Comment by Riaz Haq on October 10, 2020 at 10:25pm

#Japan to boost efforts to recruit #Pakistan tech workers. Amb Matsuda said in Tokyo there are 300,000 well-trained information technology engineers in Pakistan, both countries will assign officials in embassies to facilitate #tech labor.- The Mainichi

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20201008/p2g/00m/0bu/106000c

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan and Pakistan plan to intensify coordination so Japan can accept technology workers from the South Asian country amid a chronic shortage of workers skilled in information technology, according to the Japanese ambassador to Pakistan.

Kuninori Matsuda, in a recent interview in Tokyo, said there are 300,000 well-trained information technology engineers in Pakistan, and that the two countries will each assign officials in their embassies to facilitate the movement of tech labor.

The ambassador said Pakistan will soon post a diplomat in its embassy in Tokyo to handle tech labor, while the Japanese Embassy in Islamabad will increase staff to connect Japanese companies interested in hiring tech workers with Pakistanis who want to work in Japan. The embassy will also help with visa-related work.

"There's a huge need for them, mainly among small and midsize companies that, despite their willingness to embrace IT, are finding it hard to source workers," Matsuda said.

Following the recent launch of a new government led by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Pakistan is looking forward to continuing to make progress with Japan in "dialogue and cooperation in a wide array of areas," the ambassador said.

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“We are about to open working visa for skilled Pakistan workers. We are planning to hire Pakistani skilled workers in good numbers. We need skilled workers, as our population is shrinking by each passing day. We are to sign an MOU with the Pakistan government in a month’s time, enabling the Pakistan skilled workers to have indefinite visa of Japan,” the ambassador said.

Kuninori said Pakistan was one of the 10 top countries from where Japan was planning to hire workers. ”We need skilled workers from Pakistan, as Pakistanis working there in Japan arevery devoted, honest and skilled and are contributing to the country’s development.”

The ambassador however said that for skilled people there was need to learn Japanese language. “Knowing Japanese language would be a must. It is one of the easiest languages around and easy to get used to.”

He said those who successfully get the visa and pass their first five years in Japan, would be eligible to take along their families with them. A high level exchanges by a prime minister and president would soon be materliased.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/543135-new-work-visas-pakistan-amo...

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 12, 2020 at 8:24am

Founded by 3 #Pakistanis (Talha Ansari, Muhammad Nowkhaiz & Wahaj Ahmed), Retailo raises $2.3 million pre-seed for its B2B #ecommerce marketplace in Saudi & Pakistan to help 10 million SMEs retailers in #MiddleEast, North #Africa & #Pakistan https://www.menabytes.com/retailo-pre-seed/ via @MENAbytes

Talha Ansari, Muhammad Nowkhaiz, and Wahaj Ahmed; who previously worked with Careem, Rocket Internet, Daraz, and McKinsey, Retailo wants to empower over 10 million SMEs in the retail sector of the Middle East, North Africa & Pakistan with the use of technology and real-time data. Its marketplace enables will enable the retailer to procure inventory for their stores.

Retailo is starting with small grocery stores in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan which it says is a $100 billion opportunity. It had apparently launched in Pakistan’s largest city Karachi a few months ago and has recently launched in Riyadh too. The startup said that it will focus on Saudi as its home market.

“Retailo’s technology and operations combine to deliver a strong value proposition to retailers, manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers. It is focused on offering SMEs competitive pricing; a one-stop-shop to discover products and the ability to order whatever they need, whenever they need,” said the startup in a statement.

The biggest highlight of the startup is its team. Talha Ansari, according to the statement was the youngest CEO at Foodpanda (Pakistan), at the age of 25. He later worked with Careem as Senior Director Operations helping the company scale its last-mile delivery business in Saudi. Mohammad Nowkhaiz, prior to founding Retailo was Head of Strategy at Careem and spearheaded company’s super app strategy post-Uber acquisition. Wahaj Ahmed is a former McKinsey consultant who was the youngest Careem GM at 25 and grew company’s business in Karachi by 10x in eight months, claims the statement.

