According to a research conducted by the NDP Group, 27 percent of all photos taken in 2011 were taken via smartphones, which showed a 10 percent increase from 2010. During same period, photos taken from a traditional camera dropped from 53 percent in 2010 to 44 percent in 2011. Those are just numbers at the end of the day, but for anyone who has an eye to spot where the user preferences are shifting will plan and execute smart. The idea therefore is to bring an intuitive and useful file sharing experience to mobile users. Kicksend’s Co-founder and CPO, Brendon Lim stated in a release:

The user experience is at the core of everything we do and we are proud to provide an easy, reliable way for iPhone users to send a large number of full quality photos and videos from their iPhone to anyone

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PTCL holds vigorous Annual Sales Conference 2012

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) CEO & President, Walid Irshad, has said that the Company is on a growth trajectory not only because of its innovative products and services, but also because of its talented sales force.

“Success in life comes from one simple thing: taking ownership of what you do,” said Mr. Irshad while chairing PTCL’s Annual Sales Conference 2012 themed “Build, Operate, Own”, held in Islamabad. “The only way we can succeed is through collective thinking, combined energies, synergized teamwork, proactive customer engagement and ownership of business.”

The Citizens for Free and Responsible Media, Pakistan, has sent an email to the Editors of The News and Jang regarding an unethical, false and irresponsible report about Ali Dayan’s testimony before the US congressional hearing on Balochistan, in response to a private member’s proposed resolution in the House of Representatives. Text of the email posted in a Note in the CFRM facebook page; also copy-pasted below. (Note: Contrary to the impression given in some sections of the media in Pakistan, the U.S. has not passed any ‘bill’ on Balochistan; even if such a bill does pass, it will have no legally binding status unless it is debated and presented for a vote in the form of a bill that would need to pass through both the lower house and the senate). 

Emailed to:
Mr Talat Aslam, Senior Editor The News
Mr Amir Zia, Editor, The News Karachi
Mr M. Malick, Editor The News Islamabad
Mr Muddassir Mirza, Editor Jang Karachi

cc:
Mr Shahrukh Hasan, Group Managing Director Jang Group
Mr Shakil-ur-Rehman, CEO Jang Group

Dear Editors

We are writing to express our dismay at the unethical and false reporting in your paper regarding the appearance of head of the local chapter of a leading international human right NGO at a US congressional hearing.

The report in The News and Jang dated Feb 21, 2012 is not the first time that this particular reporter, Mr Ahmed Noorani, has targeted Mr Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch in what appears to be a very vindictive manner.

The report of Feb 21st not only takes the highly unethical step of publishing Mr Hasan’s cell phone numbers, but is also full of falsehoods regarding Mr Hasan’s recent testimony at the U.S. Congress House of Representatives hearing on Balochistan in Washington DC.

The factual inaccuracies and outright lies of Ahmed Noorani’s opinionated ‘report’ include assertions that:

1. HRW presented a “one-sided view” on Balochistan at the hearing, that the hearing itself was “illegal”
2. Mr Hasan presented “wrong facts and figures on Balochistan” and “recently attacked Pakistan’s superior judiciary for considering a case of alleged treason”.
3. Mr Hasan “has started a full campaign to fuel more and more fire on the issue of Balochistan by holding security institutions as solely responsible for the whole crisis”
4. Mr Hasan “is narrating a one-sided story before the whole world from the platform of HRW without describing the background of the issue”
5. Mr Hasan’s HRW “reports have little mention” of “killing of settlers in Balochistan
6. Mr Hasan “used to glorify killings of Baloch people with the twist that all these were killed by security agencies.”
7. HRW is an “American” organization (it is the second largest international human rights organization headquartered in NY, with offices all over the world).

Basically the entire ‘report’ is a malicious fabrication and appears to be calling for Mr Hasan to be tried for treason. None of the statements in The News/Jang report can be corroborated by facts, which are:

1. Mr Hasan began his verbal presentation by stating that Balochistan was an internationally recognized province of Pakistan and HRW expected all constitutional protections available to Pakistani citizens and international human rights standards to apply to the people of Balochistan
2. He presented facts and figures based on extensive on the ground research in Balochistan and from Human Rights Watch’s published reports
3. He referred to Balochistan as a complex situation with multiple abusive actors – the military and intelligence agencies, Baloch nationalist groups and religious extremist groups – though he called the military the “engine of abuse”.
4. Mr Hasan categorically stated in his verbal testimony that the US is responsible for introducing the practice of widespread disappearances in Pakistan by being complicit in the disappearances of Taliban and Al Qaeda suspects after 9/11.
5. He pointed out that at least 40 per cent of Balochistan is non-Baloch, and any analysis of Balochistan must factor in this demographic reality and its implications.
6. Mr Hasan’s written testimony provided on behalf of HRW details recommendations to the US Government to approach both Pakistani authorities and the Baloch nationalists with a view to ending human rights abuses by ALL parties.
7. Mr Hasan has never “attacked” the judiciary. He in fact called for “due process” in the memogate proceedings and asked for “justice to not just be done but be seen to be done” in light of “the history of civil military relations” in Pakistan. (The News attacked him then too).

We would like to place on record our protest at this unethical and irresponsible reporting that is not only inaccurate and based on lies, but also endangers the life and safety of a Pakistani citizen.

We hope that our letter finds space in the letters column of The News and Jang, and that as responsible newspapers, The News and Jang will publish and apology and a correction.

Sincerely,

Citizens for Free and Responsible Media, Pakistan

https://www.facebook.com/C4FRM

‘Reducing the social cost of silence’

NOTE: We are including links to other information that may be useful for those who wish to understand the issue in greater detail.

This ‘report’ in The News/Jang follows days after a somewhat menacing press release from ISPR on Feb 16 reacting to Ali and HRW’s continuing insistence on the killers of Saleem Shahzad to be held accountable.  The Express Tribune condemned the ISPR statement in an editorial, making the connection with Balochistan. Blogger Sana Saleem also took this issue on in an oped in Express Tribune

A full transcript of Mr Ali Hasan’s oral testimony to the Congressional committee is at this link at the HRW website. Mr Hasan’s 20-page written submission to the congressional committee is also posted at this link on the HRW website. A PDF of the transcript of his five-minute presentation at the hearing is available here: Hasan Balochistan House Transcript

Here is a link to the video of the hearing.

Mr Ali Hasan has clearly expressed reservations about the hearing and explained why he attended in this report in Dawn and in The Examiner

Post-hearing, he explained his and HRW’s position further in this report published in Dawn

PTCL gains growth in revenue and earns net profit of Rs.2.84 billion in half-year earnings for FY2011-12

Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL) has gained net profit of Rs.2.84 billion in its half-year earnings made during FY2011-12 for the period ending December 31, while also showing a growth of 7% in revenue.

“PTCL’s profits and revenue growth during first half of FY2011-12 is a strong indicator of our dynamic corporate direction as well as our customers’ continued satisfaction and trust,” said PTCL CEO & President, Walid Irshaid, following a meeting of the company’s Board of Directors held here today, which announced the Company’s six-months  financial results for the period ending December 31, 2011. “Through optimal use of resource, we want to achieve enhanced revenue, greater levels of customer satisfaction, as well as improve our shareholders’ value.”

By Stephen Magagnini for The Sacremento Bee

KARACHI, Pakistan — On a moonlit Thursday night in February, a television network executive hosted an elegant affair for journalists and diplomats at his villa above the Arabian Sea.

Karachi’s privileged dined on lamb, shrimp, chicken, mutton and fettuccine in mushroom sauce, and were surprised by a quartet of wandering minstrels, soulful Sufi poets who serenade for their supper, uncorking ballads about love.

On the south side of this city of 18 million, a group of Afghan refugees, who scrape out a living collecting cardboard and other recyclables in a slum straddling a swamp of open sewage, were mopping up gravy with roti – Pakistani bread.

About 900 Afghans live in this fetid slum, down the street from poor Pakistanis and water buffalo. They earn about $60 a month and survive on bottled water, chewing tobacco and roti.

