Middle East’s largest restaurants group, The Americana Group, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Punjab Skills Development Fund PSDF with the aim of hiring trained workforce from Punjab for their Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) business division, that operates 1,800 restaurants in the Region. The agreement was signed between Mr. Sai Gandhi, Chief People Officer, Americana Group and Mr. Jawad Khan, Chief Executive Officer, PSDF at the Americana Group Head Office, Sharjah, UAE. The two parties are committed to creating a successful long-term partnership and give the youth from Punjab a chance to build their careers with one of the leading organizations in the Middle East. In accordance with the MoU, PSDF will fund the training of the workforce, while The Americana Group will employ the eligible candidates across their QSRs in UAE and KSA. Mr. Sai Gandhi, Chief People Officer, Americana Group said, “Our partnership with the Punjab Skills Development Fund is to attract young talent and grow our pipeline of talent in the Americana business.” Mr. Jawad Khan, CEO, PSDF said, “PSDF is playing a leading role in partnering with the best organizations in the Middle East and helping them meet their skilled workforce needs from Pakistan. After the success achieved with Atlantis The Palm and Rotana Groups in the hospitality sector, PSDF is very proud to partner with The Americana Group and meet their skills needs in the QSR space. We look forward to growing our mandate with Americana in other areas of their business.” Must Read: Telenor Pakistan becomes the first telco to receive ISO 45001 Certification for Occupational Health & Safety The Americana Group is one of the most successful organizations in the Middle East region. The group is considered one of the largest food manufacturing and distributing companies in the region. The group was founded back in Kuwait in 1964 and introduced the concept of QSR’s (Quick serving Restaurants) in the regional market in 1970. The group with its two divisions operates 1800 restaurants across the region as well as 25 food production sites across the UAE, KSA, Kuwait and Egypt, offering the safest, most reliable and best quality food. Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) is the largest skills development fund in Pakistan. PSDF was established in 2010 as a not-for-profit company set up under the Companies Ordinance 1984 by the Government of Punjab (GoPb) in collaboration with UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). PSDF also exclusively manages the skills training funding of the World Bank. PSDF’s purpose is to shape the future and well-being of our poor and vulnerable youth by giving them access to skills training of the highest standard so they can find sustainable employment and income-generating opportunities in Pakistan and beyond. PSDF started its operations in the 4 poorest districts of Punjab. Since 2016, The geographical remit has expanded to the entire 36 districts of Punjab. PSDF has trained almost 300,000 underprivileged youth across Punjab, which includes 180,000+ male and 110,000+ female graduates. These graduates have been trained in approximately 250 demand-driven and market relevant trades across 10 sectors. PSDF has played a leadership role in creating a skills training market with 90% training partners in the private sector. With 400 training partners that deliver training on behalf of PSDF, out of which over 150 are businesses across the 10 sectors. PSDF has adopted an output-based funding mechanism where it funds contract-to-completion outputs as well as completion-to-income generation outcomes.
ACCA and KTBA Sign MOU to strengthen professional tax practice
The two organisations recently signed a memorandum of understanding, formalising this commitment. Specific areas of cooperation include achieving and promoting the highest professional, ethical and governance standards, upholding public interest, building tax culture and citizenship, and to support the taxation practice and profession by creating both capacity and capability. ACCA and KTBA Sign MOU to strengthen professional tax practice The MOU was signed by KTBA President Mohammad Rehan Siddiqui,and the head of ACCA Pakistan, Sajjeed Aslam, who was in Karachi meeting with key stakeholders. Recognising the value of promoting mutual cooperation for the advancement of their respective members,it was also agreed to make it easier for ACCA members to acquire the membership of KTBA. Must Read: LG G8X ThinQ and New LG Dual Screen Enhance Mobile Multitasking and User Enjoyment Head of ACCA Pakistan, Sajjeed Aslam says that ACCA is incredibly excited to partner with KTBA and they will actively work together in producing valuable thought leadership for the policy makers. “We look forward to joint initiatives that will help to grow the national economy and support compliance with national and global standards and ethical practices. ACCA’s unique footprint of 104 offices around the world provides ACCA members and staff with access to a wealth of global resources and professional insights with which to support national stakeholders and partners. We believe that this is the start of an invaluable partnership.” KTBA President, Mohammad Rehan Siddiqui says that it is indeed a matter of pride for KTBA to ink out the MOU with an organisation of international outreach. He showed his deep interest that membership of KTBA will reap benefits with the international experience of ACCA on the subjects of mutual interest. He also ensured the support of Bar to ACCA in its endeavour towards promoting tax profession and practice in the country.
