Category: Business

MENA region leads global growth in luxury travel, reveals Mastercard Affluent Travel report.

Dubai (Muhammad Yasir)  The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has emerged as one of the main regions driving growth in affluent travel, recording high spends, while also displaying an appetite for sustainable eco-luxury and meaningful cultural experiences. Mastercard’s latest report, ‘Affluent Travel: A Middle East Perspective’, released during the Arabian Travel Market 2024, unpacks some of the key trends.

The appetite for new experiences in unexplored destinations, micro-trips and ‘bleisure’ will likely drive the growth of the global luxury travel market, which is expected to grow by 7.9% (CAGR) between 2024 and 2030, according to Grand View Research². While the world awaits the emergence of the first trillionaires, high-net-worth travelers contribute approximately 36% of the global spend on travel as stated in a Jones Lang LaSalle study³.

“At Mastercard, we are committed to connecting people to their passion for travel. This report gives a great snapshot of how high-net-worth individuals choose to travel, and it’s wonderful to see sustainability, cultural immersion and purpose as key considerations, along with quality accommodation, seamless technology and loyalty benefits. We will continue to harness the power of partnerships with leading industry players to come up with innovative solutions that unlock access to a whole new world of unparalleled travel experiences,” said Amnah Ajmal, Executive Vice President, Market Development EEMEA, Mastercard.

As per YouGov research, over a third (36%) of luxury travelers say they want to experience different cultures⁴. The combination of business and leisure, or ‘bleisure’, is also resulting in more remote-work trips as digital nomads change the face of travel. Affluent travelers are almost twice as likely as the global average to have taken a vacation as an extension to a business trip⁴. Furthermore, Marriott Bonvoy research also showed that solo travel is being embraced, with 70% of respondents in the UAE and 69% in Saudi Arabia saying they’ve travelled solo⁵.

 

 

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir)

United Bank Limited (UBL) – a leading bank of Pakistan, has acquired a 14,092 sq. yards commercial plot in Naya Nazimabad, Karachi, to build its regional office. Naya Nazimabad is located at the cusp of District West and Central of Karachi. The area is a major hub for the professional talent pool of the city and represents the largest enrolment at the city’s educational institutions. Naya Nazimabad is a master-planned gated community designed for integrated living for the middle and upper middle strata of Karachi. This transaction marks a major transformational addition to its character as now office space shall be added to its portfolio of residential, retail, social and entertainment related assets. This acquisition will allow UBL to attract professional talent from the area and utilize it more effectively. Its strategic location will substantially reduce the travel time and related stress for its employees. This is also likely to be, economically, highly effective for the bank. The plot is in close vicinity of world class retail, sports and social amenities. This acquisition highlights the foresightedness of UBL’s leadership and its commitment and its capacity to play a lead role in development and progress. It is anticipated that more professional and progressive organizations shall follow suit for timely capitalization of opportunities in terms of acquiring strategic locations for their operations.

Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir)

Tamasha to Livestream ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, ICC Champions Trophy 2025, and All Major ICC Tournaments till 2025.

Tamasha, Pakistan’s largest homegrown OTT platform, has secured digital broadcasting rights from one of Pakistan’s leading media groups, HUM Network Limited (“HUM”) for all six ICC mega tournaments spanning the years 2024 and 2025, including the highly anticipated ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, ICC Champions Trophy 2025, ICC Test Men’s Test Championship, and all Women ICC events. The agreement was signed at Jazz headquarters in Islamabad between Tamasha and HUM, attended by Aamir Ibrahim, CEO of Jazz, and Duraid Qureshi, founder & CEO of HUM Network Limited.

The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States from June 2 to June 29, will include 55 matches. The highly anticipated Pakistan vs. India match is scheduled for June 9 in New York. Pakistan’s first match is against the USA on June 6 at the Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Dallas. Before the T20 World Cup, Pakistan will play three T20 matches against Ireland in Dublin from May 10 to May 14, followed by a four-match series in England from May 22 to May 30, serving as crucial warm-up games. Babar Azam will captain the Pakistan side in the T20 World Cup.

