The buzzword these days is millennial consumers/audiences. Organizations are spending billions on marketing, tools and strategies that will boost their engagement with this set of users. But the shortsightedness in all of this is there is a new audience pool that is emerging, one that is much more different in terms of values, beliefs and experiences. I am referring to …

Sadaf Amir, a mother of two, runs a successful cloth selling and stitching business in Islamabad. Her story is a testament to the phenomenal role that financial inclusion, powered by digital banking technology, can play in transforming lives. Sadaf’s husband was the sole breadwinner of the family but had limited income. Sadaf’s father-in-law used to help support their family but …

Waseem Ullah, resident of Pashtun Ghari district Nowshera, was a brilliant student growing up. However, due to financial constraints and to support his aging father, Waseem had to abandon his studies right after 10th grade. Being the only son & eldest amongst his siblings, Waseem became the sole breadwinner for his family and started working as a labourer, at a …

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has recently released its draft policy for reducing the gender gap in financial inclusion in Pakistan. The policy recognizes various demand and supply-side barriers for women’s low financial inclusion in the country and proposes solutions to reduce this gap. The draft policy could not have come at a more critical time. As per World …

If you have been in the design world for some time, you would have probably heard these word in some order or form: Design System, Design framework or a patterns library thrown in somewhere. They all refer to the holy grail, the only and absolute source of truth for any product design – the grand library of all sitting components …

In this list, I have gathered the most efficient and easier to use tools that may come in handy for different stages in your design process from gathering user data to final hand off stage. These will help you stay organised at all times and create quality designs. Research, surveys & Data Gathering For organizing your user interviews, you can …

Over the period of time, I have put together this list of all the questions I get asked by many designers over LinkedIn and in other talks I have given. For those of you starting out your career in UX or wanting to, or just are curious about the experience as an industry, here are my top picks on the …

In a series of panel discussions on digital payments in Pakistan, an information packed webinar was held by Badar Khushnood and Asfandyar Farrukh. While the previous two webinars touched upon Freelance payments and Account based payments, this one was about card based payments.  For those not aware of card based payments, You will need a good amount of time to …

A much needed and interesting discussion on digital payments was hosted by two individuals seemingly unrelated to the payment industry. Asfandyar who considers himself to be a student of Retail & E Commerce teamed up with Badar, an ex Google country Head for Pakistan to help create awareness about the available options in the realm of digital payments in Pakistan. Discussion …

One of the natural and obvious outcomes of adopting information technology (IT) in any public sector organisation is data generation. The more a culture of IT systems is introduced in government departments; the larger the amounts of data. Raw data needs to be processed to make it meaningful for decision-makers, ultimately resulting in an environment of data-driven policy-making. Good data …

Over the past few years, personalized learning has established itself as a focal point of innovation in education. Despite the focus, the rate of progress in establishing personalized learning practices in both K-12 school systems and online learning has been slower than expected. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative have together invested millions of dollarsin …

People in authority ought to make decisions for their country every now then, of which some are in the best interests of the nation while others are not. Only when there is a clear proof/indication of malaise (resulting in some financial benefit ultimately) should an anti-corruption inquiry be initiated. If the decision-maker (or his family) has not financially benefited from …

Given the endless drumbeat of layoff announcements — with deep cuts by Airbnb and Uber garnering much of the industry’s attention this week — it’s reasonable to wonder: what happens to all of the talent that’s being laid off? How does the changing supply and demand balance impact pay? Is anyone safe in this market? Because the questions are top …

I simply loved Tania Aidrus’ speech at Digital Pakistan inauguration ceremony. She was eloquent, specific and incisive. Here is my 5 reasons why her speech was spot on. Clearing the Air She is from Pakistan and she knows general perception about those working with government as someone connected to higher ups. She clarified that in the start. In her own …

When the then finance minister of Pakistan Asad Umer announced in the beginning of April, 2019, that government was thinking of launching another amnesty scheme for tax on the demand of business community it came as a big shock because it was too soon after the previous amnesty scheme offered last year. It was surprising on one hand because it …

With the advent of digitalisation, the whole world is getting revamped in almost every aspect of life. Just recently, our neighbour country China announced the launch of their 5-year program to build a financial database as a base to leverage macro-economy. The plan will involve developing spreadsheets for their entire financial system including banking, security, and insurance. Moreover, if we …

What does a faluda wala and rickshaw driver in Karachi, a teenager in Jhang, and a labourer in Sialkot, have in common? The correct answer is – bank accounts with billions of rupees. Bank accounts that none of these people ever opened or knew about! Given the fact that these few cases only come into the limelight in the last …

We are about to witness a revolution in digital payments. It’s truly an exciting time to be part of the game. State Bank of Pakistan has recently come up with a new regulation framework draft to facilitate national and international players working on digital payments instruments to acquire a license and start commercially operating in Pakistan. The draft is called …