TALEEMI JIDDAT KI TALAASH – A COMPETITION FOR INNOVATIVE TEACHERS IN PAKISTAN

Teach For Pakistan and Ilm Ideas introduced ‘Taleemi Jiddat Ki Talaash’ (TJKT) throughout Pakistan in 2015, which was a first of its kind education related competition that aimed to identify the best in-class, teacher-led low/no-cost innovations from schools across the country. The contest received an enthusiastic response from all stakeholders within the education sector and almost 1200 teachers sent in their applications between 27 January and 27 February 2015.

Shortlisted innovations were put through a rigorous on-site validation process before the best 20 entries were carefully selected by the Steering Committee that comprised leading educationists and researchers. Winning candidates and schools received cash prizes and book supplies, and their innovative teaching methodologies have been compiled into a guidebook more than 8000 copies of which are being distributed to teachers across Pakistan as a free resource. It is also available online at http://iteachforpakistan.org/tfp/taleemi-jiddat-ki-talaash/  for downloading at no cost. A series of supporting mini-documentaries for select innovations are also available for viewing on the website.

To celebrate the successful completion this unique exercise, Teach For Pakistan and Ilm Ideas are holding a showcasing and launch event of the guidebook at the Pearl Continental Hotel Karachi on August 18, 2015 from 9AM to 2PM, to which all the winning candidates have been invited. Also in attendance will be leading educational experts, officials from the Ministry of Education, prominent members of civil society, representatives of NGOs, UNDP, and leading school systems.

In addition, mini video documentaries of the innovations which have been painstakingly prepared will be shown at the showcasing event and which will be also be available for viewing on the TJKT website. The event will be covered live on radio and there will be a TV show to highlight and share the knowledge gathered over the course of the competition.

Ilm Ideas is a four year, DFID funded, £11 million program to award grants nationwide for increasing access to quality education in Pakistan for children in Classes 1 – 10. Ilm Ideas sought to increase public demand for greater transparency and accountability and promoted innovative solutions to improve Pakistan’s schools.

EISA’s Best Consumer Smartphone Award secured by Huawei

Huawei has won the “European Consumer Smart phone” award for the third time in a row, for its latest flagship smart phone, Huawei P8, previously Huawei had won this award for Ascend P7. P8 is the recent prodigy of Huawei which has established itself in the market because of its prolific ancestry based upon elegance and perfection of the P Series. EISA has acknowledged the tremendously enhanced quality of the camera performance and the high-end amazingly attractive craftsmanship, which has given P8 a commendably enriched and sophisticated appearance.

EISA, European Imaging and Sound Association, is a globally known and unique association, which deeply analyses the latest products such as Mobile Devices, Electronics, and Home Theatre Audio etc. At EISA, the expert team of 50 special interest magazines, from 22 European countries Awards the best manufactured products after thorough assessments. The Awards are independently given and the winners are solely decided after fair and meticulous assessment. EISA has been giving awards from the past 33 years, through a process of fair analysis and the results are very well based and internationally acknowledged.

Huawei’s Ascend P7 also received this award last year and now P8 has successfully managed to grasp it again because of its enhanced and improved camera performance and exclusively modernized craftsmanship. This practically economical high-end smart phone, P8 possesses an extremely elegant appearance with highly efficient internal features, the Octa-core Kirin 930 processor, 3GB RAM/16GB or 64GB ROM, a heavy loaded 2680mAh battery, super quality 8MP Selfie and 13 MP rear camera with optical image stabilization and many other exclusive and exuberant feature.  If one is comparing on the basis of price to performance ratio, then surely Huawei’s ultra cool P8 outshines the rest.

UBL Funds Launches the 1st Mobile App in the Asset Management Industry

UBL Fund Managers Limited (UBL Funds) announced the launch of the ‘UBL Funds Smart Savings’ App – the first of its kind mobile application by the Asset Management Industry in Pakistan. The UBL Funds Smart Savings application is available on iPhone and Android phones and can be downloaded on the app store and Google play. The app demonstrates UBL Funds commitment to innovation and their ability to strengthen the brand and evolve their business to keep abreast of the new trends emerging in the market.

