Category: Business

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) The Coca-Cola Company has launched the iced-tea category in Pakistan with its billion-dollar ready-to-drink (RTD) brand, Fuzetea. This launch marks a brand-new addition to the diverse Coca-Cola portfolio in Pakistan and underlines the company’s commitment to further investing in the country.

Fuzetea is a unique fusion of tea extracts and fruit flavors which delivers a fresh, indulging, contemporary taste, offering a refreshing alternative within the beverage category. The tea extract in Fuzetea comes from 100% sustainably sourced tea leaves.

Launched in 2012, Fuzetea saw accelerated growth to billion-dollar status in less than three years and is currently available in 89 countries worldwide. Fuzetea will be available in lemon & peach flavors and will initially be found in Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, and Gujranwala.  

At the launch, Fahad Ashraf, Vice President of Coca-Cola Pakistan said, “Pakistan is a strategically important market for Coca-Cola and amongst the top markets in the world. In line with our purpose of refreshing the world, we are committed to expand our portfolio for people to enjoy a wider choice of beverages that are available elsewhere in the world.”

The launch of Fuzetea in Pakistan is in line with The Coca-Cola Company’s goal of evolving into a “total beverage company” by reshaping its growth strategy and operating model in line with changing consumer tastes and buying habits.

Coca-Cola has become an integral part of Pakistan since its operations in the country for over 60 years. The company has also expanded its sustainability initiatives with a focus on relief efforts, water stewardship, women’s empowerment, and packaging waste under its World Without Waste vision.

 

 

 

Paksitan (Muhammad Yasir) Easypaisa, Pakistan’s leading digital-first payments platform, now offers food services through its partnership with Blink. This partnership will provide Easypaisa users with a unique in-app experience, enabling them to access multiple food apps and make secure digital payments through the Easypaisa payment layer.

The Mini App platform provide users access to their favorite apps within Easypaisa. The platform provides a one window solution catering to multiple lifestyle choices of our users with a seamless onboarding and payment experience.

 The Burger Lab mini app, integrated into Easypaisa, is launched in partnership with ‘Blink’ – a commerce enablement platform for restaurants, supermarkets, and retail. Easypaisa users nationwide can avail these services and enjoy exclusive discounts.

This is an important development towards Easypaisa’s goal of revolutionizing the digital payments landscape of Pakistan with innovations to facilitate its customers not only with digital payments, but with a range of quality services.  

The launch ceremony was attended by Omar Moeen Malik, Business Head – Easypaisa, and Syed Sair Ali, CEO Blink, along with other team members to recognize and celebrate the landmark collaboration between digital giants.

Commenting on the development, Omar Moeen Malik stated: “We are the fastest growing platform that operates on Open APIs and mini apps where any developer or third party can integrate their services into. With our partnership with Blink, customers will get access to various food apps, providing them a one-stop solution where they can gain access to various food options. Through collaboration and technology, we are committed to provide an unmatched user experience to millions of Pakistanis.”

Expressing his views on the initiative, Syed Sair Ali, stated: “At Blink, we have always taken the growth of our partners as our goal. If Blink is helping its brands in getting more direct orders, we are moving towards our goal. With this partnership, we are connecting Blink’s partner restaurants to one of the largest digital user bases in Pakistan through Easypaisa mini apps.”

With more than 10 million customers using the Easypaisa app every month, the platform offers a very strong customer base to any service that wants to integrate. Easypaisa is committed to transforming Pakistan into a cashless and financially inclusive society through the power of collaboration and technology.

AMIR S. CHINOY GROUP MARKS PINKTOBER, HOSTS AN EVENING RAISING AWARENESS ON BREAST CANCER AMONG GROUP COMPANIES’ EMPLOYEES.

The Amir S. Chinoy Group marked PinktOber, a global movement dedicated to raising breast cancer awareness among women, by hosting an evening for its group companies’ employees in Karachi. The Honourable First Lady of Pakistan, Mrs. Samina Alvi was the Chief Guest on the occasion.

