Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Pakistan’s largest real estate portal, Zameen.com, has announced its decision to hold another massive edition of the ‘Pakistan Property Show’ – scheduled to take place at the Dubai World Trade Centre on December 6 and 7. This 2019 edition is all set to become the company’s third consecutive annual property exhibition event in Dubai. In the last two expos, the property extravaganza attracted a combined audience of over 31,000.

Zameen.com has so far held a total of 17 major property exhibitions attracting over 1 million visitors

The third instalment of Pakistan Property Show will feature major names from the real estate markets of Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Multan, Peshawar, Murree, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Raheem Yar Khan, Gwadar, Bahawalpur and D. G.  Khan. Prominent names among these exhibitors include ‘Eighteen’ and ‘Capital Smart City’.

The event offers overseas Pakistanis a chance to explore rewarding investment opportunities available in some of the most reliable and promising real estate projects. In addition, since this exhibition features projects from several major cities of the country, it provides visitors with a great opportunity to explore affordable property purchase options.

Zameen.com CEO Zeeshan Ali Khan said that taking the property exhibitions to an international level was a tough undertaking in the beginning but with every passing year, Pakistan Property Show has become a brand name for property exhibitions. ‘The success story of this event is source of pride for Pakistanis living the Gulf,’ he said.

Answering a question, Khan said, ‘Increasing investment opportunities in the property sector is vital for setting the sector on track to progress, and the main objective of organising such events is to circulate money in the investment sector, which, in turn, will benefit the overall economy of Pakistan.’

‘World Trade Centre holds its own exclusive status in terms of trade and investment activity in the region where only the best corporates and business entities can stage their activities, and for a Pakistan-based company to organise such a grand event there is definitely a matter of national pride,’ he further said.

Khan also highlighted the fact most of the traffic Zameen.com receives is from Pakistanis residing in Gulf countries. ‘The event thus offers great opportunities to Pakistanis living here to make solid, safe and rewarding investment in reliable real estate developments.’ Khan is positive that Zameen.com’s third Pakistan Property Show in Dubai will experience an overwhelming response – similar to the ones registered in the past – from the general public.

CARFIRST EXPANDS ITS OPERATIONS TO FAISALABAD 

BRINGS EASE OF BUYING AND SELLING USED CARS TO FAISALABAD  

Faislabad (Muhammad Yasir) CarFirst, Pakistan’s most trusted used car trading platform commenced its operations in Faisalabad with the bid to rapidly expand its network in the major metro cities in Punjab. CarFirst will be opening purchase centres, sales centres and offering franchising services in Faisalabad within the next two months.

The expansion aims to provide potential car sellers with a safe and hassle-free car trading service in Faisalabad. Quick, transparent and seamless car trading, fuelled by innovation and implementation of international best practices, serve as primary drivers of the demand for CarFirst services in Faisalabad. CarFirst has catered to the rising demand trends of the used car market by rapidly expanding its services across Pakistan. Foree Payment recently launched by CarFirst marked it as the fastest way to sell a used car in Pakistan. CarFirst aims to always put their customer’s convenience first and to further simplify and expedite the car selling process in Pakistan.  

Present at the inauguration Mr Rana Muhammad Sikandar Azam President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) said: ““The biggest challenge facing the industry was reliable sources and quick payment, CarFirst directly solves these problems eliminating any elements of fraud with their instant inspection and payment system. The contemporary world requires digitalization and innovate solutions to our problems, for all these reasons and more we welcome CarFirst to Faisalabad and pray for their prosperity”

Commenting at the inauguration Faisalabad operations, Raja Murad Khan, Co-Founder and CEO of CarFirst said, “Increasing demand of CarFirst’s services in central Punjab has brought us to Pakistan’s third-largest city – Faisalabad. We look forward to providing Faisalabad with a quick, convenient, innovative and secure way of selling and buying a used car. 