While commenting on Tamasha securing digital broadcasting rights for the ICC tournaments, Aamer Ejaz, Chief Digital Officer at Jazz, stated, “We are incredibly excited to bring the free HD livestreaming of the ICC mega tournaments for millions of passionate cricket fans across Pakistan. Tamasha has always been dedicated to providing top-notch entertainment, and the new development reaffirms our commitment to delivering unparalleled viewing experiences. With the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 and all the upcoming ICC events now part of our lineup, we’re poised to set new standards in digital streaming.”

Also sharing his thoughts on the development, Duraid Qureshi, CEO, HNL, said, “We are thrilled to join hands with Tamasha, Pakistan’s premier homegrown OTT entertainment platform, for digital streaming of all major ICC tournaments till the end of 2025. Pakistani audience along with Ten Sports will have an opportunity of watching cricket matches live on Tamasha. In this partnership we aim to reach out to a wider audience and promote the digital viewing habits of Pakistanis, bringing the exhilarating experience of ICC tournaments directly to the fingertips of millions, fostering a new era of connectivity and passion for cricket across the nation.”

Tamasha has solidified its position as the top choice for live sports streaming, with over 26 million viewers tuning in for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. It reached #1 on both the Apple App Store & Google Play Store, peaking at 8.5 million daily active users and 21 million monthly active users during the tournament, capturing 80% of the viewership among seven digital platforms. The platform previously streamed events like the ICC T20 World Cup (2022), FIFA World Cup (2022), Asia Cup 2023, ICC World Cup 2023, and HBL PSL seasons 8 and 9. In 2023, “Tamasha” was the second most searched tech term on Google, just after ChatGPT.

Viewers can effortlessly catch the ICC T20 World Cup action on Tamasha through its user-friendly Android and iOS apps or website. With the added convenience of a casting feature, fans can enjoy matches on their smart TVs for an immersive experience. Tamasha boasts a rich library of entertainment content, including Live TV Channels, Pakistani and international movies, captivating web series, and exclusive Tamasha Originals, ensuring there’s something for every taste. By consistently providing great content, Tamasha remains the top choice for sports fans and entertainment lovers alike.

 

Islamabad – May 10, 2024: Pakistan’s fastest Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) service, PTCL’s Flash Fiber has demonstrated swift growth to reach the milestone of 500,000 customers nationwide. The service revolutionizes internet connectivity in Pakistan, besides offering a host of integrated ICT services to transform the experience of its customers.

PTCL Group is rapidly expanding its fiber network in Pakistan, upgrading from copper to improve digital experiences and customer satisfaction. Currently, PTCL’s Flash Fiber service links 79 cities across the nation and is expanding further. Flash Fiber achieved this milestone at an unmatched pace in Pakistan’s telecom sector, highlighting its exceptional popularity due to its rapid speeds, flawless connectivity, and a range of complementary digital offerings, such as PTCL Group’s premier OTT service, SHOQ.

Celebrating this significant milestone, Hatem Bamatraf, President and Group CEO of PTCL & Ufone 4G, expressed, “We are thrilled by the enthusiastic response to our FTTH service ‘Flash Fiber’, which is designed to revolutionize user experiences, support smart home setups and enhance digital lifestyles in Pakistan. We firmly believe that high-speed and reliable internet connectivity acts as a catalyst for economic growth and social advancement, as it drives a substantial portion of the economy and opens doors to progress and development. We are strategically expanding our fiber network with the aim of making high-quality connectivity easily accessible to every internet user in Pakistan.”

High-speed connectivity also touches upon softer aspects including leisure and entertainment. On the back of Flash Fiber’s blazing speeds, PTCL is enriching user experience by providing premium content through its IPTV (SHOQ TV) and OTT App (SHOQ) services. Flash Fiber customers can also enjoy Flash Eye Security Solution for their house or office that is designed to meet all their security needs. Not only this, but Flash Fiber customers can also avail medical insurance.

