News Update Times

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Telenor Pakistan’s digital accelerator programme, Telenor Velocity is excited to announce the startups for its much-anticipated 8th cohort. Designed to harness the power of innovation and collaboration, Telenor Velocity empowers Pakistan’s tech-startups to scale new heights in digital product and service offerings, with Telenor Pakistan’s extensive digital resources and valuable guidance.

Launched in 2016, the accelerator has to date conducted seven cohorts, with 42 graduated startups, more than eight pilot runs, $40,000 pilot investment, and $6.8 million investment has been raised, so far, by the programme’s startups.

After its announcement earlier this year in February, Telenor Velocity received 75 applications for its 8th cohort. After a detailed interview and screening process, five growth stage startups were shortlisted to partner with Velocity for an opportunity unlike any other.

This year’s cohort is focused on themes like Edtech and IoT. For its 8th cohort, Velocity finalised five startups operating in the industry verticals mentioned above; Dot & Line, Maqsad, Cricflex, KytherTek, Radical Growth Farming Solutions.

Dot & Line is an international online learning platform, matching students with vetted and certified tutor partners. Maqsad is Pakistan’s first learning app with instant solutions. The platform provides a one-stop shop for after-school academic content in a mix of English and Urdu.

Cricflex is the world’s first patented wearable technology for cricketers who want to improve their game and make it to the international arena, while KytherTek is an Artificial Intelligence of Things company working on energy and process efficiency problems in developing economies. Radical Growth Solutions, a smart irrigation optimization solution that collects real time data from the field by leveraging technology to measure a plant’s humidity, soil moisture, temperature and light intensity to determine the precise requirements for water.

Telenor Velocity is offering these startups the opportunity to scale their businesses and with exclusive access to perks like the network’s extensive retail network, 10 million MyTelenor App users, SMS/Digital Marketing, product bundling, 10 million farmers, smarter segmentation through analytics, access to Telenor Pakistan’s IoT cloud platform, and more.

The Telenor Velocity program offers startups equity-free support. This includes access to  49 million customer bases, coaching from Domain Experts, Data Analytics and Product Development Support, access to our global partner and mentor network and scaling opportunities on Telenor Pakistan Assets. For more details, please visit telenorvelocity.com.pk.

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir)  Committed to making Karachi’s future more clean and green, K-Electric has renovated yet another park in the city. Located in the densely populated area of Nazimabad, Tanveer Shaheed Park had remained in an unusable condition for years, which will now provide a recreational facility to around 1,000 households in the vicinity. This development initiative was carried out under Project Sarbulandi and as a token of appreciation to the consumers for their support towards making the campaign a tremendous success in their area.

Inaugurated by Barrister Murtaza Wahab – Administrator Karachi and Adviser to Chief Minister of Sindh on Rules and regulations, in the presence of Deputy Commissioner/Administrator DMC Central – Taha Saleem and senior management of K-Electric including Director ESG – Zehra Mehdi, the park was revived in collaboration with the DMC central and area influencers of the local community. Bringing the site back to its former glory, the utility has wholly revamped it by installing swings, and bird boxes, making the much-needed repairs, and carrying out grilling work around it to make it more secure. The park has also become a part of Project 100 – an initiative to revive 100 parks in the city – launched by DC Central and envisioned by Administrator Karachi.

Elated at the occasion, Barrister Murtaza Wahab commented, “I am grateful to local governance and K-Electric for helping the city administration in renovating it and for giving a beautiful gift to the residents. We are working collaboratively to hand over a cleaner and greener Karachi to our upcoming generation.”

Commenting on the successful inauguration of the park, Director ESG at K-Electric, Zehra Mehdi, said, “At KE, we continue to strive for a better future for Karachi. Under Project Sarbulandi, we are constantly engaging the communities and working towards their sustainable development. Through our community development programs, we are prioritizing public spaces and parks to enhance the green footprint in the city so that the environment can be preserved.”

KE’s flagship project – Sarbulandi, which was initially launched in FY 2020, is furthering the goal of curbing losses and developing communities. Over 548,000 KGs of illegal hooks (Kunda) have been removed from the system since the project started, and around 3,500 Pole-Mounted-Transformers have been converted to Arial Bundled Cabling with about 378,000 New Connections made since FY 2020. Additionally, with a focus on uplifting the society, K-Electric has renovated 6 public spaces, installed 6 water-filtration plants, and organized 35 medical camps across the city as part of this project.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Representatives of different importer, distributor and retailer organization expressing their concern over banning on imports have called upon the government to introduce a fuel management plan which according to them can ensure saving of US$ 240 million per annum.