EBM’s founder – Khawar Masood Butt wins the

prestigious AFAA award at AdAsia 2019

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) The Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA) has bestowed its prestigious ‘Leadership Award’ to the founder and Chairman of English Biscuit Manufacturers (EBM) – Mr. Khawar Masood Butt, during its conference in Lahore. This accolade was presented in recognition of his tremendous contributions to the marketing and advertising industry of Pakistan as well as his vision and good governance resulting in EBM’s successful growth over the years. The CEO & MD of EBM – Dr. Zeelaf Munir received this award on behalf of Mr. Khawar Butt.

Khawar Masood Butt has continued to make remarkable contributions to the nation’s cultural and commercial progress. EBM has always generously supported entrepreneurship, education, health, sports, arts and advertising endeavors thus reflecting his passion for excellence as well as his ability to identify opportunity and talent. He is also famous for creating the legendary character of Peek Freans the Pied Piper, which to-date, continues to make a positive impact, consequently making him one of the most inspirational entrepreneurs of today.

The Founder of EBM expressed his gratitude to the stalwarts of the Advertising and marketing world for acknowledging his efforts and vision that inspired EBM’s growth over the years. He stated, “The development of marketing and advertising professions has gained great momentum across the world, while the rapid evolution and deployment of technologies have also revolutionized communications in Pakistan. Amid all these changes, EBM remains committed towards staying at the forefront of innovation and progress in Pakistan and keeping the country at par with global standards of performance and quality.

While Mr. Butt continues to nurture strong bonds within the business community, especially the advertising & marketing sectors, he had also played a pivotal role in orchestrating AdAsia conference, which was held in Pakistan in 1989. He is also credited with being one of the first few advertisers for television and assisting in the growth of some of Pakistan’s earliest TV channels. For Mr. Butt, advertising has always held enormous power to spread socio-political awareness among the masses, while also making the economy more sustainable.

During this auspicious event, EBM’s vibrant new logo was also introduced to the audience, while Dr. Zeelaf Munir highlighted the idea behind this change by stating, “This fresh corporate-identity celebrates our brand-purpose: ‘nourishing lives, hearts and communities’. The symbol combines three unique elements that form the ‘Heart’ of our brand, with an optimistic sunrise that shows a dynamic, engaging and distinct character of the enterprise and finally, a human touch that promises a brighter future. It is EBM’s privilege to present its new identity during this grand marketing endeavor.” She appreciated the organizers for once again bringing back a global forum like AdAsia to Pakistan and said, “EBM is committed to continue supporting any forum that helps to elevate Pakistan’s image internationally”.

AdAsia is the largest and most prestigious advertising congress in Asia, organized bi-annually, since 1958, by the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA). The AdAsia 2019 was graced by the most distinguished personalities from the global business community and speakers like; Randi Zuckerberg, Sir Martin Sorrell, Lord William Hague, Richard Quest, Fernando Machado, Vange Kourentis, Tom Goodwin and many more.

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) Jaffer Business Systems (JBS) and EFU Life Assurance recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). According to the MoU, JBS has partnered with EFU Life for providing Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Storage Solutions that include HPE 3PAR, Storage Switches and HPE Backup Appliance.

HPE delivers an industry-leading predictive analytics platform that brings software-defined intelligence to the data center with the ability to predict and prevent infrastructure problems before they happen. This platform was developed with hybrid infrastructure in mind, meaning the data is accessible and usable across all cloud environments.

While signing the MoU, Zain Ibrahim –Executive Director, EFU Life Assurance– expressed his views on the subject, “We share the same ideology as JBS, as we keep upgrading ourselves in order to stay ahead of the competition. IT structure within organizations need to be improvised in order to have more potential and fulfill that potential as well. As an insurance company, we feel that we have to make sure that the abundance of data that we have is utilized completely to provide better propositions to customers. I’m glad to be partnering with JBS as it fulfills our aim. JBS is not only providing us with IT solutions, but in fact we look at them as partners because they are helping us grow.”