In Asia, Pakistan has the largest rate of breast cancer. It is the second leading cause of death among women. An estimated 83,000 cases are being annually reported in our country, and over 40,000 deaths are caused by it, which is alarming. 1 in every 9 Pakistani women develops breast cancer at some stage of her life.

“This day provokes all of us – especially women – to think about our health, how we can protect ourselves from a curable disease with periodic check-ups, lend support and help to the ones suffering and appreciate efforts of the caregivers and survivors who inspire us with their drive to beat cancer”, said the First Lady, Mrs. Samina Alvi.  The session also included briefings from

Prof. Dr. Naila A. Zahid, Head of Department, Department of Oncology, Liaquat National Hospital and Ms. Sadia Hamid, Clinical Psychologist, Department of Mental Health shared useful tips on risks and impacts of breast cancer. The evening was followed with an inspiring survivor’s account of the illness, Ms. Sue Ellen, also an employee of Pakistan Cables Ltd.

The Group companies showcased efforts undertaken over the years to promote awareness among staff and also other social areas where work to uplift vulnerable segments has been undertaken through its corporate social responsibility programs. “We encourage our employees to think positively about themselves and adopt preventive measures in their routine life, so as to avert the risks of breast cancer and ensure that early detection can have a great impact on their precious lives ”, said Kamal A. Chinoy, Director Amir S. Chinoy Group.

The event was also attended by Yousuf Mirza (CEO, International Steel Ltd.), Fahd K. Chinoy (CEO-Pakistan Cables Ltd.), and senior management team from across the group companies that include International Industries Ltd., Pakistan Cables Ltd. and International Steel Ltd.

Experts come together to discuss safe business practices at ‘Safety in Supply Chain’ event.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Telenor Pakistan hosted an event on “Safety in Supply Chain”, where industry experts deliberated on critical areas such as policymaking, legislation, and their on-ground implementation in complex multi-layered supply chains. The discussion also revolved around ways to improve best practices across different businesses and industries. Representatives from Nokia, Schlumberger, Attock Refinery, Nayatel, and Engro Enfrashare participated in the first-of-its-kind talk at Telenor Pakistan’s 345 Campus in Islamabad.

Addressing the keynote at the event, Tone Elisabeth Aastveit Skuterud, Head of GRC (Governance, Risk and Compliance), HSS (Health Safety and Security) and Sustainability, Telenor Asia, said that Telenor’s Supplier Conduct Principles (SCP) are based on internationally recognised standards, including requirements on human rights, health and safety, labour rights, environment, and anti-corruption.

“We recognize that an advanced Health, Safety and Security (HSS) culture is essential to maintaining a healthy, safe and secure working environment. Telenor’s ambition is zero injuries to employees and business partners which encompass HSS being fully embedded in all aspects of the business. We are committed to raising HSS awareness and culture among employees and business partners,” she said. “For me personally, HSS practices are not just about requirements and compliance, but about showing how you can care for the people around you.”

Khurrum Ashfaque, Chief Operating Officer, Telenor Pakistan, in his opening remarks said that a safety culture is a combination of mandatory practices & procedures, strict compliance, accountability and behaviour development through trainings and communication; these together constitute an organizations commitment to health and safety management. As safety standards and best practices evolve with technology and better risk awareness, organizations must also extend their sustainable safety performance management across their supply chains.”

“Telenor Pakistan aims to become a practice leader and a driver for improvement by initiating this dialogue to highlight common challenges and share experiences to build on each other’s learnings,” he added.

According to the panelists, workplace incidents often result from a combination of underlying causes, such as governance gaps, deficient legislative frameworks, insufficient knowledge and resources, unsafe business practices, and the absence of a proactive safety culture at national and workplace levels. Moreover, they were of the opinion that the government needs to collaborate with the private sector to understand the dynamics of domestic, regional, and global supply chains and how they are interconnected.