PTCL & SAP DRIVE PAKISTAN’S BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION ON THE CLOUD
Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited PTCL signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SAP, a global technology company, to enhance Cloud-based digital business transformation, vital for enabling Pakistan Vision 2025, especially in agriculture, banking & education sector. The MoU was signed at PTCL HQs in Islamabad by Adil Rashid, Chief Business Services Officer, PTCL and Saquib Ahmad, Managing Director, SAP Pakistan. On the occasion were also present Dr. Daniel Ritz, President & CEO, PTCL, Ahmed Al-Faifi, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, SAP Middle East North, along with officials from respective companies. Through this MoU, PTCL & SAP will be able to jointly support enterprises in Pakistan to accelerate their cloud-based digital business transformation. In particular, PTCL will offer ‘Enterprise Resource Planning on the Cloud’, through which enterprises can gain real-time business insights that can further enhance their decision-making and digital business models. Business leaders in Pakistan are increasingly turning to the cloud to become Intelligent Enterprises that can secure higher revenue, market share and profitability. Worldwide, 84 percent of organizations rate digital transformation as critical by 2022, according to the recent SAP Digital Transformation Executive Study. Must Read: SaudiGulf Airlines starting new direct flights between Saudi Arabia and four cities in Pakistan On the occasion, Dr. Daniel Ritz, President & CEO, PTCL, said, “PTCL & SAP collaboration will enable cloud-based digital transformation that is aligned with Pakistan Vision 2025. PTCL has the vision and expertise to deliver cloud-based business solutions that span hardware, software, and services to meet Pakistan’s digital business needs. Cloud is vital for the public and private sectors to transform customer experience drive business innovation and raise productivity to the next level.” PTCL will collaborate with SAP and SAP’s ecosystem on offering business solutions on the HANA Enterprise Cloud, aiming to become a Partner Managed Cloud to offer private cloud solutions, presenting enterprises with SAP Business One analytics software and enabling the Digital Economy with Internet of Things (IoT) innovations. Ahmed Al-Faifi, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, SAP Middle East North, said, “This MoU with PTCL will strengthen our ties with Pakistan’s leading digital innovators. CEOs in Pakistan are regional leaders in embracing the cloud to move to an OPEX model that optimizes costs, productivity, and innovation. Cloud is being adopted by the agriculture sector for connected farms, banking and finance for digital banks and education for connected campuses.” This collaboration with SAP will further accelerate PTCL’s long-term digital transformation roadmap.
PTCL signed a MoU with WWF-Pakistan
PTCL Pakistan contains a diverse topography of geographical features and is home to incredibly diverse flora and fauna. Over the last century, lack of understanding and awareness has led to human practices that have exploited the country’s natural resources without replenishing them. A growing population and increasing infrastructure needs have also led to the decimation of animal habitats and forests, and resulted in loss and endangerment of animal and plant species only found in Pakistan. PTCL signed a Memorandum of Understanding with WWF-Pakistan and committed to support plantation of 200,000 mangrove seeds at Miani Hor Balochistan as part of the nationwide Rung Do campaign. Syed Mazhar Hussain, Chief Human Resources Officer, PTCL and Rab Nawaz, Senior Director Programmes, WWF-Pakistan, along with team members of both companies attended the ceremony. PTCL is a socially responsible organization and promotes the fostering of societal development. The spirit is deeply entrenched in its roots and is the inspiration behind this initiative. PTCL has a history and legacy to serve the nation since its inception and has undertaken a number of CSR initiatives till today as part of its contribution to the society. With an urgent need for an organization to meet and counter these growing conservation and environment issues, WWF-Pakistan was formed in 1970. Must Read: OPPO Announces #CheerforPakistan Giveaway Campaign to Celebrate Pakistani Team in Asia Cup 2018 WWF-Pakistan aims to conserve nature and ecological processes by Preserving genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, both now and in the longer term, promoting action to reduce pollution and the wasteful exploitation and consumption of resources and energy. Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) is the largest integrated Information Communication Technology (ICT) Company of Pakistan. With a humble start from a telephone and telegraph department in 1947, it has evolved to offer latest digital and telecommunication technologies today. It acts as the communication backbone for the country with the largest fiber cable network that spans from Khyber to Karachi and submarine cables connecting Pakistan to the world. For more information,