“We’re happy in Pakistan,” said 33-year-old Shaezhad, leader of a cardboard collection station. “We get food and respect.”

At the party across town, talk-show hosts and other Pakistani elites blew cigarette smoke into the faces of U.S. journalists, criticizing U.S. foreign policy and the toll the war in Afghanistan has taken on their country.

Many Pakistanis resent American aggression in the region and want more respect from U.S. policymakers, but they don’t hold individual Americans responsible. Yet everywhere we went, we were held to answer for U.S. wars and Americans’ deep misunderstanding of Pakistan.

“You are arrogant, playing video games with our lives,” Abdul Moiz Jaferii, political analyst for CNBC Pakistan, said over lunch one day in Karachi. He was referring to U.S. drone attacks that have killed Pakistani and Afghan civilians.

“And we hate America because the U.S. has always been the biggest, closest ally of the military dictators. You have done nothing to help democracy.”

The impact of the war in Afghanistan has permeated nearly every pore of this country of 180 million. More than 2 million Afghan refugees have fled to Pakistan, and some have brought a culture of violence. Since 9/11, 35,000 Pakistanis have been killed in terrorist attacks by suicide bombers and other war-related violence, according to Pakistan’s intelligence agency. The victims include 6,000 soldiers and 29,000 civilians.

The unpredictable violence and the kidnapping of foreign workers have created a climate of fear in this country. We weren’t allowed to visit villages outside urban areas, where 40 percent of Pakistanis live. Two shotgun-wielding security guards protected our buses in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. We entered our hotels through metal detectors and were rarely allowed to interact with average citizens in public places.

Pakistan – strategically located between Afghanistan, India, China and Iran and influenced by Saudi Arabia – remains an enigma to many Americans, who aren’t sure whether it’s friend or foe, democracy or military dictatorship.

Pakistan has provided critical support to NATO troops in the Afghan war – drones are launched from here, NATO supplies are sent through this country, and Pakistani troops have helped recapture terrorist strongholds along the volatile Afghan border.

But distrust of the United States in the wake of deadly drone attacks and the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a cross-border battle in November is such that rather than calling for more U.S. aid to build needed power plants, schools and hospitals, a growing number of Pakistanis want nothing to do with the United States. The government of Punjab – Pakistan’s most powerful state with about 90 million people – has decided to reject U.S. aid.

The killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. Navy SEALs in Abbottabad in the heart of this country embarrassed and angered the Pakistan military and made Americans question why bin Laden was allowed to live in essentially a resort town. Some U.S. politicians have called for an end to the $18 billion in financial aid pledged since 9/11.

An Islamic republic?

Some of the world’s largest, most beautiful mosques are here, and to celebrate the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday on Feb. 4, 10,000 people named Muhammad gathered in prayer in Karachi.

We saw few women wearing hijabs, or head coverings, except those at Islamabad’s Faisal Mosque, which can hold 10,000 people for Juma, or Friday prayer.

Professional women drive cars, dress like their counterparts in U.S. cities and run government ministries, clinics and newsrooms. Women, who constitute 52 percent of the population, are increasingly getting advanced degrees. There’s a Pakistani proverb: “Every girl who goes to university gets a husband.”

Despite Islam’s ban on liquor, at a party in Islamabad guests of both sexes repaired to a speakeasy in the basement to drink wine or Johnny Walker Black and smoke cigars.

Though most marriages are still arranged, as many as 20 percent are “love marriages,” said Samina Parvez, director general of the government’s external publicity agency. “The divorce rate is also increasing – it’s about 10 or 15 percent,” Parvez said. “The majority of us are not practicing Muslims.”

Kamoran Sani, sales and marketing director for the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi, declared, “What you’ve heard about the Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s a big farce. There are orgies, voyeurs’ lounges, raves.”

A diverse nation

Pakistan didn’t become a nation until the British sliced India into Muslim and Hindu majority states in 1947. Pakistan – an Urdu acronym for Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh province and Baluchistan (“stan” means nation) – varies wildly from region to region.

“There is no such thing as Pakistan,” Jaferii said. “First comes your family, then your clan, third your region, fourth your province – the nation comes a distant fifth.”

Much of rural Pakistan is a feudal society dating back to the 13th century. Mullahs, or religious leaders, still invoke blasphemy laws exacting punishment against those accused of insulting Islam. Last year, the governor of Punjab was killed by his bodyguard for criticizing the law as he sought a pardon for a Christian woman sentenced to death.

But Pakistan has tremendous religious and ethnic diversity. Muslims include Sunnis, Shiites, Ismaelis, Ahmadis and Sufis – each practicing their own brand of Islam. At Lahore University of Management Sciences, I chatted with Muslims, Hindus and Christians who were all friends.

From the Sufi love poems to Pashtun folk songs about social justice, music plays a key role in Pakistani identity.

In the center of Karachi there’s a Catholic church – St. Patrick’s Cathedral, built by the Jesuits in 1931. There’s a Jewish cemetery. Sikhs worship throughout Pakistan. The ancient city of Taxila was occupied by Alexander the Great and reflects Persian, Moghul, Buddhist and Christian traditions.

Pakistan’s future

Sixty percent of Pakistan’s population is under age 30; half is under age 20. Half the kids haven’t been to school, and fifth-grade students are reading at a second-grade level, said Nadeem ul-Haq, deputy chairman of the government’s planning commission.

“We have 2 million kids a year entering the labor force. What are these kids going to do?” ul-Haq said. There is no building boom to provide jobs, and foreign investments have been scared away by terrorism.

“Entrepreneurship is the key thing we need to focus on,” he said. “Overseas Pakistanis have been very entrepreneurial, sending back $13 billion a year to their poorer relatives.”

From 7-Elevens to Silicon Valley firms and venture capital funds, ex-pat Pakistanis are thriving in the United States. The 500,000 Pakistanis in the United States, including 100,000 in California, send $100 million a year to charities in Pakistan, said Ahson Rabbani, CEO of I-Care, which connects donors with 30 nonprofits.

In Northern California, Pakistanis raised more than $100,000 for Pakistani flood relief efforts spearheaded by cricket star Imran Khan, who may lead the country if his party wins the next election. Khan has gained credibility by building a cancer hospital for the poor in honor of his late mother. His party includes a women’s wing that has direct access to him.

Philanthropy is playing a growing role in Pakistan, financing schools in poor villages and slums. The Citizens Foundation is educating 100,000 students.

“I mentored six girls,” said Karachi journalist Samia Saleem. “One was 13 and said she didn’t want to get married – she wants to be a teacher.”

Ali Shah Haider, 17, wants to be a commercial pilot. “I sleep from 2 p.m. until 4:30 p.m., then go to work at the textile factory from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. to support my family – there are 12 of us. I do my homework between shifts.”

A nation’s dreams

Though life seems cheap in Pakistan, the people are upbeat survivors who often describe life as bo hat acha, which means “great!” in Urdu, their main language.

Last year 1,575 people were killed in Karachi, where 2 million weapons are in circulation, said Francisco Quinones of Arcis International Security. A doctor was killed in Karachi the day before we landed. Violence has been blamed on the Taliban, rival political gangs, Sunni and Shia militants, rogue security forces, and Afghan refugees.

Some refugees have been recruited by the Taliban. Others like Shaezhad, who collects recyclables in the slums of Karachi, are glad to be alive under the green and white crescent flag of this country.

Still, he wants to go home to Afghanistan. “We want our land back, we want to live with respect and we want employment.”

Azhar Abbas, the managing director of Geo TV news who hosted the party in Karachi, said that “democracy is taking hold” in his Pakistan despite the violence many here believe followed the U.S. war on terror.

The business editor of daily newspaper the News, Amir Zia, said the United States can still play a positive role in Pakistan. “If Americans pull out without getting the job done, the Islamic extremists will say it’s a victory and will become much more organized.”

But at the National Defense University, business and technology expert Bilal Munshi called Pakistan “a psychologically scarred nation suffering from a mass form of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).”

If the 4 million young people entering the workforce each year get jobs, “we will be a power … but if they don’t see a future they’re going to pick up the gun, and you’re going to be in real trouble.”