‘Only fuel management plan can bring the country out of current economic mess and reduce current account deficit if the government introduces a five-day working week in all the government offices and permit all limit working hours of private sector offices and big malls under day light saving method,’ said Khalid Usman President Progressive Group, Muhammad Ejaz Tanveer President Business Forum Lahore and various others. They said recently promulgated SRO 598 (1) 2022 even bans the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) which are daily use items and their monthly import bill is only US$ 50 million. The government also charge from 100 per cent to 150 per cent of custom duties and other taxes on this amount. They said import of petroleum products is around US$ 14.47 billion and government is also extending a cash subsidy of Rs 47 per liter. In their opinion this was the main factor behind current account deficit. They said retail sector is the second biggest contributor in the GDP after Agriculture and around 23 million people are attached with this sector and banning it would cause an irreparable loss to this sector. They said there are over 2 million retail outlets across the country and daily sale of imported items at small shops is 2 per cent of their sale, 9 per cent of the big general stores, 10 per cent of the departmental stores, 8.5 percent of the chain stories and 4 per cent of the daily sale of petrol pumps and roadside stores. They said if this sale is stopped then it would cause a reduction of 1 per cent in the national GDP besides depriving the national kitty from revenue and duties worth Rs 100 billion. They said instead the government should introduce a fuel management plan as if fuel consumption of official vehicles is curtailed by 200 liters per month can save the government US$ 240 million per annum. They said that Sunday should be observed as fuel free day in the country for a period of three months.

Secretary General Super Markets Association Muhammad Imran Saleemi, Shah Alam Market Food Head Sheikh Khalid Mahmood, Chief Organizer All Pakistan Anjum Tajran Lahore Abdul Wadood Alvi, Waqas Arshad, Faisal Arshad, Zeeshan Bakhshi and others were also present on this occasion.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Shan Foods, leading global food brand, has signed an agreement with HashMove, a global multi-modal logistics platform, for the digital transformation of its international logistics – facilitating streamlined and rapid movement of exports worldwide.

Through this partnership, HashMove will roll out a digital supply chain with an end-to-end logistics ecosystem under its Enterprise Logistics Marketplace (ELM) platform. This will create a private logistics marketplace for Shan Foods, enabling digital warehousing, online freight booking, and documentation, to real-time tracking and monitoring, while providing access to over 180 freight forwarders present on HashMove global partner network. This initiative of digitization of its logistics is in line with Shan Foods’ commitment to delivering a wholesome experience for its consumers from around the world.  

Speaking during the signing ceremony, Saadi Masood- Head of Supply Chain at Shan Foods, said, “We are pleased to partner with HashMove for developing a digital logistic platform through its end-to-end one-window solution. This will enable us overcome the supply chain chaos and hassle of disjointed industries, providing us with a private, closed-loop marketplace to process our international trade. Shan Foods is committed to driving this digital efficiency throughout its operations with the goal to serve its customers with unmatched excellence.”

Sarfaraz Alam, CEO HashMove, added, “Shan Foods is one of the leading global players in the food industry with an extensive consumer network spread across multiple countries. With HashMove’s B2B digital supply chain, we look forward to helping them in moving their commodities worldwide with efficiency.”

Lahore (Nut Desk)  FAKT Exhibitions, Pakistan’s leading exhibitions organizing company is all set to organize 16^th edition of 3P Plas Print Pack Pakistan – Country’s Pioneer and Biggest Exhibition for Plastic, Printing and Packaging industry from May 26 to 28 at Expo Centre, Lahore.

3P Plas Print Pack Pakistan is the only exhibition in Pakistan that provides a unique platform for players from plastic, printing and packaging industry to expand their portfolio by networking with other renowned companies. The trade show will be the biggest gathering of key industry leaders, top government officials, manufacturers, suppliers, traders, distributors and service providers and visitors under one roof.

3P Plas Print Pack Pakistan Exhibition will be inaugurated on May 26 by Mr. Irfan Iqbal Sheikh President – The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI). The three-day exhibition will have participation of more than 150 exhibiting companies from 10 countries including Austria, China, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Switzerland etc. which will showcase their state-of-the-art machinery and technology.

Mr. Saleem Khan Tanoli, CEO FAKT Exhibitions stated that “3P Plas Print Pack Pakistan Exhibition has played a pivotal role in the development of plastic, printing and packaging industry by introducing efficient technologies and solutions to local manufacturers and the event is bound to augment success and growth for the industry.”

For the past 15 editions, 3P Plas Print Pack Pakistan has proved to be the most comprehensive exhibition for this rapidly growing industry and successfully bridged the gap between industry suppliers and buyers.

Plastics industry in Pakistan is the second largest in South Asia. Currently, there are over 6,500 plastics processing units in Pakistan. Major concentration of plastics processors is in and around the industrial hubs of Karachi, Lahore, Gujranwala, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Hyderabad and Rawalpindi. Packaging industry is attracting reasonable foreign investment as a result of rising exports and increasing local consumption.