King of fruits: Bahawalpur hosts first-ever National Mango Festival

BAHAWALPUR: The 1st National Mango Festival started here today at the Ghulam Muhammad Gothvi Hall, Abbasia Campus, Islamia University Bahawalpur (IUB). The festival is being arranged by IUB in collaboration with the Agriculture Department, Bahawalpur Federation Pakistan Chambers of Agriculture and Livestock and the Bahawalpur Chamber of Agriculture and Livestock.

The festival will be followed by a seminar in which researchers will present papers about mango cultivation and farmers will be informed about the mango plantation, quality, storage, packing and exporting process.

Commissioner Bahawalpur division Capt (retd) Asadullah Khan along with Vice-Chancellor, IUB Prof Dr Muhammad Mukhtar inaugurated the festival. More than 150 varieties of mango including Almas, Anwer Ratol, Barsha, Began Pali, Badami, Zafran, Saroli, Dosehri, Langra, Sindhri, Chaunsa, Gulab Ghas, Dil Pasand, Fajri, Maldah, Samar Behishat and Tota Pari were put on display in the festival.

Mangoes from Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir were put on display.

The Vice-Chancellor, on the occasion said that more research was essential from a business point of view to promote growth in mango exports. The festival was attended by several high ranking government officials and businessmen.

Nine Leading Universities in Pakistan Join the Oracle Academy

Karachi, Pakistan – 11th July 2013: Nine leading universities in Pakistan have joined the Oracle Academy and have integrated its Advanced Computer Science program into their IT curriculum to provide their students hands-on experience with Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware.

As a result, approximately 4500 students from these participating universities will have access to world-class Oracle software, technical curriculum, and industry-recognized certification resources, as well as developing vital business and technology skills.

Participating universities include University of Engineering & Technology (UET) – Taxila, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) – Karachi, GC University Faisalabad, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology – Lahore, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, University of Peshawar, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) – Islamabad, University of Agriculture – Faisalabad and The Superior Group of Colleges – Lahore.

The Oracle Academy helps to equip students with world-class IT skills that help them prepare for careers in fields such as computer engineering, application development, web development, IT consulting, systems integration, database design/administration, IT product management, IT product marketing, technical support, and more.

“It is essential that our next generation have the right skill set before entering the workforce. Using industry-relevant and engaging computer science education resources offered by Oracle Academy, these students can benefit from hands-on experience with real world business software,” said Ahsen Javed, Managing Director, Oracle Pakistan and SAGE-W.

“We are proud to support the universities in Pakistan in preparing the students for IT and business careers and hope that this young workforce will soon contribute to the success of the organizations they will work for,” he said.

The Oracle Academy provides a complete portfolio of software, curriculum, technology, faculty training, support, and certification resources to secondary and higher education institutions.

Representatives from participating universities were equivocal in their support of this initiative.

“The Oracle Academy has been very effective as we have not only been able to enrich our existing courses but our faculty is also in the process of designing more courses with major practical and hands-on outlines,” said M.N. Khokhar, Assistant Professor and Coordinator MS(CS), SZABIST Islamabad Campus.

“We are confident that the Oracle Academy will help our faculty and students to enhance their understanding in various areas where Oracle has been the leader and innovator,” said Dr. Adeel Akram, Dean – Faculty of Telecom, & Information Engineering, UET Taxila.

“We at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology Lahore campus have been benefiting from our Oracle Academy Advanced Computer Science Membership since March 2013,” said Dr. Hamid Turab Mirza, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore Campus.

“Curriculum and software support is very useful and is helping our students to master database systems concepts, and specifically Oracle Database technology, in a better way,” said Dr Mirza.

“We have recently subscribed to Oracle Academy to let our students and faculty members learn the state-of-art Oracle software,” said Dr. Azhar Rauf, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Peshawar. “We are also planning to incorporate some courses from Oracle Certification Programs into the BS program.”

