Mobilink partners with LUMS to enhance entrepreneurial eco-system in the country

Mobilink and LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship (LCE) have signed an agreement whereby, the Telco in collaboration with LCE will scout, mentor and provide sustenance to LCE’s next cohort of 12 to 18 prospective business startups. This extension of support to young entrepreneurs is being carried out by Mobilink under their ‘Make Your Mark’ (MYM) initiative with the objective of ‘Helping young people shape their future’. The partnership will see Mobilink support LCE by providing financial and non-financial assistance to help them in their pursuit of supporting the enhancement of the entrepreneurial eco-system in Pakistan.

The MoU signing ceremony, between LUMS and Mobilink, was attended by Sohaib Arshad, Manager Corporate Responsibility – Mobilink, Dr. Ahsan-UL-Haq, acting VC – LUMS, and Khurram Zafar, Executive Director – LCE, along with the top management of LCE and currently incubated start-ups at the Center.

Speaking about this incubator support initiative, Omar Manzur stated, “Our commitment to nurture and cultivate emerging talent is a fundamental element of our CSR approach and extends out to significantly contribute to nurturing young entrepreneurs who place enormous value on innovation, have cutting-edge ideas and are willing to take risks. We look to lessen their challenges and overcome road-blocks through our years of experience, comprehensive business consultancy and mentorship.” He further added, “The initiatives planned under our ‘Make Your Mark’ program will offer support to a variety of beneficiaries to tackle the socio-economic challenges in Pakistan. The ultimate aim of MYM is enabling a generation of educated and tech-literate young people to help themselves, their communities in a bid to drive growth in the broader economy.”  

Since LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship began its program, it has mentored and groomed over 80 entrepreneurs and the startup businesses have created a total of over 120 direct and 350+ indirect jobs. The combined annualized revenues of the startups based on last month’s figures is approaching $250,000. These startups have also raised nearly $600,000 in investment from local and foreign investors. Moreover, the combined valuation of the businesses at which these startups have raised money at, or have had investor term sheets offered, is over $5 Million. With its third batch in the final phase of its graduation, LCE is currently accepting application for its fourth batch.

Khurram Zafar, Executive Director of LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship, while speaking about this partnership with Pakistan’s leading Telco, stated, “We look forward to continue to scout and support passionate Pakistani entrepreneurs in collaboration with Mobilink and its Make Your Mark initiative. The shared vision both organizations have to bolster entrepreneurship in Pakistan will go a long way towards strengthening this partnership over the long haul. We are thankful to Mobilink for the support it has extended.”

The ‘Make Your Mark’ initiative, launched by Mobilink last month, is a key element of VimpelCom’s corporate responsibility strategy. It aims to provide young people with technology tools, support and mentoring, and in some cases access to basic education, to help them tackle these challenges at an individual, community and national level – to shape their future. Under the Make Your Mark umbrella, Mobilink has also partnered Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy, Institute of Social and Policy Sciences, and GuarantCo and is working on expanding its mLiteracy program to reach out to an additional 3750 rural females in addition to establishing state-of-the-art ICT labs.

Huawei Y5’s Enlivening TVC, featuring Shehroz Sabzwari and Syra Yousuf Sabzwari, is getting Infinite Fame

Smart phone prodigies launched by Huawei Technologies, are being advertized through exiting TVCs on the electronic broadcast media. These TVCs are absolutely eye-catching and colorful with interesting jingles. The recently launched entry-level smart phones of Huawei, Y5 and Y3, are getting popular not only because of their ultra cool features at extremely affordable prices but also because of their exhilarating TVC, featuring Shehroz Sabzwari and Syra Yousuf Sabzwari.

This TVC certainly gives the viewers a mood changing experience, working as a mood lifter because of the soft yet joyful jingle which is played in it. The cute chemistry of Shehroz and Syra brings a smile on the viewer’s faces, as the carry around the attractive Huawei smart phones in the advertisement. The sequences of scenes portrayed in the TVC does not get boring at any point and keeps the viewer engaged through-out the commercial, showing the lead stars in different attires carrying Huawei smart phones with elegance and grace. It is also quite evident from the advertisement that the smart phones, Y5 and Y3, are manufactured for people of all ages and belonging to all walks of life, as the features encased in these smart phones are latest and easily comprehensible.