The U.S. can help develop Pakistani schools, Bilal said, “but don’t interfere in our internal affairs – let us do things our way.”

Filed under: Afghanistan, American Muslims, Democracy, England, India, Muslims, Nuclear, Pakistan, Pakistan Army, Pakistan Cricket, Pakistani Taliban, Pakistanis, President Obama, Saudi Arabia, Taliban, Tehrik-i-Taliban, terrorism, US Army, US-Pakistan Relations Tagged: Afghan Refugees, Afghanistan, Alexander the Great, Citizens Foundation, Geo Tv, Imran Khan, Karachi, Moghul, NATO, Overseas Pakistanis, Pakistan, Pakistani Americans, Pakistanis, Pashtun, Persian, Punjab, Sikhs, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Taliban, Taxila, United States, Urdu, US-Pakistani relations

This is the second part of the Transform Marketing Conference 2012.

Brand Engagement: Achieving Higher levels of performance and results.

Salman Yousuf – Brand Manager – Gillete, Braun, Oral-B & Duracell

Salman Yousuf – Brand Manager – Gillete, Braun, Oral-B & Duracell

• A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product or service.
• Interactions + Feelings = Brand
• Stairway to Brand Heaven & Hell : positive interactions and consistency send a brand on its way to brand heaven like Google, unpleasant interactions and inconsistency lead to brand hell like Vista.
• Brand Engagement is basically a person taking voluntary action with a brand in a way that will drive brand preference and thus purchase.
• BE drives engagement/action which pushes brand to TOM (Top of Mind) which finally leads to consumer advocacy.
• Consumer engagement:
1. Matters to the consumer
2. Serves the brand
3. Need to seed and feed
• Heineken one of the leading beer brands in the world, came up with dual screening campaign during the football world cup whereby people could choose the camera angle as well as predict goals and penalties to win prizes. 
• Nike came up with the ‘Write the Future’ Campaign, a challenge to counter Adidas’ sponsorship of the world cup. This campaign spawned retail space, social media, pretty much everything and resulted in a staggering 7.1% increase in sales in addition to raving reviews from the prestigious publications.

• Domino’s ‘Show Us Your Pizza’ was a successful campaign that ran into problems midway through.
• Domino’s objective was to show that it didn’t use any photoshop effects on its pizza promotional communication, and what they consumers saw in the ads was what they actually got delivered. It showed behind the scenes tricks of how food photography is tampered to give a great artificial image of the food item. It then offered its customers to send photos of its domino’s pizza they bought and win $500 worth of free pizza.
• All these photos were posted by the customers on social media, and to Domino’s horror, some of the pizzas were delivered in appalling condition. In order to recover from this PR damage, the CEO himself appeared in an ad showing one of the spoilt pizzas, apologized and promised free pizzas or refund to these customers.

• Gillete Groomin Gurus was a local campaign launched to increase the penetration of Gillete Mach 3 amongst the youth using Strings as brand ambassadors. The team visited different universities all over the country to impart grooming advice. Moreover, people were given free tickets to Strings concert on the purchase of Mach 3, and the concert itself was organized by Gillete.

Salman Yousuf – Brand Manager – Gillete, Braun, Oral-B & Duracell

Q&A SESSION

Q. Do you know Pakistan has only 10% internet penetration, then how can you expect to reach people through this medium? Why are you only going to private universities, why not to government institutions?  Plus your marketing strategy is such that it ignores the people with beards. – Kashif – Oasis Insights

A.  Who you target depends on your product and its target market. We approached the people that we did because we felt that was our target market.

Neil Christy: That was a very polite way of putting things. The point is, people with beards are not likely to buy a product as Mach 3. As such targeting a segment from where you’re not going to generate sales is just a complete waste of money.

Secondly, the impact of the internet is largely downplayed and underestimated in Pakistan while the top 10 fads/trends to appear in Pakistan in the last couple of years, Sialkot beating, Imran Khan campaign, were largely a result of social media. 

The Power of ‘No’

Shahzad Nawaz  – CEO Shahzad Nawaz Consulting

• Franka Rose refused to sit at the back of the bus just because she was colored.
• 136 people died in Lahore because of the medicine tender going to the lowest bidder pharma.
• Corporate world is in a rat race. And even if you win that race, you’re still a rat.
• There’s a culture of staying late in the office, and employees are afraid to say No to that.
• CEO is the wrong title given to me. I’m not a proper company. I’m just a one-man operation. I prostitute my time when I need to make some bucks.
• No one is free in today’s world. Even the CEO is a servant of the corporation that he works for.
• Billboards is one of the most dishonest businesses in Pakistan. I was the first one to introduce them here, but then when I realized you had to grease so many palms to survive, I got out. People have made billions in this business.

Q. How do you get out from this rat race? Where do you start? Yasmeen Zafar IBA

A. To be brutally honest, resign if you don’t agree with it. However, this drastic step is not always feasible, especially from an economic point of view. Even Islam tells you to stop an evil either physically, verbally or at the very least in your heart. So start with that. And don’t compromise on your values.

Q. Why aren’t our ad agencies churning out good creative ads? Why the same stuff is being copied time and again?

A. That’s because our ad agencies don’t have the guts to say No to client if he wants something nonsense. I left the advertising world back in 2002 because of such issues especially exploitation of women. I only once used a woman in an ad and even then it was because it was the requirement of the strategy not the client. The creative doesn’t bother coming up with something original because they know the seth of the advertising agency would reject it instead of defending it if the client doesn’t like it.  

Neil Christy:

You can afford to say no to people since you’ve already made a name for yourself. But people starting out in their career, how are they going to get anywhere if they say no to everything.

A.  By no I meant, something which is not ethically fit with your values. Don’t compromise on that. The sustenance that has been ordained for you, you will get one way or the other. It’s up to you how you earn it.

Neil Christy:

If I start saying No to my clients, pretty soon I will be sitting outside. You have to listen to your client and give him the brand strategy that he wants. You can’t run an ad agency with more disagreements than agreements with your client.

• A. By brand I meant Life. There’s a Chinese proverb that says Life is like a room with two doors. You enter from one door, spend some time and leave through the other without any trace. Only a few are able to write something on the walls of the room whilst there.

Brand Building in Cultural Tension

Taher A.Khan

Taher A. Khan – Interflow Communications

• I once told Unilever chairman he doesn’t need to hire MBAs to run their marketing. The poor souls don’t have the liberty to provide any input. All the creative templates come from abroad. All that the people on the ground need to do is execute them. And that can be done by any person with a little bit of marketing experience.
• Once I asked their brand manager the reason for blindly following the strategy from India for a tea brand which involved people performing a classical dance which wasn’t going to work in Pakistan. He said that if he rejected that coming up with his own strategy and that didn’t work, he would lose his job. But if he followed the dictated strategy and that didn’t work, he would still keep his job.
• India used to have the same problem. But the Indians have discovered themselves and are shedding their colonial skins. They’ve finally learnt to say No.
• Today, dramatic changes have the potential to occur at a breakneck pace courtesy social media.
• Visited Egypt just a couple of months before the Arab Spring and there was not an inkling of what was coming. Hosni Mubarak was still popular and very much in control.
• There are 6.2 million Facebook users in Pakistan. The largest newspaper in Pakistan has a circulation of not more than 0.5 Mn. The largest English newspaper has an even less at 400,000.
• Marketers still rely on the newspapers by and large.
• Mass media of today is social.
• Ad agencies today have different creative and digital departments which is strange. If a creative doesn’t know how to use digital media, he doesn’t deserve the job. When television first started, the creative didn’t know how to come up with TVCs, but they learnt it fast and today a creative is not considered worthy if he can’t come up with TVCs.
• Marketing has evolved: from a controlling phase to a shut-out phase to a conversation phase.
• Marketers today have to engage customers in conversations.
• Conversation leads to relationship which leads to affinity which results in communities.
• Marketers need to be out there where their target market is. If they can’t sit in a dhaba or ride a bus, they’ve no business being in this profession.
• Rizwan Jamil, one of the Unilever directors once spent three days living with a poor family as part of a ethnography study. He was shocked to see that the family had just boiled water with sprinkled spice along with a chapatti for all the three meals of the day. That was the extent of their poverty, and yet contrary to what we believe, they were all cheerful. They didn’t have the line of thinking that because of our abject poverty we are doomed, as so many of us far better-off than this family think.
• The strategy for the Big Idea is only possible from the intersection of customers insights and the brand’s best self.
• Mountain Dew sells more than Coke in Pakistan. Last month it sold more than Pepsi, becoming the largest selling soft drink in Pakistan.
• In Pakistan, it sells most in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa. Ought to be called the official drink of Taliban.
• Outside of North America, Pakistan is the biggest market for Mountain Dew in the entire world.
• Today on an average, 25% headlines in the world are negative, 3% positive and 72% neutral.
• Azme Alishan is a local brand we’re trying to build to rekindle the spirit of patriotism. It’s brand motto is that Pakistan would be a better place if we saw the glass as half full and not half empty.
• The brand has received some noteworthy success: 80,000 facebook fans, 60,000 youtube views, 600 tweets and 210 followers.
• What Azme Alishan has done is inspire other brands to come up with such uplifting projects. Telenor’s Karo Mumkin was a direct result of that, which was then followed by Mobilink and Cadbury.
• Azme Alishan has spawned many sub-brands including:
• National Song Competition
• Challenge Hai Pakistani
• Manzare Pakistan
• Behtar Pakistan
• Azam Awards
• Cadbury is just one of the brand that wants to sponsor the Azam awards.
• In today’s world, the only way forward for sustainability is a compelling narrative and an engaging dialogue.

