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% [?]

Are you

• A new startup?
• Do you have a new product that you want to launch?
• Do you have an idea for a product or service that you want to pitch?

Then here is an opportunity for you.
The P@SHA LaunchPad event will be held in Lahore on Saturday 26th June 2010 and in Karachi on Sunday 27th June 2010.

The vision behind P@SHA LaunchPad is simple - find the best technology ideas and start-ups and bring them in front of the most experienced and influential professionals, entrepreneurs, marketing and financial experts.

The purpose 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 people who ask relevant questions, make suggestions to help develop the idea or product, assist with market identification, mentoring and possibly investment.

Our sponsors for the P@SHA LaunchPad event are the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), Microsoft Pakistan and Sofizar Constellation. CIO Pakistan is our Online Technology Partner. Without sponsors and partners nothing is possible. So three cheers for these guys:

Experts will be brought in to provide input on Product Development, Business Models, on identifying markets and on SEO/SEM and usability. Nominees will be put in the hot seat where some of the most successful entrepreneurs and business executives will fire questions at them.

There is bound to be one idea or one product that stands out – these will be the P@SHA LaunchPad Stars and will be given a small cash award and highlighted on as many platforms as possible.

We plan to have a Demo Pit where young innovators can showcase their idea and talk to experts, potential investors and professionals in much more detail. The idea is to generate excitement and energy around ICT innovation and motivate more young people into starting their own companies and making them successful.

Last year the panel of experts brought a lot of value to the event and sparked lively discussion and debate. We are hoping that with each additional event, the group will energize further.

Nomination your startup, your product or your service idea at NOW:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFNXRVk1ZVhjenJUMnM1ZTI3dXRCd1E6MQ

The last date for nominations in June 23, 2010.

Download the P@SHA LaunchPad Flyer for all the details.

Popularity: 26% [?]

The Startup Insiders session is back again – this time in Karachi at T2F. P@SHA and TiE Karachi have put together a very impressive panel of young entrepreneurs (some younger than others of course) who are getting together to talk about “Business Models” – what has worked for them, what hasn’t and why.

The panel includes:

Jawwad Ahmed Farid, CEO of Alchemy Technologies and Author of Reboot.

Nauman Sheikh, a FAST graduate and a Consultant with Credit Chex

Adnan Agboatwalla, Co-Founder of PixSense

Adnan Haider, a graduate from Duke, Co-Founder of Lootmar.com and presently working as a Consultant with IBM

Imtiaz Noor, a seasoned marketing & finance specialist who has taken the step to start his own venture Inspire-X.

As most of us know, a business model describes how an organization creates, delivers and captures value. Very often we have all the ingredients that we need to start a venture – the right concept or product idea, a great founding team, enough finances to sustain ourselves for a while and the infrastructure and resources that we need. The product sells, we continue to innovate and create, operations move along smoothly and yet suddenly we discover that we are going downhill,  that our cash flow is not allowing us to move on or to scale. Something is wrong and it is difficult to identify exactly what. Very often it is the business model which we have adopted that is responsible for the collapse of the business.

Our panel will share their experiences and openly talk about the business model that worked for them,  the mistakes they made in the selection of a business model, what they could have done differently and how things can be turned around by tweaking the business model over time and ensuring that it starts delivering value.

By the end of this session you will understand how to design and implement a new business model or to analyze and renovate an old one.

The session is taking place at:

Venue: T2F 2.0 (10-C Sunset Lane 5 DHA Phase 2 Extension Karachi)
Time: 6:00 pm
Date: Wednesday April 14, 2010.

Please be on time. Following the 90 minute session, which will be very interactive, participants will have the opportunity to link up with the panelists and discuss their own business models, find out if they are on track or if they should be doing something differently.

To register for the event which is free, please email secretariat@pasha.org.pk.

Popularity: 41% [?]

Nutshell Forum, in collaboration with Asian HRM Network, Lahore HR Forum, GEO News, Learning Minds and Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES (P@SHA), is hosting the 2nd Talent Management Forum on Saturday, January 23, 2010 from 0900 to 1700 hours at Marriott Hotel, Karachi.

The conference will discuss strategies and ideas to ensure a strong talent management process within your organization.

