Why Capital Smart City is the Best Investment Option for Overseas Pakistanis

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The concept of smart city dates back to 2014 when Seoul was introduced as first city with smart management. Before this Amsterdam in 1994 was shaped as a visual digital city. On relatively smaller scale working on home automation, the famous “Alexa”, was also in progress that helped people on large scale automation. These smart cities extensively use technology for its operation. The system works on integrated IOT, for its all-major activities. According to IMD smart city index 2019, there are total 102 smart cities in the world. Latest survey showed that Shanghai, China is ranked at the top in smart cities list followed by Seoul, Barcelona, Beijing and New York being the next in the list. 

Lot of resources along with managerial skills are needed to run smart city or country. If we talk about Pakistan, capital smart city is the very first smart project. Developers and owners of this giant venture are Future Holdings Developers and Habib Rafiq Pvt Limited. Both are famous and reliable names in Pakistan real estate sector. Some of the successfully completed projects of Habib Rafiq group are Bahria Town and DHA Islamabad. CDA approved capital smart city was launched in 2019 and passing through different stages of development. This ideally located housing project has direct access to eastern route of CPEC, new Islamabad international airport and a separate designated interchange on M2 motorway.

Moving on from its perfect location to its infrastructure, this city is beautifully landscaped with parks, lake, green land besides the footpaths, segregated housing sector from commercial sector, golf club and mosques. Provision of basic utilities of life gas, water and electricity has also made efficient by its smart management. Capital smart city has underground electric system that is backed up by powerful generators so if there is any power failure you are provided with electric supply. The system smartly senses water consumption of each household and ensures adequate water pumping and pressure so none of our residents have to suffer from water shortage. Gas leakage detection sensors are added advantage for the safety of its residents. Sports complex with golf court and horse-riding club, farmhouses and community centre further enhance your living in this smart city.

One block is specially designated for overseas people in this smart city. That overseas prime block has a beautiful artificial lake along with a mountain range. This block has exclusive 50 feet wide roads and connects directly to main Chakri road on motorway. It also offers well-constructed smart villas to its overseas residents. You can opt for contemporary villa, Mediterranean villa or Georgian villa according to your need.   

This international standard smart city, with all the luxuries of life is best opportunity if you want to build your own house or you want to invest in some property. Authorized overseas seller are there in different countries in order to facilitate its customers. This newly developed society is progressing by leaps and bounds and if you are living overseas than this project is probably the place where you can completely rely on.

 

 

Easypaisa launches its first mini-app with GrocerApp for grocery delivery

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Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Easypaisa, the country’s leading digital payments platform has recently partnered with GrocerApp to provide its users with a unique in-app grocery-buying experience. The partnership was finalized by the CEO GrocerApp, Ahmad Saeed and Business Head, Easypaisa, Omar Moeen Malik.

Easypaisa is increasingly diversifying its portfolio of payment services to offer more ease and convenience to customers. As part of this partnership, GrocerApp has created a “mini-app” for grocery delivery within the Easypaisa App and now Easypaisa App users can purchase groceries at the lowest prices from the comfort of their homes. GrocerApp is processing these orders for deliveries within a couple of hours in Lahore, Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, and launching their services soon in Karachi and other cities.

Expressing his views on the development, Business Head, Easypaisa, Omar Moeen Malik commented; “Pakistan’s digital payments eco-system is expanding exponentially and at Easypaisa, we remain committed to our mission of creating value through collaboration and technology. At Easypaisa, our teams have invested a lot of time, effort and cost into putting the relevant platforms in place to enable partners to quickly build and integrate their Mini-Apps with us. With more than 10 million customers using the Easypaisa App every month, Easypaisa provides a very strong customer base to any service that wants to sign up, integrate and scale their Mini-Apps within our Easypaisa App. We aim to continue building such partnerships and growing the number of use cases on Pakistan’s no. 1 payments App in order to provide convenient and secure digital solutions to all Pakistanis.”

Commenting on the partnership, CEO GrocerApp, Ahmad Saeed said, “GrocerApp is working towards making an online groceries brand that offers the largest variety in groceries at the lowest possible rates. This partnership with Easypaisa will help GrocerApp reach a bigger audience and benefit users in saving more on their monthly groceries.”

With over 10 million customers using the Easypaisa App in the last 30-days across the Android and iOS platforms, Easypaisa is the most used Pakistani App across all categories and remains committed to transforming Pakistan into a cashless and financially inclusive society through the power of collaboration & technology.

