The P@SHA  ICT Awards, which are now in their 7th year, aim to provide recognition to software and service applications that have been developed in Pakistan, by providing companies an opportunity to gain local, regional and international exposure through on-going promotional activities.

Hence, it is meant to acknowledge creativity, innovation and excellence in the Pakistan Information and Communication Technologies sector.

This year judging panels will be available to judge entries in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad so as to make it convenient for more companies and individuals to apply.

Objectives of the P@SHA ICT Awards:

The objective of the P@SHA ICT Awards is to provide recognition to software and service applications that have been developed in Pakistan . It is meant to acknowledge creativity, innovation and excellence in the Pakistan Information and Communication Technologies sector. This annual Awards program also provides an opportunity and an ideal environment for companies to gain local, regional and international exposure through on-going promotional activities, and through participation at the international Asia Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA).

The top winners of the P@SHA ICT Awards (only product categories) will be nominated for representation at the annual Asia Pacific Awards.

Benefits of the Awards Program:

* Stimulate innovation and creativity
* Provide recognition and a platform for the benchmarking of innovations in the industry
* Create an opportunity for the top winning companies to represent Pakistan at the Asia Pacific awards
* Provide participants with networking opportunities so that strategic business alliances can be formed
* Winners to be brought to the notice of venture capitalists and investors
* Create a larger pool of knowledge workers that is essential for the development of the ICT industry
* Increase the general awareness of the development in the ICT industry

The Nomination forms are available here.

Deadline for entries is August 28, 2010 so please apply NOW.

Popularity: 11% [?]

The Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES (P@SHA) is on the lookout for a Program Coordinator. We seek someone who is passionate and excited about technology, someone who has good verbal and written communication skills, someone who knows how to use social media for advocacy and event promotion.

This could be a young man or woman who is technologically savvy but not necessarily a tech graduate. The applicant needs to be self-motivated and should have a good idea about the trends in the ICT industry locally – and preferably internationally.

P@SHA has a diverse set of member companies in multiple cities across Pakistan. Developing relationships with them and being “of service” to them will be part of the coordinator’s responsibilities. Other key responsibilities include adding on new members and ensuring that the current members’ list and corporate/government sector organizations info is up-to-date.

Experience is NOT essential so the applicant could be a fresh undergraduate or someone with very little experience. However, she/he must be totally “driven” and “action-oriented”. No job too big or too small should be her/his motto.

Send in your CV today to president@pasha.org.pk with a cover letter that is bound to grab my interest. This position is available to those who either live in Karachi or are willing to re-locate.

Popularity: 11% [?]

The purpose of P@SHA LaunchPad is to create a platform where young people with great ideas, and early-stage companies with innovative products, have the opportunity to pitch their ideas in front of an expert panel who ask relevant questions, make suggestions to help develop the idea or product, assist with market identification, mentoring and possibly investment if it catches their imagination.

A good batch of entries have been submitted from both Karachi and Lahore with more coming in as we speak. Shortlisted companies will be informed on the night of the 23rd of June so do check your emails if you have submitted an entry.

For those of you who wish to attend the P@SHA LaunchPad events in Lahore on June 26th and in Karachi on June 27th, 2010, (this includes those who are participating in the events) make sure that you register early. Registration is free but we will be limiting registrations to 150 in each city.

P@SHA LaunchPad, Lahore: Dome Room, Royal Palm, 2 p.m. - 6:00 pm, Saturday June 26, 2010 http://bit.ly/9KqXp4

P@SHA LaunchPad, Karachi: Ambassador 1 & 3, Karachi Marriott Hotel, 2 p.m. - 6:00 pm, Sunday June 27, 2010 http://bit.ly/bkeZJt

Popularity: 31% [?]

When Yusuf Jan took over as Chairman of P@SHA, one of the first things he wanted was to have a P@SHA Community channel where IT Member Companies and professionals could put up news, pictures & videos  regarding events, product launches and initiatives they had started – in fact anything that they thought was worth sharing. And so was born the idea of iP@SHA.

We didn’t have to go far to implement the idea. Dr. Umar Saif and Adil Saleem, two members of the SeenReport team, were visiting Karachi so I asked them what it would take to add a P@SHA community channel to SeenReport. This is something I had discussed over dinner in Lahore with Sharjeel Ahmed Qureshi, Yaser Awan and Adil some months earlier and they had volunteered to set it up for P@SHA whenever we decided it was time. Of course the idea didn’t really take root until Yusuf brought it up during our first 2010 planning meeting. He even had a tagline for it “iP@SHA – Do you?”

