenment-era European thinkers like Rousseau and Voltaire does not apply to these communities. Instead, they use words like ‘huqooq’ to express their sense of civic belonging.

The talk also touched upon the role of Islamist parties in flood relief activities and challenged the idea that the absence of the state created a vacuum which was filled by Islamist parties that have an alternative development discourse. Her research found Jamat-ud-Dawa to be active in the aftermath of the floods in Badin, where the state infrastructure, including the military, enlisted and enabled their participation rather than being in opposition to each other. In other areas, such as Thatta, there was little presence of the JuD because the local political elites were not in favor of it. The speaker urged a more complicated and nuanced understanding of state-society relations in Pakistan, where people’s everyday encounters with the state are rich and leave open the possibility of many different meanings attached to the state.

Leaders explore new partnership opportunities at ACCA’s corporate

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Leaders explore new partnership opportunities by ACCA Event at Peshawar (KP)

NUT news Desk updated that ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) hosted a  corporate networking luncheon in Peshawar to provide an opportunity to local business leaders and policy makers to sit together and explore new partnership opportunities and play a more impactfullrole in developing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) into a hub of economic activity and innovation. 

Advisor to CM Ziaullah Bangash on Elementary & Secondary Education attended the event as the Chief Guest and briefed the business and education community on key education reforms introduced by the KP government.

KP Chamber of Commerce and Industries was the Guest of Honour

Maqsood Anwar Pervaiz, President, KP Chamber of Commerce and Industries was the Guest of Honour. In his speech, he shared his exclusive insights into local business and education needs and explained why KP is perfectly positioned to become an engine of growth for the country.

The luncheon was attended by a large number of corporate and academic leaders from ACCA’s diverse network of employers in the province. ACCA’s Market Head – Business Development, Assad Hameed Khan, in his welcome address explained that ACCA’s standing as a super connector means we create wider opportunities for our stakeholder and the economies where we operate.

Prominent attendees included Fayyaz Jarral, CFO, FF Steel, Dr. Zia Ur Rehman, CEO, North West General Hospital, Masood Ul Mulk, CEO, Sarhad Rural Support Programme, Dr. Najeeb Ullah, Director, US-Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies in Energy, Dr. Mohsin Khan, Director, Institute of Management Sciences, Faisal Jamil, Executive Vice President, LMKT, Muhammad Munaim, Director Finance, KP IT Board,      Maryam Arshad, CEO, Impact Dynamics, Mujahid Farooqi, Advisor on Economic Growth for KP, USAID, and Suniel Jamil, Group General Manager, Zakori Group.

ACCA is the global body facilitate to professional accountant & organisations

 

ACCA is the global body for professional accountant which uses its unrivalled connections across the world to connect people with fulfilling careers, organisations with the best finance talent, and economies with the ingredients for growth.

 

Digital Marketing for Small Businesses

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Digital Marketing A Guide for Small Businesses

The small businesses facing great challenge to stay competitive market while having limited resources. It is quite difficult to increase awareness about your brand with a limited budget while big brands are investing a huge amount on digital marketing. Here is good news for small businesses. There are many cheap and free routes for digital marketing. They will give recognition to your company’s name on search engines. Let us have a look!

Create an account on Google My Business for digital marketing

Your account on Google my business will give recognition to your business. The moment you sign up you will see a section devoted to your company that will be there on the right side of the search engine results page. It will display your address, contact information, active hours, company reviews, and link of your website for your consumers.

You will also get access to 3-pack that will show your location and your presence in the nearby areas. You can make it possible with the help of search engine optimization services.

Use Google Analytics to be aware of traffic on your website

Google Analytics is free and it will provide every detail about web traffic. You can also see the performance of your website pages and blogs. It will also help you to monitor the peak times of traffic, page views, metrics, and bounce rates, etc.

Therefore, if you do not have enough budgets to spend on digital marketing then you should follow Google Analytics to spend sensibly. The results of Google Analytics will guide you about the way to advertise, to implement SEO as well as paid media.

Make use of an attention-grabbing website design

Website design is one of the main concerns of search engines. Google, Yahoo, and Bing will not consider a website with dull design because it is not user-friendly. These search engines will not rank such sites that cannot grab the attention of its visitors rather they leave it after a first click. So, give your business’s website a professional look, prioritizes information, as well as add pleasing imagery for a longer stay of the visitors.

On the other hand, responsiveness is necessary that indicates your website appears the same on mobile devices, laptops, and personal computers. The Slow speed of loading and misplaced information will annoy the visitors. Now, there are different types of plug-ins available that promise for a responsive website.

Execute SEO services

People take help from search engines if they want to find any product or service. SEO is a tactic that increases the figures of visitors on a website by bringing it at high rank in its search engine result pages. It contains specific keywords in the web content and structures the information so aptly that magnetize search engines. Keywords can play an important role in web traffic and business.

You can install free or low-cost plugins for SEO work that can suggest keywords related to the topics. You can also hire services of digital marketing companies such as Digitxpertz and EZrankings for your medium and small scale businesses.

Moreover, the Google keyword planner will provide keywords relevant to your topic. Here you can see the search volume and bidding price of every keyword as well.

Use Social media

Social media marketing is not less than a blessing for small businesses. All these platforms like Twitter Facebook, Snap chat, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram are the ones that are simple, easy, and free of cost platforms for marketing.