Huawei is a leading technology solutions providing company, which is getting matchless fame from quite some time because of the affordable high tech smart phones and tablets it has been launching globally and also in Pakistan Market. Huawei has unveiled at MWC 2015 many of its latest technologies and wonderful devices, which have helped Huawei, achieve peak sale records and set new success benchmarks.

The recently announced Huawei’s sale growth in the first half of 2015 has proved that this brand is getting infinite success in all the fields of mobile phones, enterprises and 4G devices as well. Huawei is certainly playing the most vital role in making this world “a better connected place.”

PEPSICO HOSTS STING CHALLENGE MEET AND GREET WITH RENOWNED BOXER AMIR KHAN

 PepsiCo Pakistan’s leading energy drink brand Sting hosted an exclusive “Sting Challenge Meet and Greet” with renowned boxing champion Amir Khan in Lahore on Sunday, August 2nd.  Sting Challenge is a social media driven initiative whereby the youth of Pakistan is presenting a series of physical challenges to Amir Khan.

Amir Khan, accepted round one of Sting Challenge and flew in to Lahore to meet fans and members of the media community. He engaged in live one on one boxing rounds with fans teaching them the art of boxing. He also showed his boxing moves to inspire the youth towards channelizing their energy productively in sports.

Powered by Sting, Amir Khan said: “Pakistan is my home country and we have a lot of talent here. I want to ensure that the youth have facilities and opportunities to become international champions.  I want to thank Sting for providing a platform to meet, coach and engage with the youth of Pakistan through friendly boxing rounds. Stay tuned on social media to find out what’s next for round two and three of the Sting Challenge.”

Speaking at the occasion Salman Butt, Marketing Head for PepsiCo Pakistan & Afghanistan said: “We are thrilled to host Amir Khan in Pakistan for the Sting Challenge. Sting is a brand for the youth and provides energy boost. Amir Khan is a youth icon championing the energy and vitality Sting provides. He is an inspiration for those who fight challenges and live up to their dreams. ”

PAKISTANI HOUSE-HUNTERS PREFER BUYING OVER RENTING

Data mined from Lamudi’s website shows that majority of property-seekers in the major cities of Pakistan are looking to buy than rent a property.

According to research conducted by Lamudi Pakistan, approximately 60 percent of the searches on the website are for purchasing properties rather than renting. The data also pointed to the preferences of house-hunters towards buying houses over other property types.

This holds true for all major cities of Pakistan such as Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi, Gujranwala and Faisalabad, where home buyers dominate the property market.

Lamudi Pakistan Country Director Saad Arshed said that the results vouch for the Pakistani mindset, which encourages young couples to live with their families, until they have the resources to construct their own house.

This is akin to the Pakistani mindset where renting properties makes less financial sense, as it consumes a major chunk of monthly salaries. People prefer living in a joint family system and save money, until they can build their own house, Arshed highlighted.

The research points to the popularity of houses over other property categories. This was followed closely by investing in apartments in Karachi and plots being the second famous option after houses in Islamabad, Gujranwala and Faisalabad.

These results should be helpful to property developers, who are planning to launch new projects. Now they know majority of property-seekers are interested in buying houses.

Pakistan’s First Postpaid Menu over USSD Launched by Warid Telecom¬¬

Warid Telecom today announced the launch of Pakistan’s first complete Postpaid Menu over USSD with this free of cost service, Warid subscribers can easily manage their connection with the swipe of a finger.

Aimed at making services more handy, the USSD menu allows customers to have quick, free, and easy access to a variety of features and services, including account details, Voice/SMS/LTE bundles, activation of Value Added Services and much more. To access the menu, users simply have to dial *321# and an array of options will pop up on the screen, which can be navigated through by using the number keys.

Warid’s new USSD Menu provides similar services which are available on Warid’s mobile app “MyWarid” which allows smart phone and internet users to access details and features online. Similarly the USSD base menu provides even greater flexibility for such customers who do not have internet access, thus this handy service over USSD allows full control to user to manage their mobile account and access any desired information. This initiative will greatly improve the customer service experience for Warid subscribers, making it significantly easier for them, more faster & convenient for them to access any information that they desire.