The three founders commenting on the occasion, said, “We strongly believe in creating impact in the lives of people by giving them opportunities to improve their earning potential. The MENAP region has a significant opportunity to increase its economic prosperity by unlocking the productivity delta that exists between the region and global benchmarks. MENAP is home to 700 million individuals & 10 million SMEs; and its unorganized retail sector presents the perfect opportunity to increase the efficiency of supply chain by utilizing technology and real-time data.”

Interestingly, their competition in both Saudi and Pakistan includes startups founded by Careem alumni. Sary, the leading Saudi player in the space is co-founded and led by Mohammed Aldossary, a former Careem general manager. It closed a $6.6 million Series A earlier this year. Bazaar, the Pakistani B2B ecommerce platform that raised $1.3 million pre-seed earlier this year is co-founded by Saad Jangda, who was one of the founding members of Careem Now. Dastgyr, another Pakistani startup going after the same market also has Careem alumni as its co-founders.

Shane Shin, the Founding Partner of Shorooq Partners thinks that Retailo is led by exceptional founders, “Seed stage investing is all about backing the right people. We have looked at this space deeply and are proud to invest in the dream team behind Retailo who we believe can successfully build a strong, regional and international business.”

Khailee Ng, Managing Partner, 500 Durian, said, “While they operate one of the fastest-scaling business models in the world, their success means millions of SMEs and rural populations are more productive and have more stability and food security. Technology can
impact the next billion, and we’re already seeing it here with what Retailo had been doing.”

Comment by Riaz Haq on November 19, 2020 at 6:32pm

Pakistan and World Economic Forum have partnered to launch ‘Parwaaz’, a national accelerator that looks to close the skill gap and create employment opportunities in the country.

https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/11/19/wef-psdf-collaborate...

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2020.pdf

The Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) serves as the secretariat for Parwaaz.

Special Assistant to PM on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari, along with HBL President & CEO Muhammad Aurangzeb, Engro Corporation President & CEO Ghias Khan, Telenor Pakistan CEO Irfan Wahab Khan, held a press conference on Thursday to discuss the future of jobs in Pakistan in light of a WEF report.

Pakistan has been featured in the WEF’s ‘Future of Jobs’ report for the first time. The Pakistan chapter showcased jobs and skills of the future, highlighting Pakistani employers’ perspectives on new job roles and skills that require attention and investment in the country in the age of technology and automation. The report features in-depth information on 15 global industries and 26 advanced and emerging countries.

Bukhari said the government’s job is not only to provide jobs but also to govern and chalk out policies. It is the responsibility of the government to provide a better environment for the private sector to create more jobs, he added.

At present, the market is full of young people with old skills that have little or no use today, he said. “Young people now need to learn new skills.”

Parwaaz brought Pakistan into the global conversation on skills and the future of work by facilitating WEF with an extensive employers’ based survey conducted with over 50 top Pakistani companies and business leaders across 6 priority sectors. The profile on Pakistan provides a detailed snapshot of the future readiness of the workforce in the country.

The report’s insights reveal that in Pakistan, of the over 82 million working age population, 50pc on average have requisite digital skills, 51pc have business relevant skills, and almost 55pc have acquired education with business relevance. While this looks promising for an emerging country, large challenges remain with 31pc youth not featured in employment, education, or training, and 55pc of the working age population in vulnerable employment.

The results of the Pakistan survey do however have room for ‘measured optimism’; technology adoption especially in the areas of E-commerce, Big Data Analytics and Cloud Computing is high (91pc of the companies surveyed).

Pakistani companies are focusing on cultivating employability skills in the domain of Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, Creativity and Leadership, in tandem with emerging skills in the global market.

The ‘Future of Jobs’ report further highlights the unique economic challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, while technology driven job creation still surpassing job redundancy over the next five years, the rate of growth in the jobs of tomorrow is reducing.​

This results in a ‘renewed urgency’ to take proactive decisions towards reskilling and upskilling youth workforce. In the absence of proactive efforts, job market inequality is likely to worsen due to the combined effect of technology and the pandemic recession.

The need of the hour is then public-private collaboration at the global and national level, at an unprecedented scale and speed to create socio-economic systems that are more fair, equitable and sustainable.