Taher A.Khan

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Transform 2012 Marketing Conference

Although the theme given was What’s Next in Brand Management and Generational Marketing, the topics covered were diverse, ranging from personal branding to running a social media campaign.

 Here are the proceedings of the morning session:

Transform 2012 Marketing Conference

Corporate Image Development in a Changing World

Fahad Qadir – Director Public Affairs and Communications –Pak Afghan – Coca-Cola Export Corporation

•  We are living in a world of changing cultures.
• Tahrir Square was a revolution sparked by Twitter.
• In 2002, Netscape IPO was the biggest in history, today the company is no more.
• Facebook has swept the world with lightning speed, becoming equivalent to the second biggest country in the world.
• ‘It takes 20 years to build a reputation and just five minutes to ruin it.’ – Warren Buffet. 
• Actually it takes longer than 20 years to build your reputation. Some of the most reputable companies have been around for more than 100 years.
• Consumers are not attracted by sleek packaging anymore.
• Corporate image is a major part of what sells a company and its products.
• Corporate image building results in trust.
• Coke has been instrumental in helping out with the relief efforts in Pakistan whenever required and goes all the way to help out instead of just writing a cheque.
• Wendy’s Hamburger was one of the most famous burger joints in US, until 2005 when a woman discovered a human finger in her burger. Wendy’s refused to talk to the media while investigating the incident including checking the fingers of its employees in that joint. The woman sued Wendy for $10 million. It was finally revealed that the woman was a conman who pulled such stunts. The finger belonged to her boyfriend. Wendy’s never really recovered from this PR fiasco.
• Tony Howard, CEO of BP went for a holiday with his son in the middle of the 2006 Gulf of Mexico oil spill controversy, pretending as if nothing had happened. He came back and said to the media ‘… I would like my life back…’. He was sacked.
• Toyota in 2010 recalled 700,000 cars which had an issue with the brakes.
• Facebook ran into privacy issues 2010 which they didn’t address properly.
• Iphone 4 had an antenna issue whereby if you kept your hand at a certain point, the signals were lost. No real action taken.
• You could argue that these issues didn’t impact these two giants. Apple is going great guns with $97 Billion in cash reserves alone.
• The point is to stay prepared for the bad times by resolving all issues right then and there.
• Three pillars of Corporate Image:

1. Corporate Politics
2. Corporate Culture
3. Design of the organization

• The golden triangle : Government – Community – Culture
• Jack Welch changed the entire corporate culture of GE, making it one of the biggest American corporations during his reign. He had to take some decision like firing quite a few people but he got it done.
• Coke Studio is a perfect example of the benefits of positive corporate image.
• Coke Studio has done much to improve Pakistan’s image in the eyes of the world, receiving raving reviews on such prestigious publications as Wall Street Journal.
• It is the fourth largest music entity in the world on Google.
• The website receives most hits outside of Pakistan especially from Europe.
• On social media, it has received thousands of views and reviews.
• Interbrand has ranked Coke as the No.1 brand in the world for nine consecutive years.
• Coke is one of three most reputed companies in Pakistan.
• ‘21^st century CEOs will be judged not only by how they changed their industries, but also how well they led their companies to have positive impacts on the world.’ – Hecto Ruiz – Chairman & CEO AMD

Fahad Qadir – Director Public Affairs and Communications -Coca Cola

Q&A SESSION:

• What was the impact of New Coke fiasco? –Yasmeen Zafar - IBA

A.  Somewhere in 1992 our then CEO decided to leverage the Coke brand and come up with a new formula for Coke. After extensive research New Coke was launched while the classic Coke was phased out. People, especially die-hard fans of Coke rejected the new Coke, thousands of letters were sent to the CEO demanding the return of the Red Coke.

• What was the tangible impact of New Coke or even Coke Studio? –Yasmeen Zafar – IBA

A. Both of these incidents affected the bottom-line. I can’t tell you the figures, but it was double-digit.

• You mentioned Coke has indulged in CSR, with the relief efforts and all. Can you give the specifics of it?     -Zeeshan – Owner private firm

A.  Coke was the first entity, even before the US government to not only pledge but disburse $2 million within 24 hours for the 2005 Earthquake. It then gave $3 Mn for the relief of flood victims. Apart from that, Coke initiates sustainable projects. For example there’s one in Nathiagali that has been going for four years, then Women Empowerment through KAAF Foundation since 2 years. All these projects have been devised to be self-sustaining, that at some time we can hand them over to the people to by run by themselves and help the community on their own.

• What has been the impact of negative sentiments associated with America on Coke being an American brand?

A. Yes, Coca-Cola originated in US and we’ve had our fair share of troubles and pitfalls owing to the negative perception of US in this part of the world, but this was 125 years. Now Coke is an entity owned by millions and not by one country. Warren Buffet has the most shares, but that’s just about it. In Pakistan just like everywhere else it is run by the locals. No ‘Gora’ comes here to run the operations, we do it ourselves.  The entire supply chain operation of Coke employs 5 million people. Coke contributes 1.5% of the total tax revenue of Pakistan.