Most organizations are unaware of Occupational Safety and Health risks and hazards and often do not see the importance and urgency of addressing those risks and dangers. According to the International Labour Organization, 2.2 million people die yearly due to work-related accidents or illnesses, more than 270 million workers are injured, and an estimated 160 million suffer work-related diseases.

At Telenor Pakistan, supply chain sustainability is a key focus. The organisation seeks to create a competitive advantage by setting high requirements for its suppliers and following up with inspection and risk mitigation. Telenor Pakistan’s ambition of “making zero possible” intends to bring down the number of serious incidents, injuries and illnesses to zero through concentrated efforts and progressing towards a proactive safety culture.

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) METRO, the leading international wholesale company, in collaboration with Chughtai Lab, Pink Ribbon, and the Indus Hospital & Health Network (IHHN), commemorated ‘Pinktober’ – the Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Educational sessions were conducted by qualified Oncologists at all METRO stores around the country and the Head Office for over 300 female employees. The participants were briefed about the social taboos associated with breast cancer, early detection, and prevention.

Sharing her thoughts, Ms. Zahra Hussain, Director Human Resource METRO Pakistan said. “METRO arranged breast cancer educational sessions for the female employees and customers with the aim of empowering women to be proactive about their health, early detection and prevention. We want them to be confident and make the best decisions for themselves and their families. Women are an integral part of our workforce, and their well-being is our main priority.”

METRO also setup the Breast Cancer Awareness kiosks at all the stores in Pakistan for distribution of educational material on the Breast Cancer Awareness, among its customers.

METRO Group has presence across Pakistan and is operating 10 stores across the country, namely in: Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, and Multan.

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) FBL achieved the landmark of Rs. 1 Trillion mark in Balance Sheet footings with a record Profit Before Tax of Rs. 15.0 billion, 51% higher than the corresponding period last year

The Board of Directors of Faysal Bank Limited (FBL), in their meeting held on October 27, 2022, approved the financial statements of the Bank for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and announced an interim cash dividend of Rs. 5.50 per share i.e. 55%. This is in addition to interim cash dividend for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022 already paid at Rs. 0.50 per share i.e. 5%.

Al-Hamdulillah, the Bank is very close to the completion of the requirements of converting Faysal Bank Limited into a full-fledged Islamic bank. Accordingly, all the Non-Shariah Compliant retained earnings of the Bank are being distributed to the shareholders as cash dividend.

FBL has delivered exuberant performance in the nine months of 2022 with a Profit Before Tax (PBT) of Rs. 15.0 billion, 51% higher than the Rs. 9.9 billion in the corresponding period last year. However, the increase in Profit After Tax (PAT) is restricted to 26% from Rs. 6.1 billion in 9m’21 to Rs. 7.7 billion in 9m’22 on the back of extremely high and retrospective tax measures announced in the Federal Budget.

FBL achieved the landmark of Rs. 1.0 trillion mark in balance sheet footings on the back of strong deposit mobilization and borrowings.

Current deposit momentum built over last several quarters continued and has reached Rs. 274 billion, 27% growth over December 2021. Total deposits increased by 13% over December 2021 with CASA mix improving to 80% from 75% at December 2021. FBL’s net advances increased by 18% to Rs. 468 billion, with the growth across all lending businesses and improvement in ADR to 65% as at September 2022. Despite the prevailing uncertainty, FBL is committed to its strategy for conversion into Islamic bank and have applied to SBP for issuance of Islamic Banking License.

The Bank continued to deliver on growth objectives and increased the total revenue by 33% over 9m’21 to Rs. 33.6 billion. Non markup expenses of the bank have increased by 27% over 9m’21 while the cost to income ratio has improved from 60% in 9m’21 to 57% in 9m’22. Net provision for 9m’22 reflected reversals of Rs. 0.7 billion while infection ratio continued to reduce and is at 4.6% with total coverage at 89.5%. FBL will continue to invest in expanding the footprints by network expansion and is planning to open another 50+ branches in Q4’22 with an objective to reach the branch network to 700+ by the end of this year. The bank will continue to reshape banking experience by improving the quality of customer service, providing innovative digital solutions and will continue to invest in modern technologies to improve digital offerings and customer experience.