Veqar ul Islam, CEO, Jaffer Business Systems stated: “We already have a successful working relationship with EFU Life and it gives me great honor to expand and work with them in new areas. As I have said numerous times, we go out of the way to provide the best value added services and we will continue to do so. “

Like many of JBS’ previous initiatives, this partnership is yet another step ahead towards technological transformation and innovation.HPE Storage products are not just cost-effective enterprise-level storage solutions but also keep businesses moving forward by protecting the data and making deployment and management simple.

The occasion was a two-way celebration as JBS also presented an appreciation award to Mr.Ashfaque Ahmed –General Manager, EFU Life Assurance – for having been selected amongst the 10 Best CIOs to Watch 2019 by one of the most trusted business and technology publications issued from the United States, The Silicon Review. This makes Mr Ahmed the only Pakistani to have received this honor.

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) today announced the key findings of its latest Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Survey.

The OICCI 2019 IPR survey highlighted that IPR protection continues to be of high importance for the business community of Pakistan, whereas there is need for better appreciation of the importance of IPR among other key stakeholders, including the government and the media. Approximately 50% of the respondents believe that IP rights are not adequately protected in the country. However comparing the IPR environment with other countries in the region, OICCI members perceive that the IPR environment in Pakistan to be ‘better’ or ‘same’ than Bangladesh, India and Philippines and their feedback indicates that it has improved somewhat as compared to the survey conducted in 2017. In terms of estimated revenue losses, 17% of the respondents have indicated losing more than 20% of their annual turnover due to IP violation, compared to 6% in 2017.

OICCI IPR survey highlights the need for a concerted effort by the relevant authorities towards robust enforcement of IPR laws as the foreign investors expect significant improvement in the IPR regime to facilitate FDI in Pakistan. Some of the concerns shared by the survey respondents included, lengthy timelines for granting IP rights as well as judicial proceedings. They also mentioned lack of awareness about IPR amongst some stakeholders, other than brand owners, and too few IP Tribunals for timely resolution of IPR infringement cases. Currently over 90 % of the OICCI members prefer reliance on their own resources for monitoring threat of IPR violations. However, there is a great desire for all the IP owners to work with the government for a better IPR regime in Pakistan.

The OICCI 2019 IPR survey results reflect the assessment of the foreign investors, who are members of the chamber, on the state of intellectual property protection in Pakistan. The survey was conducted during August –September 2019, following up on a similar survey conducted in 2017. Protection of IP is one of the key elements in attracting FDI in the country.   

Commenting on the survey results, President OICCI, Shazia Syed, expressed concern that, “Despite getting an improved rating in the USTR Special 301 Report, Pakistan seems to be still far behind desirable IPR benchmarks and the authorities need to build confidence of IP owners that the country cares for and will help create, going forward, an enabling environment for innovation, creativity and all forms of IP so as to attract talent and FDI in the country. “OICCI is confident ” Shazia added “  that IPOP, the regulator of IP in Pakistan, will be fast tracking various initiative to deliver on all round improvements in the IPR regime to the satisfaction of the IP owners.” 

The nearly 200 OICCI members contribute about a third of the country’s total tax collections, invested nearly US$ 3.0 billion last year in new investments and employ about one million people with a significantly larger contribution to the socio economic development of the community.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Engro Polymer & Chemicals Limited and WaterAid Pakistan have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a long-term collaboration between the Parties to jointly explore potential opportunities and execute projects in the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector in Pakistan that contribute towards water conservation and improvement of health & hygiene of the citizens. Mazhar Hasnani, Vice President, Marketing, EPCL and Siddiq Khan, Country Director, WAP were present at the occasion.

EPCL and WAP will join hands in collectively enhancing awareness of stakeholders to address water scarcity issue through innovative techniques for which National and International experts will be brought on-board. The agreement also entails the promotion and execution of Rain Water Harvesting and groundwater recharge programs.

“Water Conservation for a water-stressed country like Pakistan is not only the need of the hour but a matter of survival. EPCL understands the significance of this emergent situation and is working on developing and promoting various solutions in the WASH domain across the country. Our partnership with WaterAid reaffirms our commitment on this front, and we look forward to championing this cause.” said Imran Anwer, CEO, Engro Polymer and Chemicals. 