Personal Branding

Yousuf Bashir Qureshi – YBQ Studios

Yousuf Bashir Qureshi -  YBQ Studios

• I thought I was going to be lecturing a group of students. What I’m faced with now is a room full of intellectuals more educated than me. I’m not an MBA. I didn’t have any mentors in my life. I went to cadet college, then I became a food scientist.
• Before my 21^st birthday, I was the most fight-prone person. I just loved to get into a fight. If anyone wanted to pick a fight with someone, he would put me in front. Nothing frightened me.
• On my 21^st birthday party, a female friend of mine much younger than me told me that I was the most afraid person, that I was afraid of what people think about me. All my ego went down the drain. I got angry and threw her out of my party. Later I begged her for forgiveness.
• Our perception of what is desirable and what is not is completely influenced by the media.
• In the 80s, we were told that Cindy Crawford and Brooke Shields were the most beautiful women on the face of the planet. They were mere teenagers and large-frame women as opposed to today’s supermodel definition.
• Then in the early 90s Kate Moss with her negligent chest and hips and a face full of freckles became the darling of the media. All of a sudden, women wanted to grow freckles.
• Further into the 90s, tanned skin and Brazilian hips came in vogue.
• I as a person have no opinion. I’ve to go along with what the media feeds me.
• When a mother goes looking for his son’s bride, the traits used to track down the perfect match are what the media tells you – fair, slim, pretty, educated. The match is finally found and the nuptials tied. The man is congratulated by his peers on getting the trophy wife. The man himself feels proud of having a trophy wife. And yet he goes and has an affair with the maid. The maid is the complete opposite of his trophy wife, of whom he’s proud of, and yet he still has an affair. Why is that?
• I once interviewed a kidnapper, and asked him why did he indulge in this cruel trade. He said it was his family business. Plus he didn’t kidnap the poor people. He only kidnapped rich people who could afford to pay. Likewise the brain can justify even murder.
• You don’t need the outside world to tell you what is good for you or not. The mind, heart and body are enough to make you succeed in life provided that you listen to it.
• Take smoking for example. When you first smoke, the body coughs telling you it’s bad for you. You do it again and again, and the body finally allows you to do it and eventually kills you for abusing it.
• I opened my studio in a small dilapidated alley. People told me who would come here. I didn’t know anyone in Karachi as I had been in the US for 15 years and before that I spent five years in cadet college. I still tried, relying solely on my self-belief.
• Prejudice is a natural fear of strangers and is alright as long as you don’t nurture it which then turns into racism.
• I reinvented my attire, making generous use of pagri, dhoti, and all sorts of non-conventional clothing.
• Initially, I was faced with stiff opposition. People would not allow me into the hotels, thinking I was a worker or something and I would play along with them.
• Once at Heathrow airport, I was standing in the line in all my fashion glory  when one of the attendants approached me and asked if I needed a translator. I said I do if you don’t understand English. She cracked up laughing and got me through the immigration in no time.
• Once I was stopped at the entrance to Sindh Club because of my dhoti. I told the guard that please allow me, the girl who had just entered was wearing a frock that was higher than my dhoti.

Yousuf Bashir Qureshi – YBQ Studios

Q&A SESSION

•  How do you deal with competition and how do you succeed by being different

1. You have to take calculated risks. Without risks, you will go nowhere. Competition will always be there and you’ve to take it all in in a healthy spirit. I’m actually flattered when someone copies my designs. You just need to have unshakeable belief that your Creator will provide you sustenance and then do your own thing.

Marketing to Youth

Noman Asar – Head of Planning JWT

Noman Asar – Head of Planning JWT

• 180 Million people of Pakistan present an ideal opportunity for any marketer.
• This becomes all the more lucrative when you consider that 63% of these people are below the age of 25.
• There are 39 Million people in the age bracket 15-24 years and they constitute 21% of the total population.
• Only 53% of these youth are literate. Females only 42% literate.
• An overwhelming 82% of the females in this bracket are married while only 31% males are.
• This presents an interesting dynamics for the dating scene since the number of males searching for their soul mate far exceed the available females.
• Just because 63% of the population is youth doesn’t mean that they are one big segment and can be marketed as such.
• In reality, there are numerous sub-segments within it that require a unique marketing strategy tailored to it.
• The following is a rough break-up of the youth composition:

1. SEC A – 8%
2. SEC B – 8%
3. SEC C – 15-20%
4. SEC D,E – Remaining

• A rough break-up of the sub-segments within the youth:

1. Primary – Madressah, Government, Private
2. Secondary – Matric/Inter,  O/A Level
3. Young Executives

• The way to know these youth is to go out, intermingle with them or watch them in their habitat.
• I was once observing a couple of kids from SEC C at a swimming pool when one of the kids said to his friend, ‘Why are you vibrating?’. If I wasn’t there observing them in action, I would never have known that the new word for shiver in this target market is ‘Vibrate’. This shows the extent to which mobile devices have seeped into our psyche.
• The learning can be had via three different methods:

1. Ethnographic Studies
2. Qualitative Research
3. Quantitative Research

• People born between 1987 and 1997 either do not know or have had no affect on their mindset, a number of major events like Lebanon massacre, Zia ul Haq, Fall of Russian Empire, Revolution in China etc.
• This group is more influenced by General Musharraf, Taliban, war on terrorism etc.
• JWT conducted a focus group of the young adults and the following insights were gleaned from that session wrt their traits:
  • Traditional, simple but outgoing.
  • More personal bonding with family.
  • Consider their parents as friends. They are more like their ‘peer-ants’.
  • Independent, however within their tradition and cultural norms.
  • Want to increase the quality of their life and their family.
  • The youth value ‘Me’ time more than the previous generation. While the National average is 2 hours, the youth average is 3 hours.
  • There has been a paradigm shift in the ownership of electronic devices. While at one time it was cassette players and video players, today the dominant device is the cellphone, surpassing even DVD and MP3 players.
  • According to a study, 58% of the youth value Ads whereas just 43% of the entire country.
  • According to a study conducted in August 2011 by Anxiety Index, youth were asked positive or negative reaction about a number of factors including Food and petrol prices. Not a single factor was rated positive by them.
  • The problems of Roti, Kapra aur Makaan that were dominant 30 years ago are still relevant and directly affect the youth.
  • The levels of anxiety amongst the Pakistani youth are one of the highest in the world at 89%, just behind Japan at 90%.
  • What’s even more alarming is the level of pessimism. They feel alienated in their own country. 
  • They were also asked to rate their favorite TVC and from what they told us, we’ve a fairly good idea of what to show in a TVC.
  • You need to create a TVC which is either Escapist, Revolutionary or inspires Hope.
  • The challenge is to come with a campaign which increases your market share in spite of all odds, including the pessimistic state of the state and the target market.
  • Band-Aid is one brand that was able to increase its sales in spite of holding 82% of the market share and having a product that didn’t inspire, and was looked down upon.
  • They did it by hiring the Brazilian designer Alexandre Herchcovitch to come up with innovative designs for the bandage and use it on fashion models during his shows.
  • The result: using band-aids became a fashion statement, with people using band-aids on all sorts of apparels and accessories apart from on their own self.

• Ford used the popular social networking site Bebo to strike a conversation with its target market in New Zealand for its new Fiesta in an interview style campaign. 
• Kit Kat in Japan is called Kittu Katsu, meaning ‘Wish u luck’. Because wishing luck is an important part of Japanese culture, and they still use snail mail to send such cards, Kit Kat created a brand alliance with Japan Post Office whereby people could send Kittu Katsu to their loved ones whose wrapper was shaped in the form of a post-card.
• This strategy created $11 Million worth of free publicity.

• Indian Panga League was a spoof of Indian Premier League created by Virgin Mobile whose purpose was to promote its new call rates during the IPL. The activity went viral on social media.

• Coke Studio’s success was largely due to the digital medium instead of just the TV.

Q. How do you propose marketing to the rural market as social media is still very limited in penetration in a country like Pakistan.

A. TV ads are still very important and one of the most effective ways of reaching the mass market that social media cannot. Having said that, TVC alone cannot achieve your brand goals and it will have to be part of a campaign in which social media plays a big part as well.

End of First Part…….

Transform 2012 Marketing Conference

Related posts:

1. Transform 2012 Conference: What’s Next in Brand Management & Generational Marketing After the  success of Transform 2011 Conference: What’s Next in…

This is the 2nd part of the Powegen conference coverage.

The 5th International Power Generation Conference & Exhibition 2012 was held at Marriott, Karachi on the 2nd of February with the agenda ‘Future Energy Mix in Overcoming the Power Crisis’.

Powergen Pak Conference 2012

It was a star-studded event with speeches and presentations from Manzoor Soomro- Chairman Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), Mian Abrar Hussain, President Karachi Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Tilo Klinner – Consul General Germany, Nasim Khan VC Hamdard University, Saigan Sharif – Additional Secretary of Ministry of Science & Technology, Qazi Kamal – Chairman Fuel, Gas, Power Sub-SITE Association, Tahir Saleem – Chairman IEEE, Zubair Motiwala – Chairman Board of Investment Govt. of Pakistan, Naeem Qureshi – Managing Editor Energy Update, Shazia Marri – Minister for Electric Power Sindh, Junaid Qureshi – CEO SSJD, Faisal Qureshi – CEO 24/7 Online TV, Abdullah Muhammad Yousuf – Chairman IPP’s Advisory Council, Rukhsana Zuberi – Chairperson women in energy, Shaaf Mehboob – CEO Adoptive Solar.