FBL was incorporated in Pakistan on October 3, 1994 as a public limited company and its shares are listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange. FBL offers a wide range of modern banking services to all customer segments, i.e., Retail, Small & Medium Sized Enterprises, Commercial, Agri-based, and Corporate.

Huawei Middle East & Africa Carrier Enterprise Business Summit focused on how Network-as-a-Service (NaaS), cloud services and managed services can enrich carriers’ portfolios to meet enterprise digitalization demands.

PTCL highlighted how the national telco developed NaaS in collaboration with Huawei technologies to captures the enterprise market.

Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir) Huawei, together with leading regional carriers, recently explored new strategies to reposition telcos as Managed Service Partners (MSPs) to meet enterprise transformation demands. The Huawei Middle East & Africa Carrier Enterprise Business Summit was held on October 12, as part of the Huawei Connect series of global events where the company announces its newest products and solutions, discusses best practices and explores paths to shared success. Steven Yi, President of Huawei Middle East & Africa, said: “ICT technology is the key to digital transformation and productivity improvement for all enterprises and industry sectors. Carriers can leverage cutting-edge solutions and services to meet enterprise demands. At Huawei, we have an evolving suite of solutions, which carriers can resell to enterprise clients hungry to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage. Huawei remains committed to working closely with carriers to grow the region’s technology-driven enterprise business together.” A shift is underway as enterprises’ digital transformation drives demand for new experiences. For example, CIOs increasingly prefer outsourced services rather than self-built I.T. systems. Secondly, there is a shift from fragmented procurement to full-stack. Thirdly, enterprises demand rich cloud services, managed service reliability, speed and agility, in addition to strong connectivity capabilities such as capacity, security and coverage. Huawei’s Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) solutions provide the agility and visibility that enterprises demand. Partnering with carriers, Huawei has deployed several cloud-managed network platforms across the region, with customers in education, transportation, finance, energy, and other industries. During the Summit, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd. (PTCL), a subsidiary of e& (formerly known as Etisalat Group) explained how the national telco developed NaaS, together with Huawei technologies, to capture the enterprise market quickly. Delegates also heard how Etisalat UAE, branded as etisalat by e&, has embraced the NaaS opportunity and learned about the latest partnership between the carrier and Huawei, two companies spearheading a new era in NaaS provision in the region. The UAE telco will deliver end-to-end managed services to enterprises, with guaranteed SLAs backed by Huawei’s technology and a seasoned team. Solutions by stc, a leading enabler of digital transformation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, shared insights into their comprehensive portfolio that enables a one-stop-shop offering and have helped them become a partner-of-choice to the KSA B2B sector. Huawei collaborates with solutions by stc in several areas, such as developing smart cities, building intelligent datacenters, providing 5G technologies, and enabling digital transformations to serve clients in Saudi Arabia and beyond. Huawei continues to work with regional carrier partners to gain insight into enterprise networking requirements while building a series of standard product packages based on “smart and simple” solutions. These solution suites integrate connectivity with different product combinations to meet enterprise demands for a fast time to market and help businesses maintain competitive advantage. Huawei’s full-stack solution – including cloud availability – is now established in all Middle East countries – offering more than 220 types of cloud services. To enable this, Huawei works with more than 100 local cloud service partners. Huawei CLOUD provides neutral, secure, and trustworthy cloud services to meet enterprise needs. And in partnership with regional carriers, Huawei’s country clouds aim to enrich carriers’ cloud services and help achieve countries’ cloud-first vision. “The telecom ecosystem possesses the fundamental building blocks – access, interconnectivity and applications – that enable digital transformation. As a result, a large share of potential value stemming from digitalization will depend on telcos’ ability to deliver essential infrastructure, applications and productivity improvements,” said Yi. “We see that carriers often define the industry vision and standards for digitalization that can help resolve enterprise challenges. Digitalisation also provides carriers new revenue growth opportunities as the traditional connectivity-based business has slowed down in the last decade,” he added. 