With many industry firsts, Warid has always excelled when it comes to innovation and delivery of outstanding services. 

Technology Giant Huawei surpasses Microsoft, as no.3 mobile seller in the world

A market research report published by Strategy Analytics has revealed that Microsoft has lost its place as the third largest mobile selling company to its competitor Huawei.

Microsoft’s global mobile phone market shares dropped from 11.9 % in first quarter of 2014 to 6.4 % in first quarter of 2015. With regards to mobile phone shipments, Microsoft plunged from 50.3 million last year to 27.8 million in 2015, according to the Strategy Analytics.

On the other hand, the market share of, China’s top leading technology company, Huawei rose to 7% last quarter from 4.8 % in last year’s second quarter. Strategy Analytics has declared that Huawei’s mobile phone shipments have increased from 20.6 million to 30.6 million over the same period.

According to Strategy Analytics Director, “Huawei is rising fast in all the regions of the world, particularly China where it’s 4G models, such as Mate 7 are proving wildly popular.”

For the first time ever Huawei has pushed passed Microsoft and achieved the spot of third mobile phone vendor in the global market, though it is still far behind Apple and Samsung, as was Microsoft.

Huawei has achieved this success mark because of its consistent struggle and also putting in most of its energies in developing best technological devices. The rich R&D departments of Huawei which are instituted in 16 countries and have 70% of total Huawei staff, are making great contribution in the tremendous success  that this technology solutions providing company is achieving. The latest prodigies of Huawei i.e. Mate series, P series, G+ series and Honor series have been very well received by the smart phone customers and they have also added a lot to the sales growth of Huawei in 2015.

Because of the extraordinary sales records that Huawei is achieving, it has allocated its 10% of the sales profit to be invested in the R&D departments, which makes 1.2 billion of R&D investment in 2014. Huawei also emphasizes on the high efficiency of the after sales services, which is quite evident from the fact that globally, Huawei has 650 partners and more than 3,000 service points and Five major customer support centers with customer service hotlines covering 91 countries, supporting 47 languages.

The pace with which Huawei, one of the top technology companies, is progressing it can be said without any doubt that soon Huawei would beat all its competitor companies and set new benchmarks with regards to sales and establishing new innovative technologies.

Samsung and International Talent Support Announce Samsung Galaxy Award for Emerging Young Designers

Electronics Co., Ltd. announced its second year partnership with International Talent Support (ITS), a global platform and competition for young emerging creative talent, as well as this year’s Samsung Galaxy Award featuring the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge. Samsung and ITS are recognizing young talent and forces of fashion with creative vision, encouraging them to explore their creative ideas, and ultimately create a product or art piece that unites technology and fashion for a chance to receive the Samsung Galaxy Award. As a global innovator in mobile technology, Samsung is devoted to uniting the worlds of fashion and technology by leading the way in the development of tech products and user-experiences that seamlessly combine style with substance.

The Samsung Galaxy Award at the 2015 ITS competition will give young designers an opportunity to showcase their creative approach and design vision. Ten finalists will be selected from ITS FASHION, ITS ACCESSORIES, ITS JEWELRY, and ITS ARTWORK, and will be asked to develop proposals for two assignments: produce a new type of smartphone case for the Galaxy S6 or S6 edge with or without Swarovski crystals, and create a fashion item or art piece based on their design expertise, inspired by Galaxy S6 or S6 edge design or features. Ten prototypes will be chosen to be exhibited during the final round on July 10th and 11th. The best prototype will receive the Samsung Galaxy Award and a cash prize of €10,000.

“Samsung recognizes young designers and talent as critical forces of fashion that have the potential to create the next big thing in fashion-forward tech devices and accessories,” says Younghee Lee, Executive Vice President of Global Marketing, IT & Mobile Division at Samsung Electronics. “We are proud to support this innovative group and look forward to seeing the many ways that fashion and technology can unite to better improve our lives.”

The winner will be decided collectively by juries, including Younghee Lee, along with some of the most influential Italian fashion journalists.