Here’s the remaining part of the conference:

Shazia Marri – Minister for Electric Power Sindh

Shazia Marri

• We need a system where people listen to each other’s point of view and learn from it. Democracy provides this feature.
• When I used to sit in opposition during Musharraf government, he used to reject any point raised against Kalabagh dam and was hell-bent on making that dam.
• Kalabagh dam will provide only a fraction of our energy needs and so much time and money has been wasted arguing about it which could have been utilized  in some useful way.
• The difference between this government and the previous is that we are willing to listen to everyone and diligently work towards coming up with a workable solution acceptable to all.
• Ghazi Barotha project producing 1450MW of power in an environment friendly.
• 3,000 MW added during this government’s tenure.
• Sindh’s target for 2012 is to have 10% of contribution from alternative sources: wind, solar and biomass.
• Power station under process in Nooriabad.
• Sugar distilleries are an ideal source of biomass.
• Austrian company working on a wind power project to be completed by March 2013 which will contribute 500-800MW.

Shazia Marri

Junaid Qureshi – CEO SSJD :

• The total demand in 2011 was 19,400 MW which will swell to 50,000MW by 2022.
• Wind energy costs 13-15 cents per KWH whereas biomass costs 11-13 cents/KWH.
• While wind energy projects become feasible after 50MW, biomass are feasible in the range 1-50MW.
• A 15MW project needs 1,730,000 tons of biomass, the source of which can be a number of things, sugar molasses, animal waste etc.
• Sugar cane produces 11-13% of the main product and 60% of biomass.
• Rs. 322 Mn Revenue/year is possible.
• If 2000 MW of electricity is generated through biomass, it would result in savings of Rs.57 Bn/year and $1 Bn/year saving in imported oil.
• The plant would have to be nearer to the biomass source in order to minimize the huge cost of transporting thousands of tons of the material. In addition it would need a steady supply of water.
• The ideal place for the plant would be rural whereby villagers can aid in the supply of biomass and get benefited from the plant as well.

Rukhsana Zuberi – Chairperson women in energy

• Public sector is the biggest consumer of electricity.
• Solar geysers are a great energy saver. I’ve one installed in my home and my gas bill remains the same in both winter and summer.

Shaaf Mehboob – CEO Adoptive Solar

• The circular debt has ballooned to Rs.400 Billion.
• With this much money, 1600MW of energy could have been generated by installing a solar-powered plant.
• It costs approximately Rs.200,000 to produce 1KW of electricity through solar power.

Faisal Qureshi

Faisal Qureshi – CEO 24/7 Online TV

• You’ve been listening to enlightened views from learned people the entire day and there’s nothing more I can add that can surpass those insights except the fact that there’s a chandelier over my head with over 40 bulbs each at least 40 watts and it’s been on the entire time. If people in this room cannot see this waste of energy, then I’ve got nothing to say.

Abdullah Muhammad Yousuf – Chairman IPP’s Advisory Council

• 30 years ago hydel source contributed 70% of total power requirement whereas thermal only 30%.
• The trend has reversed now with thermal contributing 70% and hydel 30%.
• Cost of fuel to electricity generation:
  • Hydel   Rs.2-3
  • Gas       Rs.4-5
  • Oil        Rs. 12
  • IPP        Rs.40
  • Government is giving Rs.200 Bn subsidy on electricity while it can only afford Rs.80 Bn.
  • That means government is having a deficit of Rs.120 Bn added to it.
  • Rs.26 Million is the penalty charges to the government for non-payment of dues on time by PEPCO.
  • Rs.350 Bn are the receivables owed to WAPDA.
  • Energy crisis costs 2-3% GDP loss.
  • $15 Bn was the furnace oil import bill last year.
  • $32 BN is the expected bill this year.

CONCLUSION:

It was a thought-provoking conference on the energy problems beset by Pakistan and the gravity of the situation. However, this sort of discussion is pertinent to a conference that is being held for the first time. For a conference that is in its fifth year and still not able to generate a viable solution that is embraced by the four main stakeholders: government, consumer, industry and research institutes, that reflects poorly on our state of affairs.

Sure, there were many solutions proposed. But then these solutions have been proposed since God knows when. What we need now is one solution acceptable to all which alleviates at least some of the nation’s suffering. And that this conference was unable to come up with in spite of having the brightest minds present.

Related posts:

1. PowerGen Pak Conference 2012 The 5th International Power Generation Conference & Exhibition 2012 was…

The 5th International Power Generation Conference & Exhibition 2012 was held at Marriott, Karachi on the 2nd of February with the agenda ‘Future Energy Mix in Overcoming the Power Crisis’.

The conference was attended by a plethora of scientists  and dignitaries from all walks of life.

Power-Gen Pak Conference 2012

It was a star-studded event with speeches and presentations from Manzoor Soomro- Chairman Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), Mian Abrar Hussain, President Karachi Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Tilo Klinner – Consul General Germany, Nasim Khan VC Hamdard University, Saigan Sharif – Additional Secretary of Ministry of Science & Technology, Qazi Kamal – Chairman Fuel, Gas, Power Sub-SITE Association, Tahir Saleem – Chairman IEEE, Zubair Motiwala – Chairman Board of Investment Govt. of Pakistan, Naeem Qureshi – Managing Editor Energy Update, Shazia Marri – Minister for Electric Power Sindh, Junaid Qureshi – CEO SSJD, Faisal Qureshi – CEO 24/7 Online TV, Abdullah Muhammad Yousuf – Chairman IPP’s Advisory Council, Rukhsana Zuberi – Chairperson women in energy, Shaaf Mehboob – CEO Adoptive Solar.

The conference was organized by Energy Update Magazine 

Here’s  a brief lowdown of what went on in the conference.

Power-Gen Pak Conference 2012

Manzoor Soomro- Chairman Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF):

• Promote and popularize science.
• Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) signed with all chambers of commerce in Pakistan.
• Reach is not limited to MOUs but to universities and beyond.
• Provide funding to research institutes.
• Enormous potential in both conserving and generating energy cost-effectively, only it needs to be channeled out properly.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjVeR4LkS-Y&feature=youtu.be

Mian Abrar Hussain, President Karachi Chamber of Commerce

• The energy crisis and resulting loadshedding of electricity and gas has resulted in a staggering monetary loss of Rs.288 Billion per annum. 
• This is a loss of Rs.24 Billion per month, or Rs.857 million per day. 
• This much money could have been used to finance 44 Large scale manufacturing units or serve 10 million unemployed people. 
• $12 Billion is the annual import bill for furnace oil. 
•  30% of energy wasted in distribution. 
• Energy security plan is needed on the same lines as Nuclear Security Plan to safeguard the future of Pakistan.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqekJYHaYPE&feature=youtu.be

Power-Gen Pak Conference 2012

Naeem Qureshi – Managing Editor Energy Update

• Welcomed the participants to the fifth PowerGen Pak Conference.
• Thanked the speakers and the guest for gracing the occasion with their presence, and the sponsors for lending support to this worthy cause.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW-k4nvLqBY&feature=youtu.be

Dr. Tilo Klinner – Consul General Germany

• Renewable energy is the future of the world due to depleting natural sources of fuel.
• Wind energy percentage contribution to electricity generation in the world:
  • 21% Denmark
  • 15% Portugal
  • 14% Spain
  • 7.5% Germany
  • There’s a 40 MW plant in Gujarat, India run solely on solar power.
  • 17,000 MW contribution by solar power to national grid in Germany.
  • There are large lignite coal fields in Eastern Germany which provide the bulk of the power. However, they’ve a large carbon footprint.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4g2VPhRjAI&feature=youtu.be

Nasim Khan VC Hamdard University

Power-Gen Pak Conference 2012

• In 1999, a German company estimated the wind corridor in Pakistan to be worth 50,000 MW.
• Research by an American University put the estimate at 110,000 MW.
• Germany has been able to capture and make use of 17,000 MW of solar energy in spite of the fact that Germany doesn’t get as much sun as Pakistan.
• Due to circular debt, electric companies are unable to afford wind power companies.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6qVKkA-dRc&feature=youtu.be