Huawei’s rotating chairman Guo Ping announces plans to build a new cloud region in Saudi Arabia during LEAP 2022

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The executive confirms commitment to support digital transformation in Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East region

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Speaking to attendees at LEAP 2022 technology innovation conference on Tuesday, Huawei’s rotating chairman Mr. Guo Ping said that Huawei would soon build a cloud region in Saudi Arabia. The hosting of the HUAWEI CLOUD region in the Middle East will boost local businesses and governments’ ability to access more robust and secure cloud services from Huawei.

The new cloud region will create new social and economic value in Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East in line with their digital development strategies. Guo noted Saudi Arabia has already confirmed plans to become one of the world’s top 20 tech economies and in turn diversify its national industries. “Going digital is now a key global consensus,“ noted Guo. “Over the past three years alone, many global enterprises have fully embraced digitalization, with the top 10% of these organizations growing their revenue as much as five times faster than those who have not embraced digitalization. Huawei’s own customers, partners, and developers can rely on our services to help industries in the region go digital.” The rotating chairman’s participation in the inaugural LEAP conference shows Huawei’s commitment to participate in and help the digital transformation in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.

Huawei is already an active contributor in Saudi’s digital transformation process, Ping highlighted, as the company have helped local carriers connect over 5.5 million people in remote areas. For the past 17 years, the company has assured stable Saudi telecom networks during major national events such as the Hajj that demands high quality networks. Huawei also worked with industry leaders like Aramco on intelligent oil field operations. Huawei has also pledged to cultivate talent for the regional AI industry. In Saudi Arabia, Guo noted that Huawei would support the Kingdom’s effort to become one of the first countries to have a large-scale AI model.

According to Guo, this will help the country build more intelligent platforms in domains like Arabic-language identification, pharmaceutical R&D, disease detection, and many others. LEAP is being held for the first time in Saudi Arabia from February 1-3, bringing together leading technology corporations, inspiring start-up founders, and venture capitalists to discuss opportunities and potential in the digital economy. Huawei has a significant presence at LEAP bringing its diverse ICT capabilities together for attendees to explore.

Systems Limited and IBA Karachi sign an MoU for collaborative technical advancement

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Karachi (Muhammad Yasir)  The Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi and Pakistan’s leading IT organization, Systems Limited, have partnered to provide enhanced technological knowledge to the IBA students.

Systems Ltd. was represented by Mr. Asif Peer, Managing Director and CEO; Ms. Naureen Anwar, SVP – Special Projects; and Mr. Adeel Ahmed Chatha, Manager – Industrial and Academia Linkages.

Mr. Asif Peer, Managing Director and CEO Systems Ltd. and Executive Director, IBA Karachi, Dr. S Akbar Zaidi, signed a joint MoU to develop sustainable arrangements between both parties.

Under this collaboration, Systems Ltd. will offer trainings, certifications, and workshops to enhance the technical knowledge of the students, the organization will also provide curriculum support to the IBA, to make it more industry relevant. Additionally, Systems Ltd. has generously agreed to support 2 final-year, IBA students from the Computer Science discipline, in their pursuit of higher education.

On this momentous occasion, Mr. Peer appreciated IBA’s performance and contribution towards the educational landscape of the country. He further added that through this collaboration, Systems Ltd. hopes to introduce more technologically sound talent in the field of information technology.

Dr. Zaidi appreciated Systems Ltd. for supporting IBA in its mission to impart world-class education to the Pakistani youth.

Through this partnership, both the parties aim to contribute towards developing a national talent pool in the fields of technology and computer science.

The IBA supports approximately 30% of its student body every year to ensure inclusivity through its financial assistance program.

FrieslandCampina Engro Pakistan commemorates success of empowered women Agripreneurs in a ‘Rural Women Rising’ event