Hear from a panel of CEOs and HR practitioners and experts on the unique challenges facing organizations in 2010-11 and how best to ensure that your biggest resource is creating the strongest impact for your company.

Limited seats are available on first come first served basis.
There are a host of known names who will be speaking at the event including some speakers from the tech sector - Jawwad Ahmed Farid from Alchemy Technologies, Badar Khushnood of Google and Al Karim Hassan from Etilize.
CONFERENCE BOARD:

Javed Jabbar, Global Vice President, IUCN & Former Senator & Federal Minister for Information & Media Development

Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, Coordinator General, COMSTECH & Former Federal Minister for Science & Technology & Former Chairman, HEC

Tariq Ikram, President, Textile Institute of Pakistan & Former Minister of State & Chairman, Export Promotion Bureau & Reckitt & Colman Pakistan

Ismail Mapara, Managing Director, 3M Pakistan & Business Head, 3M Middle East, North Africa & Central Europe

Humayun Bashir, Country General Manager, IBM Pakistan

Jawwad Ahmed Farid, CEO, Alchemy Technologies & Author of “Reboot”

Hasan Aziz Bilgrami, President, BankIslami Pakistan Limited & ICMAP

Mazhar Valjee, Managing Director, Areva T&D Pakistan (Formerly Alstom)

*Tauqeer Ahmed, Managing Director, Dupont Pakistan Operations

Badar Khushnood, Country Consultant, Google Inc.

Al-Karim Hassan, Director HR Global Operations, Etilize Inc., USA

Naushad H. Javaid, Director People Excellence, Telenor Pakistan

Muhammad Tahir Mushtaq, EVP Human Resources & Admin., PTCL

Shakeel S. Mapara, Director Human Resources, sanofi-aventis

Khalid Zaman Khan, Director HR, HSBC Middle East Bank Limited

Fariha K. Salahuddin, Director HR, Glaxo Smith Kline Pakistan

Wasif Waseem Ashraf, Director HR, Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited

Dr. Razi Azmat, Head of HR, Habib Bank Limited

Tahir Jawaid, General Manager HR, Engro Chemical Pakistan Limited

Wali Zahid, CEO, SkillCity UAE & C-Level Coach

Akram Durrani, Director Human Resources, Dawood Group

Syed Zulfeqar Ali, Head of HR, GEO TV

Adeel Anwar, President, Lahore HR Forum & Head of NTI, Netsol Technologies

Uzma Bashir Ghous, CEO, UBG Associates

Sohail Zindai, International Speaker, Trainer & Consultant / CLO, Learning Minds

Sidra Iqbal, Communication Strategist & TV Anchor

Jovaria Khizer, Associate & Consultant, Learning Minds

* Tentative

2nd Talent Management Forum-1

FEE & REGISTRATION:

1-5 nominees PKR 5,500 per participant
5+ nominees PKR 5,000 per participant
(includes lunch, refreshment breaks, conference kit and participation certificate)

PKR 4,900/- per participant
(Only for the members of LHRF, P@SHA, ICAP and ICMAP)

Your participation will be confirmed subject to receipt of payment.
All cheques and drafts to be made in favor of “NUTSHELL FORUM”. Refunds not allowed, however substitute may attend.
Organizers reserve the right to alter the program.

For registration, please contact:

Shahid Aziz Farooqi (0300-2704036) or
Zulfiqar A. Rahim (0333-3027242)

Email: nutshellevents@yahoo.com, nutshellforum@yahoo.com
URL: www.nutshellforum.com

Popularity: 69% [?]

Google Pakistan, in partnership with P@SHA, is holding a workshop on Online Marketing on Wednesday January 13, 2010 at T2F in Karachi from 10 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. followed by a quick lunch.

This talk, which will be facilitated by Badar Khushnood, Pakistan Consultant for Google, will help Pakistani technology companies to harness the power of the internet for promoting their products and services to potential local & global customers most economically. This course will also explore various tools and applications that are available online, for marketers.

All P@SHA members, startups and freelancers are invited to register for this event by Tuesday January 12 before 1 p.m. Since there are limited seats you will be receiving a confirmation from the P@SHA Secretariat if you have been registered for the workshop.