We have just launched the Community Channel and although so far it only contains a bunch of videos that I have put up, I am hoping that as more people find out about the space, they will start using it. If young startups or freelancers want to put up their startup videos for feedback, this would be an ideal spot for them to do so. If you hear of something innovative that someone is doing in the ICT space, take a video or a photo and put it up. If you have an idea you want to share that needs collaborative input, put it up with a request. If you have a demo of your product that you want to share, post it. Let us make this a collaborative space, a space where we build a community that actually lives up to the “all for one and one for all” concept.

Go and check out iP@SHA now, register and start submitting news, announcements, pictures and videos.

How do you submit an item to iP@SHA?
Email/MMS pictures and videos with description to:
ipasha@seenreport.com
or
ipasha.cityname@seenreport.com

Thank you Umar, Sharjeel, Adil and Yaser for helping us make this happen. You are absolutely wonderful!

Popularity: 60% [?]

Are you self-motivated? Are you organized and do you possess project management and relationship building skills?

Are you a good communicator – both in English and in Urdu?

Are you passionate about what you do and do you consider no task too big or too small?

Are you able to use a computer as an extension of yourself – the office productivity tools, the Internet, the social networking sites?

Then you are person we are looking for!

We need someone who will work closely with the CEO to implement policies and activities, who will be the prime contact between the Association and its members, who will provide information to all stakeholders, will manage projects and events and will be responsible for the smooth operation of the organization.
P@SHA is the Chamber of Commerce for the IT and IT Enabled Services Industry in Pakistan. We have 380 member companies across the country.

The Secretariat, which comprises a very small team, is in Karachi. Most of the work we do is done in collaboration with teams from companies and universities.

Although we will not unceremoniously turn away any young man who applies without due consideration, we would however prefer to hire a young woman if possible.

If this sounds like your dream job, please send your CV and application to president@pasha.org.pk

Popularity: 22% [?]

MIT Club of Pakistan Enterprise Forum (MITCEF) alongwith Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) and Computer Society of Pakistan (CSP), are holding several Entrepreneurship Promotion activities on March 13 at the Sind Club in Karachi.

These include the Introduction and Launch of the Business Acceleration Program (BAP- 2008), Introduction and Launch of Tech Angel Network (TAN) & the Consultant Network (CN) and the Introduction and viewing of MITEF (MIT Enterprise Forum) program “Are you ready for IPO”.

BAP-2008 like the Highly Successful BAP-2007 aims to help accelerate some of the participating IT companies to the next level by putting these companies through a mentoring/coaching program. The participants of BAP work towards preparing a Business Acceleration Plan; TAN the first Angel Investor Network in Pakistan aims to fill the gap in the Pakistani financing life cycle by providing financing to qualified early stage Tech Companies; whereas, CN will provide help and support to Pakistani Tech Companies in various areas such as arranging funding, help in formulation of strategy, help in valuation, and help in promoting excellence in operations, sales/marketing, etc.

The MITEF program on “Are you Ready for IPO (Initial Public Offering)” will address the important question that many companies have regarding when is the most appropriate time to go public.

Details of the progam:
Launch of Tech Angel Network(TAN), Consultant Network (CN) &
Business Acceleration Program BAP-2008 and Viewing of “Are you ready for IPO”
Date:        March 13th, 2008, Time: 3-7 PM
Location:    Sindh Club, Karachi
Program:
•    Tilawat   3:00-3:05
•    Welcome Address by Mr. Yusuf Hussain, MD PSEB  3:05-3:15
•    BAP-2008: Dr. Zahir Ali Syed, Co-Chair MITCEF   3:15-4:15
o    Views on BAP-2007, Jehan Ara President P@SHA
o    BAP-2007 Finalist Testimonials (Alchemy, Autosoft Dynamics, Sofizar, Softech & Tohfay)
•    TAN & CN: Mr. Azhar Rizvi, Vice Chair MITCEF  4:15-4:45
o    Perspective on Entrepreneurship, Mr Sami Askari, Chairman CSP
•    Hi-Tea  4:45-5:30
•    Broadcast Viewing: Mr. Ken Morse, MD MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Entrepreneurship Center  5:30 - 6:30
o    Introductory Remarks, Mr. Ken Morse
o    Viewing of DVD “Are you ready for IPO”
•    Q&A  6:30-6:50
•    Vote of Thanks: Mr. Farrokh Captain, Chair MITCEF  6:50:7:00