MIT recognises Pakistani as one of world’s brilliant minds

KARACHI: All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them, says Walt Disney.

Disney’s quote, perhaps, best explains the success story of Farhan Masood, who has been recognised as one of the world’s brilliant minds by Massachusetts Institute of Technology earlier this year for his product – world’s fastest retina and face scanner algorithm called SmartXS.

Masood’s dream – to build a Pakistani product and turn it into a global one – came true this year after he won the MIT Business Acceleration Plan contest, a highly competitive annual event whose objective is to help Pakistani IT, ITES, telecom and new media companies improve their business.

Of the 165 participants that compete in this contest, some members of top teams also get a chance to attend an entrepreneurship development programme at MIT in Cambridge, USA.

After a winning performance in the contest, Masood joined the list of MIT alumni. He has just returned after attending a course at MIT, one of the world’s best educational institutes. Those who attended this programme previously had benefited a great deal.

According to Pakistan Software Export Board’s website, some of the companies that participated in this programme saw their revenues grow by 5 to 10 times and valuation increase by 15 times. Giving the example of Sofizar, the PSEB’s website stated that the company’s revenue increased from less than $1 million to $30 million in two and a half years.

Masood, too, seem to benefit from the programme as his product has been well received by both MIT and the industries worldwide. “MIT has done tech evaluation of SmartXS, which is a big achievement,” Masood told The Express Tribune. “When your product is recognised by MIT, there is not much you can ask for.”

Interestingly, the man behind this technology is a college dropout who hated math for he was weak in the subject. “I have got all of this achievement because of my passion,” the 36-year-old Lahorite said.

Masood is the CEO of Solo Smart that’s based in Lahore and has offices in the UK and USA, represented by its subsidiaries namely Solo Tech and Solo Matrix respectively. It also has an office in Australia.

“We are trying to bring all these companies under one name – Solo Matrix. It is a high-tech company that deals in Mechatronics – a combination of software, electrical and mechanical engineering,” he said.

SmartXS is a biometric verification system that uses human face and eye to verify his identity, Masood said, and works mainly in two spaces – workforce management and security access control.

“Our algorithm is very fast,” he said while claiming it is the world’s fastest retina and face scanner algorithm.

The product was first brought to life in 2005 and its hardware was as big as a refrigerator, but now it’s smaller than a PC, Masood said. It has started to get worldwide recognition.

He said his product is currently used by the National Database and Registration Authority, the Pakistan Army and many multinational groups including Pepsico, Nestle and Tetra Pak. These companies are in talks with Masood for the implementation of the technology in their global operations.

“We are also getting queries from immigration departments of many governments for this product,” he said, refusing to share details. “University of Pennsylvania has also shown interest in the medical application of this product.”

Before starting his own entrepreneurial venture, Masood served as IT professional and had a lucrative job. He is the originator of Urdu, Persian and Arabic on internet and was able to incorporate Urdu, Persian and Arabic characters in English-based Windows back in 1997.

Masood was hired as a project director in Dubai Electronic Government in 2000. “The government had softened its state laws for one day to hire me and few others,” he said as he didn’t have a bachelor’s degree, a requirement for that job.

Despite his lucrative job that paid him 55,000 UAE dirhams per month, he chose to be an entrepreneur. “If I can do a lot of things for others, why not for myself and that very thought was the reason I chose to come back and launch my own business,” he said.

Correction: An earlier version of the story had misspelt mechatronics. The correction has been made.

Scoring a first: Pakistani among US top 10 transport, aviation lawyers

KARACHI: A Pakistani lawyer, Zarrar Sehgal, has been declared among the top 10 transportation and aviation finance lawyers in the US, according to Chambers – the world’s leading guide to the legal profession.

He has also been ranked in the prestigious “Band 1”. Sehgal is the first Pakistani to enter the category and the first lawyer across the globe below the age of 40 to enter the list at Band 1.