The registration fee for this event is a nominal Rs. 300. Please bring the cash/cheque with you to the event. A limit of 3 people per company has been set to ensure that there is broader participation.

Register now to avoid disappointment. Click on the link given below for the details regarding the workshop:

PASHA-Google Workshop series 2010

Similar workshops are scheduled for Lahore and Islamabad in February 2010. Dates to be announced soon.

Popularity: 60% [?]

P@SHA’s flagship event, the P@SHA ICT Awards, is now in its 6th year. The objective of the P@SHA ICT Awards is to recognize and celebrate innovation in the Pakistan ICT sector.

Over the last few years a large number of cutting edge innovative products have nominated their products for the local awards and some of them have gone on to participate in the Asia Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA). In 2005 a P@SHA member company Media Innovations won the APICTA Award in the Media & Entertainment Category.

In 2007 NetSol Technologies won the Best in Financial Applications Award at APICTA and PixSense tied for first place in the Communications category.

2008 was our best year at APICTA. P@SHA member companies won in 3 out of 16 categories competing against 145 products from the region.

The Winning applications were IRIS from TPS Pakistan Pvt Ltd, PixSense PSP developed by PixSense and Kraysis won the APICTA award in the Startup Category.

This year’s Awards are taking place on October 14, 2009 in Karachi. Nominations are open at www.pashaictawards.org. Judging will take place at the Karachi Sheraton on September 30, 2009. Nominations close on September 24, 2009.

If you have an innovative product or service, visit the website now and file a nomination.

This year’s sponsors are:

Gold Sponsor: Microsoft Corporation, Pakistan

Silver Sponsor: The National ICT R&D Fund

Bronze Sponsor: Intel Pakistan

Conference Sponsor: TPS Pakistan Pvt Ltd.

Popularity: 17% [?]

“Activate your Brand” Workshop

Date: 8th May, 2009

Time: 10:30 am - 1:00 pm

Venue: TBA (Lahore)

Registration Fee: Rs. 500 only

How do you get the word out about your brand and all the great work that you do if you have a limited marketing or PR budget? Attend a knowledge-sharing session and learn how to use media wisely!

P@SHA has launched a series of workshops geared towards technology firms to help you get your message out to your target audience.

This workshop will focus on the broad concepts of brand, media and PR and getting the most out of every marketing dollar.

10:30 - 11:00 am
The Power of the Brand: Jehan Ara, President, P@SHA
How to use the online medium in the best possible manner to get your message across both to local and global audiences. What  you need to do to build your brand, and showcase your company’s product or service.
11:00 - 11:30 am
Managing Media: Rabia Garib, Editor-in Chief, CIO Pakistan
How the media plays a strategic role in your branding and how to use it more
effectively in its various forms. A quick rundown of everything from what the
“right” kind of content to leak to media is, to the best way to write a press release,
how to create a case study and what you should talk about when you are in front
of the camera.

11:30 - 12:00 pm
PR Savvy: Salaina Haroon, Country Marketing Director, Communique Collective PR & Media Mgmt
Why Public Relations is better than advertising for the technology sector. How
to identify your key markets, where to get the message across and what the best
way is to tailor a marketing budget which gives you a holistic, 360 degree
approach to activate your brand across all critical verticals.
12:00 - 12:30 pm – Activity/Q&A
12:30 pm – Certficate Handouts and Networking Tea/Coffee & snacks

Limited seating for 20 people. For P@SHA companies only

To download the flyer, click below

www.pasha.org.pk/_data/userfiles/Activate_your_brand_Lahore.pdf

Popularity: 33% [?]

Do you want to be an entrepreneur? Or are you already running your own business but facing challenges that you don’t know how to tackle?  Do you have a boring job or a boss that drives you insane? Want to ditch all that and start your own venture?

Well then you have come to the right place. The Master - Jawwad Ahmed Farid -  is running a two-day crash course on Entrepreneurship this weekend (May 2 and 3) in Karachi. Jawwad knows what it is like to come face to face with failure; he knows the pains of entrepreneurship and the fruits of success; he has learnt the hard way and wants to make it easier for others.