Ultra-Broadband 5.5G, key milestone on the path to an intelligent world.

Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir) Following its 2 days Global Mobile Broadband Forum 2022 (MBBF2022), Huawei Ultra-Broadband Forum 2022 raised its curtain today in Bangkok. David Wang, Huawei’s Executive Director of the Board and Chairman of the ICT Infrastructure Managing Board, delivered a keynote speech titled Stride to Ultra-Broadband 5.5G, outlining the enormous changes that are set to take place in areas like smart homes, smart campuses, and industrial Internet by 2030. He also made it clear that ultra-broadband 5.5G will be a key milestone on the path to an intelligent world and recommended that the industry take four key steps to accelerate this process. He went on to call on all industry players to work together and move faster towards ultra-broadband 5.5G. As we approach the intelligent world of 2030, home broadband speeds will reach 10 Gbit/s, marking a huge improvement over today’s 1 Gbit/s experience. Currently, homes have an average of 5 to 20 devices connected to their Wi-Fi networks. However, this is set to change as smart home devices see broad adoption, which will drive this number up to 150 to 200. It will therefore be essential that fiber can reach every room of every home. By 2030, Wi-Fi networks will also be capable of delivering several 10 Gbit/s experiences for mid- and large-sized campuses, and will need to support intelligent operations and management. Micro and small enterprises will need Wi-Fi networks that can deliver large bandwidth, premium experiences, and one-stop intranet services. Industrial Internet will require a bandwidth higher than 10 Gbit/s and a latency lower than one millisecond. Enterprises will adopt a multi-cloud strategy that requires networks to dynamically adjust routing. Driven by green development and automation, we will see 10-fold increases in network capacity, energy efficiency, and O&M efficiency. “Ultra-broadband 5.5G will be a key milestone on our path to this intelligent world. To hit this milestone, all industry players, including standards organizations, regulators, operators, and equipment vendors, will need to work together. I would like to call on you all to continue working together. Let’s leverage ultra-broadband 5.5G technologies, build 5.5G networks, and develop a 5.5G ecosystem. Together, we will move our industry forward and stride to ultra-broadband 5.5G,” stressed Wang. Wang stated the four steps the industry must take to reach ultra-broadband 5.5G. First, defining next-gen standards and reaching consensus across the industry. Second, jointly promoting the rapid adoption of standards across entire product lifecycles, from technological breakthroughs to product development, deployment, and operations. Third, rolling out ultra-broadband 5.5G more quickly using policies and target networks. Fourth, exploring new applications and building a prosperous ecosystem. Huawei believes the telecom industry will need to cooperate with industrial Internet companies as they continue working on deterministic experience and flexible routing in support of industrial Internet. This will help incubate applications for automated industrial control and enterprise connectivity to multiple clouds. The focus of green development in the communications industry is expected to shift from reducing energy consumption to improving energy efficiency. Multi-dimensional energy efficiency metrics cover both network performance and energy saving, and help operators manage carbon emissions reduction while guiding them towards target networks that feature optimal performance and energy efficiency. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has put multi-dimensional energy efficiency metrics in the proposed list of items to be included in its standards system, and plans to update the standards system in H1 of 2023. At the 2nd day of Huawei Global Mobile Broadband Forum 2022 (MBBF2022), Huawei released its “3+1” Green Target Network concept. Under the new setup, “1” refers to an energy efficiency metric system, and “3” refers to the three fields of focus: green devices, sites, and networks. The new concept is designed to help operators build low-carbon and high-performing 5G networks that attract more traffic given the same amount of energy consumption. Huawei is the first in the industry to achieve intelligent linkage between services and site auxiliary equipment with its GreenSite 2.0 solution. Aaron Jiang, President of Huawei’s SingleRAN Product Line said, “Energy saving is an ongoing topic in the ICT industry. Improving energy efficiency while meeting service development requirements is the key to building low-carbon networks. Huawei will continue to develop innovative green solutions and promote their adoption on commercial networks, to help operators build green 5G target networks.”