Mr Siddiq Khan said ”WaterAid Pakistan is committed to supporting Clean and Green Pakistan initiative taken by the Government of Pakistan and are happy to partner with Engro Polymer and Chemicals. 

WaterAid Pakistan and EPCL will jointly take initiatives to develop programmes on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene as a part of CGPM. This contribution will forge a step towards the sustainable solutions for water conservation and supply of water for the people of Pakistan”.

“Mutli-Billionaire, Mr. Sawiris, Revealed Future Expansion Plans”­­­

Islamabad (Muhammad Yasir) Mr. Naguib Sawiris, Chairman of Ora Developers, on his two day visit to Pakistan, met with Prime Minister Imran Khan. The meeting was attended by The Minister of Overseas, Zulfi Bukari and the Top Management of Eighteen.

The meeting was themed around the multi-billion dollar investments that Mr. Sawiris has made over the years in Telecom and now in the Real Estate Sector. The multi-billionaire expressed interest in exploring business opportunities in the sectors of mining, tourism and developing a progressive programme for the banking sector through SME banks. The Egyptian investor, expressed his trust in the Pakistani market and shared future expansion plans in the Real Estate Sector.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, appreciated Mr. Naguib’s confidence in Pakistan and reassured the government’s support and facilitation. The Premier further added, that Pakistan is proving to be one of the most attractive countries to invest in, with the country now standing at an improved position in the ranking for “Ease of Doing Business” by the World Bank.

On the occasion, Mr. Sawiris further expressed his interest in providing impetus through investing in the 5 Million Low End Housing Scheme introduced by Mr. Imran Khan. This interest stands particularly aligned with the 2 Billion Dollar investment that Mr. Sawiris made in the real estate sector in 2017. The investment brought to stage a world-class lifestyle destination development, under the brand name of Eighteen.

Eighteen is a 2.7 million sq yard gated community being led by Ora Developers in partnership with the Saif Group and Kohistan Builders and Developers.  Located in the 18^th District, to the south-west of downtown Islamabad, it offers the highest quality of design and construction, which will set new standards in accommodation and amenities for Pakistani real estate.

On the following day at the Press Conference Mr. Zulfiqar Bukhari, while welcoming Mr. Sawiris, complimented by saying “Mr. Naguib is a revolutionary businessman. While we are exploring business opportunities in, mining, tourism and banking, we would also want Mr. Naguib’s involvement in making Naya Pakistan and we would want to benefit not only from his investments but also from his experience and vision.

At the conference, Mr. Anwar Saifullah said “I am proud. to have my name associated with Eighteen, as the Co-Chairman, and as business partner of Mr. Naguib Sawiris. We have over a decade of successes lined with this partnership and believe we will only be able to achieve more in the years to come.”

Mr. Naguib Sawiris, Chairman of Ora Developers, commented: “Today we have shown our progress, commitment and delivery against a promise we had meet in early 2018. EIGHTEEN, I believe, is now set to revolutionise real estate projects in Pakistan.  We are creating a city within a city that is redefining the concept of Destination Living in Pakistan. I am very pleased to be involved with the project and have complete trust in the people and market of Pakistan.”

The Press Conference was also graced by H.E. Ahmed Fadel Yacoub, Egyptian Ambassador to Pakistan, who commented “Pakistan and Egypt have a long standing relationship.  As fpr Mr. Sawiris he has connections of love and friendship in Pakistan. As the Ambassador, one of my priorities is to encourage cross investments between the two countries and work towards building an even stronger relationship.”

At the Press Conference, Mr. Sawiris was joined by Zulfiqar Bukhari, Minister for Overseas, H.E. Ahmed Fadel Yacoub, Egyptian Ambassador to Pakistan, Mr. Anwar Saifullah Co-Chairman of the Saif Group and by Mr. Malik Adeel from Kohistan Builders and Developers, Mr. Osman Saifullah Khan along with Mr. Tarek Hamdy, CEO Eighteen.