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Islamabad (Muhammad Yasir)  FrieslandCampina Engro Pakistan Ltd (FCEPL) hosted an event titled ‘Rural Women Rising’ in honor of women farmers and Agripreneurs, on the 31st of January at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad.
The theme of the event was “breaking the barriers and empowering women through dairy value chain” The event celebrated these women, hailing from rural sites from within Sindh and Punjab, as well as their combined accolades, achievements, and ongoing journeys. These were only made possible by the guidance, training and facilitations of FCEPL’s expert field teams and their ongoing resolve for uplifting the socio-economic status of the hard-working rural women within their communities. This is indicative of FCEPL’s commitment to the UNSDG’s of gender equality, poverty alleviation and zero hunger. “
It is incredible to witness how FrieslandCampina has changed the lives of so many of our rural women, their families and communities.” Said First Lady of Pakistan, Mrs. Samina Alvi who was the chief guest on the occasion, “It is evident that these women are just as valuable and capable as men in their communities and [because of FCEPL’s facilitation] they are earning much-needed livelihoods for themselves and their families.”
Federal Minister for Food Security and Research, Mr Syed Fakhar Imam, commented “It has been my pleasure to witness the strength displayed by the women celebrated here. It has been an incredible showcase of their skill and ambition. The empowerment of women is a matter of national interest and FrieslandCampina should be proud to be at the helm of such an important mission.” FCEPL, formerly Engro Foods is one of Pakistan’s premium dairy companies and part of Royal FrieslandCampina (RFC), Netherlands. As part of its corporate values particularly Gender Equality, FCEPL kept its focus on the empowerment of rural women, both economically and socially through actively involving these women in the dairy value chain.
Another proud moment for the dairy industry in Pakistan, Mr. Hein Schumacher, Global CEO, Royal FrieslandCampina was also in attendance, “Our resolve of diversity and inclusion keeps us motivated to help unleash the potential of these great rural ladies to earn livelihoods, empower them and play active role in the economic growth. FrieslandCampina is proud to be a patron for the Pakistani women and truly understands the great work and contributions, they are capable of.” In this journey of over 15 years, FCEPL have actively partnered with reputed international agencies such as UNDP, USAID, GIZ, DEG and DFAT to train and facilitate women to become successful dairy entrepreneurs.
Over 28000 female farmers in Pakistan have benefitted from these programs to date, with over 2000 female extension workers trained as well. Few of those many amazing success stories were shared in the event by the beneficiary rural women themselves which were inspiring and mesmerizing. While narrating those success stories and transformation that has happened in their personal, family and community lives, some ladies broke into tears leaving a long term impression on the audience.
Speaking on the occasion President Food and Beverages RFC, Mr. Roel Neerbos applauded the efforts of FrieslandCampina Engro Pakistan “It is only through invested efforts like these can the rural sector truly develop and become the powerhouse we know it can be. We are happy and congratulate all those women for becoming successful agripreneurs and wish them best of luck in future as well. Credit goes to local leadership of FrieslandCampina.”
Presenting the vote of thanks Mr. Ali Ahmed Khan said “FrieslandCampina Engro Pakistan remains committed to improving farmers livelihoods with women focused approach and we are creating all that enabling environment through our dedicated team of experts and enablers. We are extremely thankful to our global leadership as well as the government and development partners for great support in our journey of women inclusive growth and development in the dairy sector of Pakistan.”
The event was attended by wide array of audience and dignitaries including Ministers, MNAs, MPAs, Member of SDG Parliamentary Task Force, women entrepreneurs, NGOs, INGOs, Development Partners, academia and leadership of FCEPL.

Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training sign an MOU with Telenor Pakistan

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Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training sign an MOU with Telenor Pakistan to pilot Taleemabad in Model Virtual Schools

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Taking another leap towards fulfilling the Digital Pakistan ambition, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Telenor Pakistan to pilot Taleemabad in six primary level public schools to be called Model Virtual Schools. The signing ceremony was held today at the Ministry of Federal Education and was attended by Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood, CEO Telenor Pakistan, Irfan Wahab Khan and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Telenor Pakistan, Kamal Ahmad.

Under this partnership Telenor Pakistan aims at extending high-quality standardized digital education to the underserved students and schools in Pakistan through its award winning EdTech platform, Taleemabad, which is the country’s first digital education platform based on the Single National Curriculum (SNC) and is endorsed by the Ministry of Federal Education. At the pilot stage Telenor Pakistan will be equipping six Model Virtual Schools with basic IT hardware and digital learning management system for teachers, students and administration while also providing them with the tools and skills necessary to cope with the new normal. This development is part of a broad-based partnership to empower learners and educators through Taleemabad’s digital platform and ensure uninterrupted, uniform and affordable education for all.

Commenting on the development, Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO Telenor Pakistan said, “With over 23 million out-of-school children across the country, we believe it is our responsibility to innovate and introduce sustainable solutions that enable masses through digitalisation and can stand the test of time. It is through interventions like Taleemabad and collaborations like this that we aim to address the socio-economic disparities affecting out-of-school children across the nation. We are humbled and pleased to have joined hands with the Ministry of Education and Professional Training through Taleemabad app to bring online the Single National Curriculum and advance together towards the vision of a Digital Pakistan.”