The UBL Funds Smart Savings App is a convenient and easy application that gives investors access to their investment account on the go. It has an easy to use interface and design allowing investors to check their investment portfolio, make transactions round the clock and update their profile information. The app also gives details on the latest UBL Fund prices, keeping investors updated for all their investment needs.  Once registered on the UBL Funds Online Portal, Investors can use same the login ID and password for the UBL Funds Smart Savings App.

Mir Muhammad Ali, CEO UBL Fund Managers, said “At UBL Funds we believe innovation is the key. In today’s fast moving technological world, it is imperative to keep up with the changing trends and provide cutting-edge technology based solutions so as to continue to facilitate our clients’ requirements at every step.”

He further added that “The UBL Funds Smart Savings app is a revolutionary addition to the Asset Management Industry in Pakistan. With the upward trend in mobile and internet services in Pakistan, we felt it necessary to bring forth a mobile application that will help make investing easier and more accessible for our clients.”

Additional features on the UBL Funds Mobile Application include Portfolio Value, Allocation and Analytics, downloading Account Statements, Making E-Transactions, Searching the nearest Investment Center location amongst other features.

2016 Consumer Solutions range from Panda, designed for multiple devices and platforms, with more licenses than ever (at the same price), and includes Windows 10 compatibility

The new range of 2016 Consumer Solutions from Panda Security is now available. Panda Gold Security 2016, Panda Global Protection 2016, Panda Internet Security 2016, Panda Antivirus Pro 2016, Panda Mobile Security 2016, Panda Antivirus for Mac 2016, and Panda Free Antivirus 2016 make up the portfolio of Panda solutions for user protection on all devices.

In an increasingly global and multi-device environment, the 2016 Consumer Solutions range is designed to make the digital world easier and more secure. It allows you to hop and browse online safely; protects families against inappropriate content; keeps identities and confidential information safe. The monitoring and optimizing of different devices is now easier than ever with the new Panda products.

“We want the user to be able to perform any activity on the Internet without worrying about cyber criminals, malware or inappropriate content," explainsSaima Naeem, Country Manager (Pakistan) at Panda Security. “Not all users are experts or have the same needs. Therefore, we offer various solutions that protect the devices and sensitive information of the user and his family.”

·         Data Shield to prevent the stealing of information relating to the devices. In addition Panda Global Protection 2016 and Panda Gold Protection 2016 allow for the safeguarding of files so no one can access them.

·         Protection of Wi-Fi networks to display the computers on the network and detect intruders. It also allows for network audits to check its safety and potential vulnerabilities, and to block access from unknown computers.

·         USB protection, providing immunization and a protective shield to analyze the USB when inserted into the device.

·         Improved features such as Parental Control; application control, a highly effective protection against zero-day malware; PC recoverysystem, safe browsing, and password management and an easier, more intuitive interface (Panda Simplexity).

Huawei attains Top Position in Smart phone Market with its Fast Pacing Sales Growth

The smart phone revenue generated by Huawei in Pakistan and also in the international market, has increased twofold in the first half of the year 2015, posing a strong and tough competition to rivals like Apple and Samsung. Although Huawei, the world fourth-biggest smart phone manufacturing company, couldn’t meet its targets in the past two years but this year the situation has changed dramatically. Due to the shift of the company’s focus on the high-end smart phones, the world-wide shipments of these premium models has increased to 48.2 million phones, according to the report released by Huawei and it most certainly puts the company on route to ship 100 million smart phones this year.

This major growth change for Huawei occurred when this company started focusing more on the high-end smart phone market. As it is quite clearly stated in the report released by this company, the increase in the sales growth is because of the major contributions from the high-end smart phones of Huawei which are P8, Mate 7 and Honor series.

According to the researchers, Huawei owes its success to its better quality products. The company officials have from time to time, emphasized that they pour in their energies in its R&D department, and also contribute major share of the company’s profit in the R&D department, which is why this company is now delivering excellent quality products which are being very well received in the mobile phone markets.