A BA from Boston University and a JD (Juris Doctor) from Georgetown University Law Center, Sehgal is a partner at Clifford Chance LLP, a global law firm backed by top ranked practices in the world’s major financial and business centres. The firm advises leading international financial institutions.

Sehgal has extensive experience representing underwriters, lenders, lessors and governmental agencies engaged in a wide variety of asset finance transactions.

Sehgal is a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum.  He is also an advisor to several of the large investment and commercial banks.  In addition to this, he is the President of TCF-USA, a non-profit organization affiliated with The Citizens Foundation in Pakistan.

Pakistani techie helps design UAE satellite station

KARACHI: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) joined the league of world’s big players of satellite communications in April 2011 by launching its first satellite into orbit – it now has two. The satellites are managed from Yahsat Satellite Tracking Ground Station, which, in part, was designed by a veteran Pakistani IT expert, now aiming for a skilled IT workforce for his homeland.

Built by the United Kingdom’s Astrium – a wholly-owned subsidiary of European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services – Yahsat is the first ground communications satellite station in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

“I have designed the communications system for the Emirate including that of Yahsat’s satellite station with my own hands,” Dr Sarfaraz Alam, President and CEO of Texpo said in a recent interview with The Express Tribune. “I am a Karachi ka larka [a local boy],” he told this correspondent as pride filled his eyes.

Yahsat Satellite Ground Tracking Station is a flagship project of Texpo, a leading technology infrastructure provider based in Dubai. The company was an integral part of the project, Alam said, for it was responsible for complete cable networking installations, sub-communications systems testing and electrical installations and compliance procedures.

Besides that, Texpo also won a tender for e-government in 2006 to evaluate 22 services of different government departments of Dubai, he said.

Born in Karachi, Alam belongs to a middle-class family with the aspiration for quality education to get the best life has to offer. After completing his schooling from Karachi, he moved to the United Kingdom for higher studies.

He founded Texpo in 2000 in the basement of his residence in London while he was a masters’ student at Academy of Professional Studies College, an affiliate of Fredrick Taylor International University. In 2003, he completed his doctorate in information technology, along with business, majoring in Advance IT Infrastructure from Brunel University London. He was recently awarded CIO of the Year award by Teradata.

The company started as a software developer but soon realised that businesses were outsourcing their projects to companies in India and Pakistan because of their low costs, Alam said.

“We, therefore, decided to do something different and create a niche of our own,” he said. “I started building expertise in data centres and moved to Dubai in 2005 because it provided immense opportunity for our business and there weren’t many companies offering such services.”

Texpo has established itself as a leading IT solutions provider with a client base in the Middle East, Central and South Asia and North America, earning over $5 million in revenues annually. Texpo is also looking forward to strategic expansion into different regions.

“We have initiated our business plan to commence operations in Brazil, Canada, Sydney and neighbouring GCC countries,” Alam said.

Texpo has also extended its operations to Pakistan by opening a Karachi office three years ago – the reasons for which are not limited to commercial aspects only.

“I have come back to Pakistan for two reasons. I want to create 100,000 jobs in the ICT sector of the country during next five years and serve the country by developing highly skilled IT workforce,” Alam said.

Texpo is in the process of facilitating talent in IT through its project ‘Mentoring a talent’, which began last year to groom students who have the right IQ for IT. “Under this programme, we are giving scholarships to students from Karachi to Gilgit-Baltistan. We have already given 20 scholarships,” he said.

In the first stage, Texpo pays full university fee for those who qualify for its scholarship programme by passing their online exams. Once the students acquire degrees, they have to sit through another exam. Those who pass this exam are offered a paid internship in any of Texpo global offices for six months.

In the third stage, these students take another exam and those who are successful secure a permanent job placement in Texpo.

“This procedure is because I acknowledge the importance of students learning how to build different operating systems or platforms by hand rather than just through software.”