Furthering its commitment to reduce inequalities, Telenor Pakistan aims to take digital learning to one million out-of-school children. Telenor Pakistan aims to achieve this feat by 2023, making education more accessible through the power of technology, bridging the digital skills gap and contributing to the EdTech ecosystem, while supporting the government in its Digital Pakistan ambition.

 

Pakistan Business Forum welcomes Prime Minister’s visit to China

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Pakistan Business Forum welcomes Prime Minister’s visit to China Pakistan should insist on the establishment of new and functionalization of already approved industrial zones

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Pakistan Business Forum Lahore Chapter has welcomed the three-day visit of Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan to China and suggested that during this visit, Pakistan under the second phase of C-Pack package from China Agreement should be reached for timely construction of zones so that a new chapter of development can be started with domestic and foreign investment in industrial zones.

President of Pakistan Business Forum Lahore Muhammad Ijaz Tanveer said that the visit of the Prime Minister would further strengthen the friendship and economic ties between the two countries. He said that during this visit, agreements should be signed between Pakistan and China with Chinese government and Chinese industrialists and investors for timely construction of industrial zones under C-Pack and completion and functionalization of already approved industrial zones. He further said that Pakistan should also sign agreements with China for the transfer of technology so that Pakistan could enter the era of manufacturing instead of becoming an importer. He said that large scale industries as well as small scale industries should be given space in the proposed industrial zones as the operation of small and allied industries would accelerate the pace of industrial development as well as reduce the input cost of new jobs and industries.

۔ Mohammad Ijaz Tanveer emphasized that the completion of CPEC Industrial Zones on an emergency basis, the functionalization of completed industrial zones, the preparation of raw material in Pakistan and the activation of small allied industries connected to large industries are the only things that the Government of Pakistan can do. The success of India’s industrial policy depends.

Asfar Hussain talks about his musical journey and “Mehram”

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In an exclusive listening session organized by Spotify and Coke Studio Pakistan for the song, Mehram, the fourth release of Season 14, Asfar Hussain shared his thoughts about the song, his experience of working with the only Grammy Nominee of Pakistan, Arooj Aftab, and his musical journey starting from Nescafe Basement to reaching to Coke Studio, the biggest musical platform of the country.

Mehram reveals the emotional carnage brought by loss, helped by an unsettling drone effect winding through the song. The pairing of Asfar and Arooj’s voices creates a dark aural cushion, making you feel what Associate Music Producer Abdullah Siddiqui describes as “collapse-on-the-ground-earth-shatteringly-devastated.”Asfar uses the word “mehram” in its truest sense: a person that you trust completely. He described the song as “a vessel of thoughts, where you start to think; what was life like before you knew and trusted this person? And what is life like after this person is no longer in your life?”

When asked about his experience of working with a Grammy Nominee artist, Arooj Aftab, he said, “Arooj Aftab is indeed the first Grammy nominee from Pakistan and this is an achievement which is a dream of every other artist, and that’s the ultimate recognition that one can get for their work. My experience of working with her was truly amazing. I have been following Arooj since a while when she released her first few songs around 11 or 12 years ago. And since then, the haunting quality of her voice is what got stuck with me. The way she approaches melodies is very unconventional. Initially, on sets she was slightly reserved so it took some time to break the ice but after that when I got to know her and got to spend time with her, it turned out to be an amazing experience. She has a great sense of arrangement, she is a very learned musician, her take towards the composition since the beginning was very unique and every time we would share parts of the song with each other, I always got to see the song with a new perspective. So, for me it was great learning experience as well. And I am actually looking forward to working with her more.”

Upon asking how he felt looking at his journey starting with Xulfi from Nescafe Basement and ending up doing Coke Studio again with Xulfi, Asfar Hussain said, “It’s been long since I started my journey as a musician. It’s funny how this journey started with Xulfi when I came to Lahore from Chitral. I was discouraged as well in this process by many people. But I could always see myself on the stage doing things that I wanted to do and I had this belief that what I am imagining could possibly happen one day. And I think this confidence in myself is what brought me till here. So, my journey started with Xulfi discovering me, and while this journey continued, we achieved some milestones in between and now doing Coke Studio together is like coming full circle. In the past we often used to discuss that one day we will work together and will hopefully perform in Coke Studio too, and now that has already happened finally. So, this journey was extremely beautiful and in fact, this journey has just started and will continue onwards and upwards!