Huawei Pakistan’s CEO, Mr. Aragon Meng has also touted about the success of their high-end smart phone P8. This handset has been priced by the company, quite low in comparison to the peer premium models released by the rival companies such as Samsung. He said, “An unexpected high rate of growth has been recorded by the consumer business group and it has been forecasted than the revenue of our company by the end of 2015 would grow to 20 billion $ in comparison to last year’s 16 billion $.”

Huawei’s consumer business division makes electronic products such as smart watches, smart phones, tablet computers and modems. The company strategy may not be the only factor aiding the Huawei growth, according to the Analysts, the economical and affordable prices of the smart devices of this company in comparison to the competitors has also played an important role.

Huawei’s Super Growing Business Revenue for 2015-Full year Sales forecast 20 billion $

The tremendous growth of Huawei in the first half of the year 2015, has brought the company to another level and the Consumer Business Group has forecasted that the full year sales of Huawei will surely increase to 20 billion $ this year. The reports that have been released by the company have shown the incredible sales growth that Huawei has achieved in the H1 of 2015, with a 69% increase the sales recorded are 9.09 billion $. It has also been announced that the contribution of consumer business revenue has also grown to 32%, which was 24 % year last year.

Huawei Pakistan, Director Marketing Devices, Mr. Fanhong Bruce has said, “Because of the rapid growth scored in the year 2015, the Consumer Business sales forecast for 2015 is 20 billion $ in comparison to 16 billion $ last year.”

The remarkable growth strategy adopted by Huawei is inciting business growth in both China and the international market as the Revenue has spurred to 124% y-o-y in China whereas in some other regions more than 40% growth has been recorded. The regions such as North-East Europe, Western Europe, North Africa, Middle-East and South Pacific have recorded respective, 54%, 45%, 164%, 48% and 41% year on year growth.

The shipments of Huawei’s high-end smart phones has grown 70%, according to the report and it states that the total smart phone shipment ratio has grown to 31%, the growth of revenue is 388%, total consumer revenue 42.9% and the contributed share profit has increased to 44%.

Samsung sponsors “Shah”- a biographical movie about Pakistan's Olympic Boxing Hero

Based on the real-life events, struggle and achievements of Pakistan’s unsung hero, Hussain Shah – a biographical sports movie – ‘Shah’, directed by Adnan Sarwar is all set to hit the Pakistani Cinemas and inspire the society with the fiery passion of the Only Olympic Bronze Medal Winner in Boxing from Pakistan. The launch of this movie has been sponsored by Samsung – the global technology leader. This mega feature film highlights the challenges faced by Hussain Shah, while rising up from a most impoverished slum of Karachi, to attain this glorious stature in the world. Looking at the reviews and response from the masses, this film promises to be a block buster. 

Samsung Pakistan remains at the forefront of promoting culture and the human-spirit through various social development and inspirational initiatives. Going beyond philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, healthcare, education and economic wellbeing of the deprived segments, Samsung has been consistently playing its role as a highly responsible corporate citizen of Pakistan. 

Following this tradition of promoting social emancipation, Samsung has once again sponsored the mega feature film “Shah”, produced by the talented and creative young man - Adnan Sarwar, who has also played the lead-role of Hussain Shah in the movie. Samsung is always inspired to highlight the achievements of our immensely talented youth, like the boxer Hussain Shah, who brought home the Bronze medal after his thrilling victory in 1988 Summer Olympics, whereby he became the only Boxer in the Pakistan’s history to achieve an Olympic Medal in a tough sport like Boxing. 

Samsung Pakistan’s MD, Mr. J.H. Lee has expressed his excitement in these words,” We are utterly thrilled to be a part of this mega project, as we can foresee that “Shah” – the movie, is going excite and the nation and influence countless lives in a positive way. It will instill greater ambitions and passion to overcome life’s demoralizing challenges and emerge as a winner in today’s competitive world. Projects like this movie are needed to bring positive changes in the nation’s mindset, to help them work hard to realize their true potential and earn respect and honor among the global community.”

 This movie premiere show was held on 14^th August at Cinestar in Township Lahore, where, along with Hussain Shah and the cast of this movie, major celebrities from the Showbiz and sporting world  participated enthusiastically, paying tribute to the boxer and appreciate this commendable effort by the film’s production team.