PTCL’s FTTH service provides fastest connectivity that fosters innovation and drives socio-economic growth. The widespread adoption of fiber connectivity presents a valuable opportunity to unlock Pakistan’s growth potential across agriculture, health, education, e-commerce, entrepreneurship, and the digital economy, promoting sustainable and inclusive progress. 

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir)

Meezan Bank, Pakistan’s first and largest Islamic Bank, has joined hands with Roche Pakistan, one of the world’s leading biotech companies, in an initiative aimed at alleviating the financial burden of breast cancer treatment for patients across Pakistan.

Breast cancer remains a critical health challenge in Pakistan, claiming numerous lives and impacting countless families each year. Recognizing the urgency of addressing this pressing issue, Meezan Bank has pledged its unwavering support to ease the financial strain associated with diagnosis, medication, and therapy for affected individuals and their families.

The primary aim of this sponsorship is to offer the finest medical services to breast cancer patients. Additionally, it endeavors to educate individuals on navigating financial obstacles and accessing treatment seamlessly, ensuring a hassle-free experience.

Acknowledging the urgent need for intervention, Meezan Bank has taken action to extend a helping hand. Through collaboration with Roche Pakistan, the Bank is enabling access to essential breast cancer treatment, ensuring that financial constraints do not hinder patients from receiving crucial care.

Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir)

realme, recognized globally and locally as the fastest-growing smartphone brand, is offering an incredible opportunity for its customers with a price reduction of PKR 2000 on each variant of its popular realme C51 smartphone. As a part of its ongoing commitment to provide innovative and stylish technology at the most competitive prices, realme has made the following price adjustments:

realme C51 128GB + 4GB: Now available for PKR 27,999

realme C51 64GB + 4GB: Now available for PKR 25,999

realme C51 64GB + 3GB: Now available for PKR 23,999

The realme C51, part of the coveted C-Series lineup, has already turned heads as the most stylish entrant in its price segment. The device sets new benchmarks for innovation, quality, and style with its iconic features.

Pakistan’s First-Ever Mini Capsule: The realme C51 brings the revolutionary Mini Capsule feature to Android smartphones in Pakistan, enhancing user experience with more intuitive interactions.

Slimmest and Lightest in Its Class: The realme C51 is the slimmest and lightest smartphone in its segment, offering a comfortable grip for a seamless, on-the-go lifestyle.

33W SUPERVOOC Charge: Experience lightning-fast charging with 33W SUPERVOOC Charge, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity.

50MP AI Camera: Capture every moment in vivid detail with the 50MP AI Camera, equipped with features like HDR and panorama for a complete photography experience.

The realme C51 embodies excellence in smartphone technology, with each variant offering a seamless user experience at an incredible value. With the latest price reduction, the realme C51 is now more accessible to those seeking an innovative, stylish, and quality smartphone.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity! Visit your nearest retailer or shop online to upgrade to the realme C51 today and explore a new level of smartphone experience.

Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir)