TPL Life Insurance (Window Takaful Operations) Launches Pakistan’s First Auto Dealership Distribution Model for a Term Life Takaful Cover!

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Lahore (Muhammad Yasir)  TPL Life Insurance (Window Takaful Operations) (TPLL); Pakistan’s 1st InsurTech enterprise in innovative insurance business, has launched “Fortune Shield” – a Term Life Takaful Plan for distribution through the Auto Dealerships – a Pakistan’s First.

Following the launch, customers can now avail “Fortune Shield” from all main Auto Dealerships of Karachi. This will be expanded to other parts of the country within this year to ensure availability for all Pakistani’s across the country. Customers will have access to a financial ambit through the Auto Dealerships whereby they will be able to provide a financial security ambit for their beloved families in case of an unforeseen event. By availing this coverage, customers will also have access to TPLL’s Tele-health platform which will enable customers to have access to PMD Certified General Physicians, Specialists, Medicines, Lab Tests & Doctor’s at home along with a host of other features through TPLL’s Mobile Application.

The event was attended by Senior Members of TPL Corp & TPL Life along with city’s top dealerships comprising of 3S & Non-3S dealers.

This partnership is in line with TPLL’s strategy to evolve as a dominant player by exploring profitable niches through the deployment of cutting-edge technology. With disruption at its core, TPLL continues to invest in platforms that will grow its reach & Insurtech persona within the country.

Commenting on the occasion, Saad Nissar, Executive Director, TPL Corp who has been the pioneer in setting up this model in Pakistan earlier in the years said, “Auto Dealerships has always been a strong proponent of TPL Corp’s philosophy of executing innovative models and products, and have always supported and facilitated TPL Corp’s businesses to grow & be a success. We are certain that the dealership fraternity will support TPL Corp yet again to ensure that TPLL’s product is also a success just like how TPL Insurance & TPL Trakker have been through this distribution model.”

Faisal Abbasi, CEO TPL Life, said, “This launch and collaboration will further cement  TPL Life’s vision & mission of introducing the most innovative, unique and advanced products & distribution models for the people of Pakistan to increase penetration with in the country and to further disrupt the sector. We look forward to scaling this distribution model by continuing to offer low price & high value products for our customers.”

Careem maps over 600 Government Vaccination Centres (recognised by NCOC), on its Super App

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Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) With the mission of simplifying and improving the lives of people in the regions, Careem, the Super App for the greater Middle East and Pakistan has partnered with National Command and Operations Center (NCOC) to map 600 government vaccination centres on its Super App. People can now book a ride to and from the centres to get their vaccination or boosters shots, following the outbreak in the Omnicorn variant of Covid-19. The feature ‘Vaccination’ entails detailed information on more than 600 vaccination centres mapped across the country, including the centre timing, locations and eligibility.

As the number of cases surge in the country, Careem extends its support to the government, encouraging Customers and Captains to get vaccinated or get booster shots by providing safe and convenient travel options to and from their destinations to the nearest centre. Using this tool, Customers can call centres from the Careem Super App and book a hassle-free ride, avoiding all traffic and parking issues.

Asad Umar, Chairman NCOC commented,“Currently Pakistan is experiencing the 5th wave of COVID19 with an extremely highly contagious variant Omicron. Today, we are in a much better position to fight this pandemic by ensuring everyone gets vaccinated and if it has been over 6 months since vaccination, getting the booster shot. This is a commendable step taken by Careem, and I hope others’ will follow as well)”.

Feroz Jaleel, Country Head of Careem Pakistan, commented while encouraging Customers to get vaccinated: “The new variant is spreading fast and we need to take measures to contain it. With that being said, I am happy that the government has worked tirelessly towards getting the vaccines available to the masses and we, as an organization, just wanted to play our part in helping people get their vaccination or booster shots and combating this contagious variant”.

Careem has always been at the forefront of extending its support to the government by arranging vaccination drives for its Colleagues and Captains and by introducing a similar tool to encourage people to get vaccinated and helping them travel to and from the vaccination centres. Amongst these initiatives, Careem has always instructed its Captains to strictly follow the Covid-19 SOPs during the ride by wearing a mask, frequently using sanitiser, maintaining social distancing and also encouraging its Customers to follow the same, keeping everyone safe and protected from the Covid-19.