Comment by Riaz Haq on November 19, 2020 at 6:33pm

The Future
of Jobs
Report
2020
Pakistan

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2020.pdf

Pakistan Working Age Population 82,345,263

Digital skills among active population* WEIGHTED AVERAGE 2019-2020 50.7%

Attainment of basic education 2017 36.4%

Business relevance of basic education* WEIGHTED AVERAGE 2019-2020 45.6%

Attainment of advanced education 2017 8.7%

Business relevance of tertiary education* WEIGHTED AVERAGE 2019-2020 54.9%

Supply of business-relevant skills* WEIGHTED AVERAGE 2019-2020 51.1%

Unempl. rate among workers with adv. educ. 2018 4.5%

Unempl. rate among workers with basic educ. 2018 2.3%

Share of youth not in empl., educ. or training 31.1%

The survey was distributed via an online platform
through three dissemination networks. The primary
distribution route was to the World Economic Forum
partners and constituents in collaboration with
the World Economic Forum Regional and Industry
teams. The survey was further disseminated through
a network of Partner Institutes—local partner
organizations that administered the survey in their
respective economies. Further dissemination through
partner organizations enabled the strengthening of
regional representation by extending the sample to
local companies. As a third dissemination channel,
the New Economy and Society team shared the
survey with the collaborators from the countries in
which the Closing the Skills and Innovation Gap
Accelerators are present (South Africa, UAE, Bahrain,
India, Pakistan). The Accelerator project brings about
tangible change by building a national public-private
collaboration platform to increase employability of
the current workforce and increase work-readiness
and critical skills among the future workforce.

Comment by Riaz Haq on November 26, 2020 at 11:45am

#Pakistan joins #Saudi-sponsored #MiddleEast Digital Cooperation Organization. The group of 7 nations includes #SaudiArabia , #Bahrain , #UAE, #Egypt , #Jordan and #Kuwait. #DigitalPakistan #DigitalTransformation

https://www.reuters.com/article/jordan-gulf-pakistan-tech/saudi-lau...

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and a group of Middle Eastern countries have launched a new organization to accelerate the growth of the digital economy, a statement from the Saudi communications ministry said on Thursday.

The group, to be known as the Digital Cooperation Organization, also includes Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, the statement said.

Comment by Riaz Haq on November 26, 2020 at 11:47am

Five nations unite to launch the Digital Cooperation Organization to Realize a Digital Future for All

https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2161875

Senior government officials from several nations patronized the launch of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) Thursday – a global organization aimed at strengthening cooperation across all innovation driven areas and accelerating growth of the digital economy. The event was attended by H.E. Houlin Zhao ITU Secretary General and H.E Borge Brende, President, World Economic Forum.
Founded by Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the DCO is driven by a vision to realize a digital future for all by empowering women, youth and entrepreneurs, growing the digital economy, and leapfrogging with innovation.
“We are joining hands together towards a commitment to drive consensus on digital cooperation to make sure that we seize an opportunity for our youth, our women and our entrepreneurs with the ambition to grow our combined digital economy to one trillion dollars in the next 3-5 years,” said H.E. Abdullah Amer Al-Swaha, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology. “Our future prosperity will depend on the digital economy. But it can only reach its full potential if we are able to make governments work together collectively with businesses, and entrepreneurs so they can survive and thrive, expand their depth into current markets and open doors for everyone into new ones.”
The launch of the DCO follows the conclusion of Saudi Arabia’s G20 Presidency to maintain the Kingdom's momentum on accelerating the growth of the digital economy across the region and the globe, as nations everywhere increase their adoption of remote learning, telemedicine and contact-less economic systems to survive and thrive beyond the social and economic impact of COVID-19.
‘’This is a critical step towards ensuring that our digital economies are innovative and future-proof,’’ H.E. Ahmad Hanandeh, Jordan’s Minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, said. ‘’To create sustainable change, we cannot work in silos; this is a collective and global collaboration. This is where our digital journeys intersect and we can learn from and support one another, which will in turn open doors for our youth and sectors to benefit from these efforts.’’
Based on its digitally-focused charter, the DCO welcomes participation and guidance from the private sector, international organizations, non-government organizations and the academic world.
“The Kingdom of Bahrain is pleased to be part of such a dynamic initiative and a founding member of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO). We thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for this initiative and are confident that the DCO will enable members to respond and adapt in an agile and swift manner to the ever-changing digital scene. As we have taken steps at a national level to leverage ICT technologies to enhance government efficiency and processes, the Kingdom of Bahrain also believes that fostering regional and international collaboration is a valuable extension to our national efforts,” H.E. Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed, Bahrain’s Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications said.
The founding members of the DCO have joined forces to establish the organization motivated by their shared interests concerning the digital economy that can only be realized through collaboration.
“We believe that the DCO will offer Kuwait a great opportunity to further develop its national digital agenda as well as to further progress the global digital agenda,” H.E. Salim Al-Ozainah, Chairman and CEO of Kuwait’s Communication and Information Technology Regulatory Authority, said.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, H.E. Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi added: “Pakistan is privileged to be a founding member of the Digital Cooperation Organization and to work closely with our partners to guide and lead a global digital agenda.”
On this occasion, United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, H.E. Omar Sultan Al Olama, commented, “We congratulate the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman Al Saud, his Crown Prince, His Royal Highness Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, and our fellow brothers and sisters, the people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for launching the Digital Cooperation Organization, and we praise this step in progressing digital transformation, which will support the broader technology sector. The adoption of both emerging and advanced technologies around the world will support global efforts in creating a sustainable and bright future for all of humanity”.