Jawwad Farid is the Chief Executive and Actuary at Alchemy Technologies Pvt. Ltd. He is a Fellow Society of Actuaries, an MBA from Columbia Business School (New York City) and a computer science graduate (FAST ICS).  He is also the author of a book on New Venture failures and teaches Entrepreneurship at SP Jain University in Dubai and Singapore.

The Workshop Facilitator promises :
By the end of this course you will be very comfortable with:

a)    Understanding what creates a viable and sustainable business franchise
b)    How to analyze the idea behind a new venture & assess its investment potential
c)    Creating and presenting an executive summary from scratch

The course focuses on five key elements that one needs to understand to successfully run a new business

a)    Strategic Thought
b)    Product Development
c)    Bootstrapping
d)    Execution
e)    Failure

The course has a very heavy analysis and reading load and is not intended for the light hearted.  Its audience is individuals who are serious about striking out on their own. Course grade will be determined by the quality of a case write up, class participation, a product development exercise, a functional and viable executive summary and its presentation to an audience of judges and peers.

Mandatory pre-requirement for registration:
A one paragraph description of a business idea that you would like to explore during this workshop:

In less than 100 words describe the product idea and its potential, your first customer and the amount of capital required to launch it.

We are able to bring this to you at a subsidized rate due to the kind cooperation of Etilize Pakistan Pvt Ltd. Thank you Etilize.

Date: May 2 & 3, 2009

Time: 9 am - 4 pm (including lunch & tea/coffee and snacks)

Venue: 26-E, PECHS, Block 6, Karachi

Regisration fee: Rs. 2,000 (for P@SHA members and students)

Rs. 3,000 for others

Register now by emailing me at president (at) pasha (dot) org (dot) pk. Number of seats are limited!

The same workshop will be run in Lahore in the next couple of weeks.

Popularity: 30% [?]

BPO Conference 2009 - Driving Operational Efficiencies in Lean Times

Date: May 7, 2009
Time: 9 am - 2 pm (followed by lunch)
Venue: Institute of Bankers Pakistan, Karachi

Conference Rationale

As the financial tsunami hits worldwide markets, banks & financial services organizations are reeling from the effects as are other business sectors. Outsourcing could play an important role in driving operational efficiency in lean times.

The 2 sectors that are traditional customers for BPO are Financial Services (Banking/Insurance) and the Telecom sectors both of which are fairly well-developed and well established in Pakistan. In the Telecom market, as the market saturates we have already seen the growth stop. Survival will depend upon better customer service and quality. There will be increasing pressure to reduce operational costs. Outsourcing customer service and back-office processes would therefore make perfect sense. Currently the mobile telecom sector alone employs approximately 6000-8000 personnel in the customer service, back-office processing and related areas that could be potentially outsourced.

The Financial services sector is on a similar footing and is also facing increasing pressure on the cost side. The level of understanding of outsourcing in the Financial Services sector is not as advanced as that prevalent in the mobile Telecom sector. However, some banks have started to outsource certain functions and processes. More awareness needs to be created on the benefits of outsourcing.

The idea of holding this conference is to stimulate discussion on the benefits of Outsourcing the back-office and customer service areas as well as Help Desks and other services which do not essentially need to be done in-house.

Conference participants would include:

Ministry of IT & Telecom
Pakistan Telecommunications Authority
State Bank of Pakistan
Institute of Bankers Pakistan members
Senior representatives from telecom companies and financial institutions
Customer service representatives from telecom, financial, insurance, public sector and multinational organizaitons
Senior representatives from Outsourcing companies.

Conference Agenda

To register for this conference, please click on this link:

Organizers:

Sponsors:

Supporters:

Popularity: 32% [?]

Business Policy Roundtable

Digital IPR Issues and Its Impact on Business in Pakistan

Date: 30th April 2009

Time: 10.30 am - 1:00 pm (conculding with lunch)

Venue: Karachi Sheraton Hotel

To create a stakeholder dialogue, CIPE, Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES (P@SHA) and Internet Trademark Protection Center for Pakistani Websites, are organizing a Business Policy Roundtable on the above subject.

Barrister Zahid Jamil who is a well known international expert on the subject has consented to lead the discussion. To facilitate healthy discussion, Barrister Jamil has prepared a concept paper that is attached with this invitation.

To register, please email secretariat@pasha.org.pk

Organisers

Popularity: 33% [?]