SAS, the leader in analytics, further fosters its long-standing relationship with the multinational engineering company Descon Engineering Limited. Descon has chosen SAS as its trusted partner to develop an innovative and highly customized solution that enables qualified analysis and decision-making based on reliable data. Recognized globally for its quality, safety and on-time delivery of projects and products, Descon provides comprehensive solutions ranging from project conception to the establishment of fully operational facilities in industries such as oil and gas, petrochemicals, and power, among others. In accordance with worldwide standards and regulatory requirements, the company has implemented sustainability related frameworks, such as Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), Lessons Learnt, and Health Safety Environment (HSE). For Descon to evaluate the effectiveness of these frameworks and to continue progress towards its sustainability and operational goals, accurate and transparent reporting was essential. “Since multiple business management and monitoring activities were mostly carried out using semi-automated spreadsheets that required a significant amount of manual effort, human mistakes and delayed reporting were unavoidable,” said Tahir Mehmood, Head Digitalization at Descon. “Through the implementation of SAS Governance and Compliance Manager (GCM), we were able to create a tailored solution that precisely met our unique needs, ensuring interoperability with our proprietary business processes developed over many decades of operation. This allowed us to make qualified analyses and decisions based on reliable data.” With SAS GCM, Descon has developed a reliable and user-friendly solution that senior executives can trust for shaping opinions and decision making. Instead of worrying about data consolidation, managers and analysts can now immediately identify areas for improvement by rapidly analyzing the available data. Having the capacity to track the history of records has also assisted Descon in better understanding the sequence of events. Ultimately, SAS has enabled Descon to become curiosity-driven, leading to better insights, decisions and growth. In addition, the flexibility of the SAS platform allows Descon to further improve the solution in response to evolving business dynamics. Salem AbouFakhr. Senior Customer Success Manager at SAS Middle East stated: “As organizations strive to digitally transform with agility and speed while maintaining regulatory compliance, analytically driven decision making is becoming a critical differentiator. SAS brings the best-in-class analytics and AI to nearly every industry, building solutions to fit specific organizational needs, regardless of company size. Due to the innovative nature of this project, the Descon team’s tireless efforts and the assistance of local SAS partner TRA, played an instrumental role in this successful outcome”. From banking, where decisioning is used to provide more personalized customer experiences or to prevent fraud, to manufacturing, where AI-driven organizations make confident decisions on quality or supply chain optimization, SAS is effectively helping businesses across all industries make transparent and explainable decisions to build trust for the long term and outpace tomorrow.

Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir)

The Office of Diversity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (ODAI) under the umbrella of the Office of Student Affairs (OSA), at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi and ConnectHear jointly hosted a one-of-its-kind ‘ACCESS.ABILITY.CAREERS 2024’ at the IBA Main Campus. The career fair focused on supporting Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) or special needs and promoted inclusivity and accessibility on campus.

ConnectHear is a social enterprise led by aspiring youth working for sign language accessibility and deaf-inclusion in Pakistan.

IBA-ODAI aims to support and facilitate students with ongoing or temporary disabilities and special needs by providing services for learning and inclusion to enable academic and personal success. IBA-ODAI collaborated with ConnectHear as a community partner to host this event and is proud to have opened its doors for other university students to attend and benefit from.

Thirty-three organizations and seven hundred PWDs were invited to participate and were provided a platform to connect with potential employers and explore career opportunities in a supportive environment.

Several distinguished guests spoke about diversity and differently abled individuals, raised awareness about accessibility challenges faced in Pakistan, and emphasized on creating a more inclusive environment within the ecosystem.

Welcoming the audience, Co-Founder & CEO, ConnectHear, Azima Dhanjee; and Co-Founder & CTO, Arhum Ishtiaq; expressed their gratitude on the fruition of the successful fair. Mr. Ishtiaq shared that seven years ago, they embarked on a mission to make spaces accessible for everyone, regardless of their abilities. He opined that success for his team meant an abundance of inclusive hiring and onboarding because of this fair. He urged the audience to continue breaking down barriers and strive for a more inclusive future for everyone.

Former First Lady of Pakistan and Chief Guest, Samina Alvi, shared her thoughts on the work of ConnectHear and STEM Charter as an important social challenge for Pakistan. She commended it as a very good effort to improve empowerment and rightful inclusion of PWDs. She also shared that the biggest policy change brought and implemented is of 5% quota in private and public sectors for disabled persons.

Country Head of Human Resources, Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan, Muhammad Umar, presented the keynote, emphasizing that we must change our perspective on what we can and cannot do. “Today we are here to celebrate our abilities, not disabilities. To create an inclusive society, we need to ensure equal opportunities for everyone as every individual brings different skills and talents to the table. Organizations can and must play their role in building an infrastructure that ensures inclusivity for PWDs”, said Mr. Umar.