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Tetra Pak asserted its commitment towards sustainability and ensuring a greener environment at the Euro Village 2022 gala recently organized by the European Union in Islamabad. Participating at the Euro Village 2022 event served as an ideal opportunity for Tetra Pak to highlight its approach to sustainability which is shaped by its promise of protecting what’s good and its commitment to making food safe and available, everywhere. As a reflection of practically implementing this approach, a swing set for children which was completely manufactured by recycled Tetra Pak packaging material was also placed at Tetra Pak’s designated booth which reiterated the fact that Tetra Pak is taking practical steps towards realizing its sustainability vision.

Notable dignitaries, including the Swedish Ambassador to Pakistan, H.E. Henrik Person, also visited the Tetra Pak booth and were greeted by company representatives. They were delighted to learn more about Tetra Pak’s achievements within the sustainability realm and its commitment towards a low-carbon circular economy.

During his visit, the Swedish Ambassador to Pakistan, H.E. Henrik Person said, “I am very happy to be visiting this installation made by a Swedish company Tetra Pak, which is a leading company in packaging, as well as, sustainability. Tetra Pak is making sure that the used cartons are recycled to make items for other purposes. This is of course a very fun purpose to make a swing set for children made out of Tetra Pak cartons. I will encourage all consumers to support recycling of cartons as much as possible, Tetra Pak will do the rest to ensure that we are working towards a sustainable future.”

Tetra Pak Pakistan also made special arrangements to apprise the audience about its local partnership with Green Earth Recycling, which started in 2014 and since then has been successfully achieving increasing recycling targets every year by collecting and recycling packaging waste into sellable products such as garden furniture, school desks, roofing solutions, and much more. Visitors were also pleased to learn that in 2021, Tetra Pak Pakistan achieved a recycling rate of over 42% of its produced cartons, while the goal for 2022 is to increase this volume and recycle around 27,000 tonnes of beverage cartons.

The Euro Village is an annual cultural event organized in different countries with the purpose of highlighting the visibility and impact of the European footprint around the world. The event is conducted as a fun-filled evening with a range of family-centric cultural and entertainment activities that help to enhance mutual interactions between the locals and everyone else that represent team Europe. Highlights of this event include European stalls, a live musical concert, culture and information booths, along with lots of food and fun-based activities.

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) NdcTech, a global IT and consulting company providing transformational services for the banking sector and a long-standing partner of Temenos has recently won the Best Sales Partner Award at Temenos MEA Annual Sales and Partner Summit 2022 owing to its exceptional sales capabilities.  

The best sales partner award recognizes NdcTech’s strong footprint in the MEA region and ability to penetrate into new markets and geographies while providing value-added services to Banks & Financial institutions in the region.

On this occasion, Ammara Masood, CEO, NdcTech said: “We are thrilled to be recognized as the best sales partner among other regional and global partners of Temenos. Together with Temenos, we have been able to create value for our clients and successfully transform the banking sector around the world. We aim to foster this partnership and capture new markets to become the best sales partner of Temenos across the globe.”

This year, NdcTech participated as the bronze sponsor in the Temenos MEA Annual Sales & Partner Summit which brought all partners of Temenos under one roof and provided networking opportunities to all delegates. Our experts met with the senior management of Temenos and showcased NdcTech’s unmatched offerings for the banking sector. NdcTech now plans to expand its avenues with the wide recognition it has garnered in the market by winning the Best Sales Partner Award.

NdcTech is currently serving over 115 clients in the Middle East, Africa, & APAC region.