Comment by Riaz Haq on November 26, 2020 at 12:30pm

Everything we know about Neom, a 'mega-city' project in Saudi Arabia with plans for flying cars and robot dinosaurs


https://www.businessinsider.com/neom-what-we-know-saudi-arabia-500b...

Saudi Arabia is building a futuristic mega-city called Neom deep in a desert bordering the Red Sea.
The state has pledged at least $500 billion to make it happen, and is soliciting further investment.
Blueprints obtained by the Wall Street Journal detail wild plans for artificial rain, a fake moon, robotic maids, and holographic teachers.
Phase one is due for completion in 2020, with the final brick laid in 2025. It is unclear whether it will live up to its sky-high expectations.
Here's everything we know about the city which Saudi Arabia says will be 33 times the size of New York City.

Comment by Riaz Haq on November 27, 2020 at 11:16am

UNDP mission to support Pakistan’s digital transformation

https://www.dawn.com/news/1590655

A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) mission is in Pakistan to support the country’s digital transformation.

Former chairman of National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) Tariq Malik, who is currently the UNDP’s chief technical adviser on digital governance, is spearheading the mission.

Mr Malik, who is advising member states on digital interventions aimed at improving governance, will initiate official mission from Nov 20, following his two-week quarantine.

He will be meeting officials from UN agencies, development partners and key government officials.


Mr Malik will meet, either virtually or in-person, key individuals and their technical staff.

He is also expected to hold meetings with ministers and secretaries of government departments for the purpose.

He is supposed to discuss digital Pakistan policy with IT ministry, role of digital technology in Covid-19 response with National Health Services Ministry and e-payment system with the governor of State Bank of Pakistan.

He is also likely to discuss gender gap and statistics of registration of vulnerable population with Nadra chairman.

The economic affairs’ division has already sent an official memorandum to all relevant ministries, divisions and departments to schedule their meetings with the UNDP official.

Comment by Riaz Haq on February 18, 2023 at 10:52am

ChatGPT will transform edtech, educational content creation, say experts at KLF
Panel discussion stresses on need to incorporate AI in curriculums for win-win results

https://www.brecorder.com/news/40227107

Experts from the technology space in Pakistan agreed that the availability of ChatGPT has transformed edtech and educational content creation.

They also noted that it will prove to be a challenge for educators because students are now becoming prone to using the chatbot for their assignments and homework, making it difficult for teachers to assess the performance of the candidate.

Users say Microsoft’s Bing chatbot gets defensive and testy

Speaking on the second day of 14th Karachi Literature Festival, they stated that artificial intelligence (AI) was set to disrupt the education segment of the world.

The panel discussion, titled ‘Edtech-The New Normal’, stressed the need to reform the curriculum of educational institutions to incorporate new developments in technology so they can utilise it in everyday work. They admitted that technology should act as an enabler for a humans in daily lives.