Dean Student Affairs IBA, Maheen Ghauri stated that the IBA has always facilitated students and staff who are differently abled. When ConnectHear approached IBA for this initiative, the Institute supported the idea wholeheartedly. She emphasized that every individual is diverse, and each has their own distinct abilities. She added

that it takes a village to create awareness and provide more opportunities. Today it is 400 people and tomorrow it could translate into millions.

The event also featured a panel discussion on ‘Jobs for People with Disabilities in Pakistan: What’s Happening Now’. 

Participants met with companies to discuss potential job opportunities and avenues for professional success. The event’s success highlights the commitment of ConnectHear and IBA Karachi to promote accessibility and inclusivity in Pakistan.

 

Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir)

TECNO Pakistan, renowned for its innovative smartphone solutions, announces an exciting promotion on its latest flagship smartphone, the CAMON 30. This cutting-edge technology marvel is now available in the market at a jaw dropping range 55,000 – 57000 PKR, a significant markdown from its standard retail price of PKR 62,999. This limited-time offer is valid until May 31st, providing tech enthusiasts with the perfect opportunity to elevate their smartphone experience.

TECNO has consistently prioritized delivering excellence in service to its esteemed patrons. In line with this commitment, their latest introduction of the smartphone series, CAMON 30, meticulously crafted with high-end features and an exquisite premium design, is a treat for users. As a generous gesture, this exceptional device is now available at an irresistible price point, marking yet another milestone in the brand’s portfolio to provide unparalleled value to its customers.

To avail this offer, simply visit the official TECNO Pakistan website online or drop by your nearest offline store. Don’t miss out on this incredible deal – act now to grab your CAMON 30 at this unbeatable price. Remember, this offer is valid only until May 31st, so make sure to take advantage of it before it’s too late!

International Packaging Films Limited IPO Receives Overwhelming Response from Investors!

 Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) The book-building process of International Packaging Films Limited’s (IPAK) Initial Public Offer (IPO) has concluded with an over subscription of 1.73 times, the company said today.

“The IPO received an overwhelming response from institutional investors and high-net worth individuals as the strike price clocked in at Rs 25.2 per share, higher than the floor price of Rs 21 the leading flexible packaging films manufacturer of the country said in a statement.

International Packaging Films Limited is going to raise Rs 1.77 billion in total. Ipak listing is a significant event as Ipak is the largest manufacturer of flexible packaging film.

Several brokerages had issued almost unanimous calls to ‘subscribe,’ which resulted in investor demand amounting to Rs 1.77 billion against the IPO’s book-building size of Rs 1.47 billion at the floor price.

The general public will subscribe to 17,526,364 shares (25 percent of the total offer size) on May 15-16 at the strike price of Rs 25.2, the company said.  The proceed from IPO will be utilized to pay off some of the debts.

Naveed Godil, CEO International Packaging Films Limited, in his message thanked investors for their overwhelming response.

Muhammed Amin, Chairman of International Packaging Films Limited expressed his gratitude for the confidence of investors in the company. He said “ There is a tremendous potential to increase shareholders’ value.  The Board and the management is fully committed to the plan and has a clear strategy of increasing market share, driving growth of domestic market through import substitution and increasing specialized films export”. “ As we grow, a wider number of shareholders will reap the benefits post IPO,” He further said.

International Packaging Films Limited recorded net sales of PKR 19.9 billion in the year 2023 while its gross margin for the financial year 2023 remained 27%. Its profit before tax for year 2023 was 2.9 billion while its net profit after tax was 1.6 billion.  The company’s 3-year revenue CGAR remained at 41%.

The group collectively offers a complete portfolio of packaging solutions, producing BOPP, CPP, and BOPET films, making it the first-ever group in Pakistan to provide one-window flexible packaging solutions, located at two strategically important locations in the country.