Saigan Sharif – Additional Secretary of Ministry of Science & Technology:

• Karachi to Gwadar corridor has the potential of 7,000-10,000 MW generation through wind energy.
• Nexus needed between government, research institutes and industry for a workable plan.
• Much of the existing problems are due to lack of understanding between the three.
• Government has its own limits and cannot launch projects based on research by institutes. However it can support them in conjunction with the industry.
• Scientists have the tendency to quarrel amongst themselves for who gets the patent to an invention or innovation.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR-kpByM8EE&feature=youtu.be

Qazi Kamal – Chairman Fuel, Gas, Power Sub-SITE Association

• There are 104 Nuclear power plants in US and 70 in France which contribute roughly 20% of total electricity.
• 35% of power in Western Europe is achieved through nuclear means.
• China has plans to set up 40 nuclear power plants.
• India plans to generate 63,000 MW of nuclear energy by 2032 with the help of General Electric USA.
• Pakistan only gets 712 MW of nuclear energy.
• Pakistan has substantial reserves of uranium, 500 times more than gold in various mines all over the country.
• Pakistan also has 5% uranium enrichment capability.
• 2,000MW energy through KANUP 2 and 3 will be attained.
• 8,000MW is the target for nuclear energy.
• The establishment of Pakistan Nuclear Power Fuel Complex will go a long way in attaining self-sufficiency in nuclear energy.

Tahir Saleem – Chairman IEEE:

• Problem with energy usage not energy production.
• KESC has installed capacity of 1260MW but only 600MW of power are being delivered by them.
• WAPDA had planned 40,000MW of electricity by 2010. Hardly 2,000MW have been added.
• 10-15% of energy saving is possible without any investment.
• 22% of energy saving is possible with investment.
• 70% of electrical consumption is by the industry.
• Load lightening devices are available which reduce electrical consumption.
• Government should make it mandatory for the industry to install these devices which will reduce the electrical load on the national grid.
• Co-generation provides 30% additional energy, a strategy which is being used by hotels.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ntFBeYYd9E&feature=youtu.be

Zubair Motiwala – Chairman Board of Investment, Govt. of Pakistan

Zubair Motiwala

• 22,000 MW is the installed capacity.
• Rs.300 Bn circular debt in July, now touching Rs.400 Bn.
• 12 hours of loadshedding in the industrial areas until 2 weeks ago.
• Pakistan has the fifth largest coal reserves in the world – 173Bn which will last 300 years.
• Thar has huge reserves of lignite coal as determined by research carried out by RW Germany.
• Special incentives offered by Pakistan Board of Investment for investing in Pakistan’s coal reserves:
  • 20% Return on Equity
  • 30 years tax holiday
  • No custom duty on import of machinery
  • Sales tax exemption
  • United Energy, 3 Gorges and Engro are some of the companies interested in this investment.
  • In 2015 the first powerplant using the thar coal would be operational.
  • Pak-Chine energy commission has determined that there’s a 80km wide as well as long wind corridor with speeds up to 800 knots, which is more than India.
  • A Turkish company is already operating wind turbines in Sindh which are producing 5MW.
  • 34 more turbines are in the offing which will raise the output to 50MW.
  • Plans are in place to allow duty-free import of batteries to store wind energy.
  • Break-up of contribution to electricity:
    • 1/3^rd Hydel
    • 1/3^rd  Thermal
    • 1/3^rd  Diesel/captive/nuclear

• Contribution of gas to national grid:
  • Sindh 69%
  • Balochistan 13%
  • Punjab 5%
  • Share of gas:
    • 27% Sindh
    • 17% Balochistan
    • 45% Punjab
    • Total production was 3800 mmcf, now 200 mmcf have been added making to 4,000 mmcf.
    • Sindh gets 1150 mmcf and Punjab 1800 mmcf.
    • There are 2700 CNG stations in Punjab while 800 CNG stations in Sindh and Balochistan.
    • Most of these 2700 CNG stations in Punjab are illegal connections given after 2007 and result in shortage of gas as the network has become so much convoluted.  
    • 40,000 of unutilized hydel capacity in Pakistan.
    • 2,000 MW for 300 years possible from Thar coal reserves.
    • 15,000 MW addition expected from Thar coal by 2020.

 TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT PART……..

Power-Gen Pak Conference 2012

Power-Gen Pak Conference 2012

No related posts.

Here are the most recent updates from four of the eight SAARC nations. For news from the rest of the countries, please visit their respective national pages.
…

MALDIVES – A top US diplomat arrived in the Maldives on February 11 to help resolve a deepening political crisis sparked by the ousting of the Indian Ocean nation’s first democratically elected president.

Mohamed Nasheed, who came to power in 2008, says he was forced to quit on February 7 in a coup led by mutinous army and police officers who threatened him with violence unless he stepped down as leader of the famous holiday islands.

He was replaced by his vice president Mohamed Waheed, whom Nasheed accuses of being party to the conspiracy to topple him.

…

SRI LANKA – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa reached Pakistan on February 10 to Pakistan to further strengthen political, economic and defence ties between the two countries.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka are also expected to sign an agreement during President Rajapaksa’s visit under which the latter would get $200 million export credit facility through the State Bank of Pakistan.

The two countries are aiming to increase bilateral trade to $2 billon mark over the next three years and pledged to support each other at regional and international forums.

The commitment is significant in the light of the forthcoming UNHRC session, which is expected to put pressure on Sri Lanka to address the ethnic conflict between Sinhala majority and the Tamil minority of the island nation.

…

NEPAL – A top Maoist leader on February 10 said the government will finish the key task of concluding the peace process and framing a new constitution, amid a deadlock between the political parties over form of governance and federal structure to be adopted in the country.

“The peace process and the constitution drafting will be completed within the stipulated time frame of May 27,” Education Minister and senior Maoist party leader Dinanath Sharma said on the sideline of the inaugural function of the UK Education Fair in the capital.

The landmark peace process has been stalled amid the failure of the political parties to agree on the form of governance and federal structure.

…

BHUTAN – By the end of 2012 at least 40 locations in western and central Bhutan will have access to 3G or third generation high speed Internet connectivity, which is today available only in the core areas of Thimphu city.
Starting March Bhutan Telecom will start work to expand its 3G network in Thimphu, Phuentsholing, Paro and Gelephu.
3G is the ‘3rd Generation’ technology for mobiles which enhances internet speed and enables features like video calling, faster audio and video streaming and quicker downloads.

In urban Thimphu, six more locations will be added to the 14 existing 3G sites. The other 20 locations will be added in Phuentsholing, Paro and Gelephu and at tertiary institutes like Sherubtse College, College of Science and Technology and the college of business studies in Gedu.

“Many young people at these institutions are in need of these services and they are the people who use these services more often,” the CEO of Bhutan telecom, Nidup Dorji, said.

The present 3G sites in Thimphu are located within a five km radius of Bhutan Telecom head office. For 3G data service the speed range is 7.2 mbps.

- Agencies

Nigeria polio campaign gains momentum
Dozens of governors across Nigeria have signed up to support the Nigeria Immunization Challenge started by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to combat polio. The immunization initiative is part of the foundation’s efforts to support Nigeria’s fight against top priority public health concerns, such as HIV/AIDS prevention and providing safe drinking water.

Indian student helps others resist child marriage
Anjali Burman, a 21-year-old resident of the remote Indian village of Malda, has taken up the fight against child marriage, forming a small community group that works to prevent the forced marriages of girls under the age of 18. The youngster faced the prospect of marriage at the age of 15 and now helps others by raising awareness and bringing efforts to stop cases to officials.

New Zealand rejects concerns on child marriage
Current laws in New Zealand are sufficient to discourage child marriage, the country’s government has told UNICEF, despite reports of the forced marriage of a 17-year-old Pakistani girl, and appeals for help by girls as young as 13 and 14. Justice Minister Judith Collins said the government would continue to educate ethnic communities about existing law.

