Artificial Intelligence is definitely going to remodel and transform our life styles. However, in what way? – is a question to ponder upon. Artificial Intelligence and robotics is nothing new. It actually dates back to the ancient civilizations of Greece, China, Arab, and what not. Greek myths of golden robots of Hephaestus -God of blacksmiths, carpenters and other manual workers- …

During the last tenure in KPK, the strategy has been “KPK goes Tech.” One of the pillars of their digital strategy includes Digital Economy. Their government wanted to promote province’s economic growth, economic diversification, and increased globalization but also prepare citizens for the opportunities and the troubles associated with digitization. We live in an age of dramatic change. Urbanization and …

As we recognize the fast paced development in rest of the modern world, Pakistan is also trying to enhance its systems and governance apparatus with the help of modern technology. I have noticed KPK Government has been working on many projects of Digital Government – given the fact that KPK is one of the underdeveloped provinces of Pakistan and requires huge reforms. Government …

Facebook is all ready to jump in the market, to steal the business of Tinder and the likes. Mark Zuckerburg, CEO of Facebook, has announced the release of this dating app at an annual developer conference. According to the CEO, the main purpose of this app is to build “long-term relationships” instead of some measly hook-ups. It will also share …

Often you come across a small talk or a post on some social platform that carries so much insights and meaning, you tend to read it again and again and try to apply it in your life and work. I came across such a post by Herman Singh, Group Executive Innovation & Strategy, that I thought is worth sharing with …

This debate is fresh as it gets. We have not heard a single consistent opinion from subject matter experts, around the world, that whether Bitcoin or any cryptocurrency is Halal or not. According to a recent research study by an Indonesian Islamic Scholar, Mufti Muhammad Abu Bakar, an Islamic scholar and head of Sharia compliance at Blossom Finance Indonesia, has …

While I withdrew my coins and cash from www.urdubit.com with a heavy heart, I felt sorry for the exchange that happened to be Pakistan’s first bitcoin exchange. For me, it was not just an exchange but a major event in Pakistan’s startup history. Urdubit was a sign of embracement of new technologies by Pakistanis and representation of intellectual repository in the …

Only about 5 out of 300 startups launched every year in Pakistan survive in the medium term. This is a success rate of less than 2%. Abysmal outlook of digital entrepreneurship as it seems, Pakistan has a long way to before it becomes an stable entrepreneurial economy. Jazz conducted this research with help of partners to explore the entrepreneurial landscape …

Albeit a slow growth on adoption of digital banking and payment services, the pakistani market is on the right track. The latest report released by State Bank of Pakistan shows positive indicators across all categories and is worth having a look at. The report shows numbers starting from first quarter of 2017 to projected figures of  1st quarter of 2018. …

What is a Chat Bot? A Chat Bot is a software program that interacts with humans through textual or audio chat apps. While interacting, the human side of the app does not really feel the difference since the Chat Bot has almost all the answers to questions asked by the person related to service. This simulation of humans by the chat …

Looked like an impossibility when someone told me few years back about extending loans to strangers by just looking at their online presence or by just analyzing their smartphone usage. How can you trust someone with your money without having met them? How can you match the due diligence level of banks? No reference check? nothing? That was my initial …

There are 1,500 registered IT companies in Pakistan with 10k IT graduates entering the market every year and technology services exported to other countries amount to $1.6B of total sales. 92% of the our land has cellular network coverage, making flow of information possible. Out of 47 Million Active Internet Users 42 Million access social media through mobile devices. These …

Last weekend was one tech frenzy affair at Karachi’s popular Movenpick Hotel. The most celebrated names of the industry were present at #021Disrupt Conference sharing seats in the Main Conference Hall; busy in chatting, networking and socializing. NEST I/O managed to pull off a remarkable event; the best speakers took the stage and offered the audience a delightful 15-minute doses …

On November 5th, 2017, Riyad Abou Jaoudeh Executive Director for MEVP addressed the 021Disrupt Conference in Karachi giving a brief insight on “Into to the mind of a VC.” As per Wikipedia,  Picky Eaters Venture Capitalists are very choosy. They seek start-ups which are primarily set to disrupt their counterparts. Why so? It’s because a VC group almost always invests …

Financial technology or FinTech, is a business which mainly uses software to provide financial services to customers, thereby, disrupting the traditional financial landscape, which focuses more on what the banks will offer and less on what the customer wants. FinTechs are affecting the way people think about banking and how they do their banking. They are attracting millennials (born between …

This year, one of the biggest incubation centers of Pakistan, launched its cohort especially for corporate employees. The thought behind this program was a very high failure rate of startups launched by youngsters. I think, the step is very much in the right direction and will definitely bring good results. With more digital inclusion in Pakistan, the country has now …

Woman is a formation of God who is depicted as a sensitive and delicate creation but what we forget is that only a woman can be strong enough to bear the pain of giving birth to a child. Unfortunately, in Pakistan women are bound with many societal constraints which dissuades them to excel in their careers. Our society has built …

MCB is the third largest acquiring bank of Pakistan and has been operating in Debit/Credit cards acceptance business domain since 2008. In line with State Bank of Pakistan’s vision 2020 of expanding the digital acceptance footprint, MCB entered into the e-commerce business landscape in 2014 and deployed MasterCard’s Internet Gateway System (MIGS) for acceptance of all e-commerce payments. With several …

Back in 2015, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority issued a directive for all telecom operators to verify their customers biometrically. Thus, started a verification drive on such a large scale that it was never heard of in the world. Daunting and unachievable as it seemed, kudos to the telecom industry that they pulled it off in record time. The project resulted in …

How we reached here? With every passing minute, people are switching to streaming media content in comparison to traditional cable tv networks. This switch is quite apparent in countries with good network infrastructure, as compared to the ones with relatively low-speed. Taking the example of US, the number of hours spent watching TV has vastly decreased in all age-groups, except …