For Registration Contact:
Mr. Shafi Shaikh, MITCEF Secretariat;
Phone: +9221 568 4157, 568 4859;
Fax: +9221 568 8259
http://mitcef-pakistan.org
info@mitcef-pakistan.org

For any program related queries contact:
Dr. Zahir Ali Syed, Co-Chair, 0300 823 2348
Mr. Azhar Rizvi, Vice Chair, 0300 828 2649

Popularity: 45% [?]

P@SHA is happy to announce an exciting new initiative that we are starting in partnership with Green & White called Startup Insiders.

As we all know, there is no dearth of talent in this country and entrepreneurial spirit is on the increase - easily seen with the number of new IT ventures sprouting up all over the country - 2 or 3 man shops coming up with innovative solutions. Bright, energetic and passionate entrepreneurs or wanna-be entrepreneurs who have innovative ideas that they want to convert into successful businesses - young people needing direction, needing answers to some age-old questions.

On the flip side there are successful entrepreneurs wanting to share, wanting to answer questions that are never put to them - how to put together a business plan, how to get access to finance, how to pitch your idea, how to put together a solid team, questions regarding IP and patents - in fact, anything and everything that a start-up needs to know but was afraid to ask.

Whereas formal mentoring certainly has a role to play, informal get-togethers sometimes generate a lot more discourse resulting in a lot of questions being raised and tackled. And that is the idea of these Coffee sessions.

The format we will be adopting is:

- A Startup Insiders meetup will be organized in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad at least once every month - in Coffee Houses, Restaurants, Board Rooms - wherever space is available.

- CEOs, experienced leaders and possible investors will be invited to those sessions.

- We welcome young entrepreneurs (and older ones too), students, ideas, questions, myths, fears, product demos and pitches

- Coffee & snacks will be provided free and you will have a chance to exchange ideas - argue, concur, relate anecdotes, fears, challenges

- Each event will be sponsored by one software company which picks up the check. The company’s reps will also be present to talk to anyone who shows up.

This is a model that has apparently helped entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, and P@SHA and G&W is bringing this home to Pakistan for the first time.

Thanks to Osama Hashmi and Green&White for partnering with the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) on this initiative. Team work always bears fruit.

We’ll be kick starting this in Karachi:
Date: Thursday, January 17, 2008
Time: 6 pm
Venue: Pixsense, 172/P Najeeb Corner, 4th Floor, Block 2 PECHS, Karachi 74400

Entrepreneurs who have agreed to share:

Jawwad A. Farid (Alchemy Technologies),
Faisal Qureshi (Kolachi Advanced Technologies),
Adnan Agboatwalla (PixSense),
Yusuf Jan (Mixit Technologies)
and Osama Hashmi (CDF Snip and Green&White).

Oh by the way, I will be there too! PixSense is hosting this session. Thank you Adnan. And I have a couple of surprises for those who attend.

PixSense is located at:
172/P Najeeb Corner
4th Floor
Block 2 PECHS
Karachi

Location Map

Popularity: 36% [?]

The Pakistan Software Houses Association of IT & ITES commissioned a study six months ago to document growth trends in the technology community in Pakistan. After extensive research through online surveys and one-to-one discussions with CEOs and industry leaders, the study answers fairly important questions on employee base, growth, industry size, markets, distribution and policy issues.

The study comprises data from within an 80 company data set of 120 participants surveyed from within P@SHA’s member base of 350. It also includes data collected through conversations with multinational IT companies in Pakistan as well as government representatives.

Covering a  3-year period from 2005 -2007, the study focuses on documenting growth, local revenues, gobal revenues, employment, challenges over the last few years and how they were overcome. It also looks to the future challenges that the industry faces and the opportunities that awaits this fast-growing sector.

P@SHA plans to distribute the final study results very widely using both electronic and print media both locally as well as in the region. Given the content, the collection effort and the reasonable participation rate, the study is anticipated to become a core reference document.

Popularity: 30% [?]