Knowledge Platform Founder and CEO Mahboob Mahmood said that plagiarism checks are a technical problem with chatbots like ChatGPT.

“We cannot fight ChatGPT with 20th century tools. We will need 21st century technology for that,” he said. “The chatbot, however, promises personalisation of education.”

Pakistan’s edtech startup Out-Class raises $500,000

Speaking on the occasion, Katalyst Labs founder and CEO Jehan Ara stated that Stanford University has taken a lead in combating chatbots and developed Detect GPT to check if an article was generated through a chatbot. According to her, Detect GPT is 95% accurate.

Daraz Pakistan Managing Director Ehsan Saya said that while ChatGPT was personalisation of education, it is light years behind in what it can do. He was of the view that the chatbot will be updated from time to time to offer new services.

Startup ‘MyTutorPod’ used latest tools to ensure maximum productivity during pandemic

Online education in Pakistan

The speakers pointed out opportunities and challenges surrounding online education in Pakistan.

Mahmood highlighted that edtech took off in Pakistan at the outset of Covid-19 and later its popularity retreated.

“Lately, it is witnessing genuine growth because people have become sophisticated while using it,” he said. “We are one to two years away from inflection point of Edtech.”

Pakistan’s edtech startup Maqsad raises $2.1 million in pre-seed funding

Jehan stated that connectivity is a huge issue hindering the growth of Edtech in the country. “Even big cities like Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad see usual disruption in signals and this problem is rampant in small cities.”

She stressed upon addressing connectivity problem on war footing. She also called for improving access to education for people with disabilities.

“The disabled population should also be part of diversity. Next year, KLF should have sign language interpreters in sessions so that hearing impaired people can participate,” she recommented.

She also said that lack of will of people to send their kids to educational institutions was also a problem.

“Some people don’t want to send their sons to schools and force them to earn while they don’t send their daughters because they wear a veil.”

Oxford University Press (OUP) Pakistan Management Director Arshad Saeed Husain stated that such students can utilise edtech and study from home at the time of their convenience.

Edkasa: the startup using TikTok to spark students’ love for learning

He also added that people usually question what is the future of OUP amid rapid rise in edtech, ebooks and online education.

“The answer is that we create content and books are one classification of content. We had ventured into digital education long time back. Digital is the future.”

He underlined that blended approach in education is needed where both print and digital content will be needed to study.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 26, 2023 at 10:48am

The Philippines, India and Pakistan are the top three countries in terms of the number of workers being hired in the Asia-Pacific region, said a new report.

https://www.khaleejtimes.com/jobs/uae-jobs-indian-pakistani-filipin...


According to Deel’s State of Global Hiring Report released on Tuesday, Australia, Singapore, and India are the top three countries in the Asia-Pacific region where organisations were hiring last year. At the same time, Australia, Hong Kong and India were the fastest-growing countries for hiring new employees in the region.

In the UAE, Indian and Pakistani nationals account for the largest number of people among all expatriate communities. There are around 3.5 million Indian nationals, 1.7 million Pakistanis and 650,000 Filipinos employed in different public and private sectors nationwide.


The Deel study revealed that software engineering, sales and products were in the highest demand roles in Asia-Pacific.

In terms of salaries, Taiwan, Thailand, and South Korea saw the biggest average salary gains across all jobs.

Deel’s State of Global Hiring Report data is based on over 260,000 contracts and 15,000-plus customers across more than 160 countries, as well as over 500,000 data points from third-party sources, including Microverse. All countries, states, and cities in the report have at least 50 worker contracts on file as of December 2022.

Globally, hiring sustained its momentum throughout the year, as 89 per cent of all contracts were for remote roles. Many companies looked abroad to optimise talent costs.

Professor Samuel Dahan, chairman of Deel Lab for Global Employment, said average starting salaries for the role in content creation, operations and fiancé increased the most in the Philippines, India and Brazil.

While compensation rates also fell worldwide for new workers for the roles of accountants, customer support agents, consultants, designers and software engineers

Due to instability in the cryptocurrencies, Deel said, workers, lost some interest in receiving payments in cryptocurrencies.

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