Shot at Life chief talks vaccination progress
Vaccines can help prevent many of the 1.7 million deaths of children every year from preventable diseases such as pneumonia, Peg Willingham, executive director of the United Nations Foundation program Shot at Life, says in this interview. Willingham recently traveled to Honduras where an ambitious vaccination program targeting 99% of the country’s children is helping slash child-mortality rates.

Cote d’Ivoire pulls plug on free health care experiment
Cote d’Ivoire has scaled back its public health program to cover only women and young children as theft and mismanagement contribute to rapidly rising costs. “As long as women and children continue to receive care we are satisfied, because they are among the most vulnerable,” said Louis Vigneault-Dubois, head of communications for UNICEF in the country.

Calvin: Family-planning access is a key priority
Increasing access to family-planning services for women around the world remains an integral element to improving women’s health and achieving Millennium Development Goals related to maternal mortality, writes Kathy Calvin, CEO of the United Nations Foundation. 

Breast cancer awareness is still lagging
Despite the efforts of global health community to draw attention to and raise awareness of chronic noncommunicable disease, breast cancer remains widely misunderstood and under-diagnosed in developing countries. Health care professionals diagnose more than 1 million cases annually, and the disease claims about a half-million lives each year. 

 Yemen faces malnutrition emergency
The number of children under the age of five suffering from malnutrition across Yemen has reached 750,000, doubling in some regions over the past decade. Maria Calivis, UNICEF’s director for Middle East and North Africa, said the figure crosses the “emergency threshold” for urgent action, especially in the country’s remote areas.

The Internet has exploded over the past couple of days with news that Susan G. Komen, the largest breast cancer organization in the US, would halt funding for Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of reproductive health services in the US.  A virtual uprising on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms by Komen and Planned Parenthood supporters and opponents and high-profile media coverage has inspired a national debate.  As of this morning, Komen has reversed its decision.  Since 2005, Komen has funded Planned Parenthood’s breast health and education programs, which include screenings and referrals for mammograms and other diagnostic testing, with just under $700,000 in grants disbursed to 19 (of 83) affiliates last year.  At the heart of the controversy: the American abortion debate.

Planned Parenthood and its defenders, as well as some from Komen itself, have alleged that the organization gave in to pressure from anti-choice groups that oppose Planned Parenthood’s contraception and abortion programs.  Komen, the “marketing juggernaut that brought the world the ubiquitous pink ribbon campaign,” has maintained that its funding halt was the result of internal changes to grant-making criteria.  Komen founder and CEO, Nancy Brinker, appeared in a video, posted to the organization’s website and YouTube, charged critics with “mischaracter[ing]” the changes, which were made to increase impact and efficiency.  An investigative piece from The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg cited anonymous sources within Komen who said that the new funding guidelines were merely an excuse to stop all grants to Planned Parenthood, which finds itself continually under fire from socially conservative, often religious, groups and politicians.  The revised Komen grant rules stipulated that any grantee under investigation by a local, state, or federal authority would no longer be eligible to receive funding.  Representative Cliff Stearns, Republican of Florida, has been leading an investigation to learn whether Planned Parenthood had used US government funding for abortions, which would violate federal regulations.  Goldberg also discusses the role of Komen’s new senior vice president for public policy, Karen Handel, in pushing to end funding to Planned Parenthood.  Handel ran for governor of Georgia in 2010 and is on the record as anti-choice and against Planned Parenthood’s mission.  As Goldberg points out, Planned Parenthood and Komen both say that previous funding has been used for breast cancer programs, not abortions or other reproductive health services.

While announcing Komen’s restitution of funding to Planned Parenthood, the organization apologized to the American public, stating that it would “ensure that politics has no place in our grant process.”  Only grantees under criminal investigation would be deemed ineligible.  The executive director of a Komen branch in New Jersey attributed the reversal to the public uproar and to actions within the organization itself: “We sent official letters to the headquarters,” she said. “Komen is a grassroots organization. The displeasure and the outrage was heard and the decision was reversed. I’m thrilled.”  Planned Parenthood, which has an annual operating budget of $1.1 billion, ended up benefitting from the national attention: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg pledged a $250,000 matching grant, a Texas couple donated another $250,000, and 6,000 individual donors gave $400,000 in the first 24 hours after the initial Komen decision.

How, you might ask, could an almost universally-celebrated organization (almost, with emphasis) that focuses on breast cancer end up at the center of a debate about abortion?  The American political debate about a woman’s right to choose, of course, is so bitter and so divisive that it spills over to almost anything to do with women’s health.  In the past, HIV/AIDS programs and reproductive health services worldwide that were funded by US government programs were hobbled by the global gag rule.  It is an unfortunate (and ridiculous) truth that women’s health is inherently politicized.  It is also true that with or without legal protections for reproductive choice, some women will still seek out abortions, whether legal and safe or illegal and dangerous, which Foreign Policy Blogger for Children, Cassandra Clifford, discussed last week.  To quote Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, abortion should be safe, legal, and rare.  In fact, Secretary Clinton just says it all:

The Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street protesters and the recent virtual protests against SOPA and PIPA and Komen’s decision have a vector in common: the power of the Web.  In the past, grassroots activism has been a long and slow road–such as that for HIV/AIDS awareness, ARV access, and increased investment in prevention and treatment programs.  Social media platforms have transformed into global megaphones, where people around the world can connect with each other, pass along news even before it breaks on mainstream media sources, and demand change.  This week’s events have illustrated the potential of the Internet as a grassroots platform to call for more awareness about and funding for global health.  As I’ve written too many times in the past, precarious funding situations and underfunding are the major barriers to improved health worldwide.  With the strength of online grassroots activism, global health advocates have an ideal tool to promote their messages and to secure funding.  They must hone these tactics to initiate viral awareness and fundraising campaigns across social media and other web-based platforms.  After all, it doesn’t count if it’s not on Facebook.

Header photo by WeNews, CC BY 2.0.

Carlos Slim is well known in Latin America and abroad as one of, if not the wealthiest CEO in the world. He was even mentioned on the Colbert Report this past week introducing him to the American public as someone who’s net worth trumps that of Mitt Romney as well as that of Donald Trump. This week an OECD report named Slim’s company, Telmex as overcharging Mexican consumers for telecommunications products from 2005 to 2009. Slim argued against the allegations and the numbers presented in the OECD report stating that his company was working within the competitive market that exists in Mexico and did not take any actions that would be deemed as anti-competitive. It is likely a detailed debate will occur over Slim and his companies that may lead to a test of Mexico’s competition laws as well as the reputation of Mexico’s state telecom giant Telmex. We will have to wait and see if Slim wins the day, or if he will be fined. One fine has already been set on Slim’s company, but a challenge in Mexico’s Supreme Court may eliminate this legal measure from being enforced.

Telecommunications giants have been in the position to create a great deal of wealth as new technologies create new boom markets for their products in a commercial environment dependent on new forms of telecommunications. With technology, come many new IP laws to enforce violations of privacy and competition in those new markets as companies jostle for position and form legacies like Nokia and Microsoft. In the EU, stringent laws enforcing consumer protection within the Common Market have set much of the global standard against overly ambitious telecoms giants. Going from competition laws setting records against companies like Microsoft to investigations into companies like France Telecom regarding a series of employee suicides since privatisation a few years ago, the EU has set the hard standard against companies that wish to violate competition laws and as well as all other market and labour standards. It is likely that Mexican competition laws will take much of their precedents from that of the EU and US to enforce any violations against Carlos Slim’s business interests, if evidence provides for enforcement to become necessary.

In reality Mexico is likely not the most expensive country for phone services, and there is a great deal of evidence showing that their NAFTA neighbour, Canada has the highest per-capita telecoms charges in the world. A lack of effective competition policies have created a market in Canada where people not only pay a great deal for services, but services are often out of date and ineffective due to a lack of competition in the Canadian mobile phone market. While many developing nations have modern up to date cellular services due to the reduced cost of setting up such systems in places that historically had poor phone access, Canada’s modern economy creates an expensive and outdated mobile phone market that has existed without proper scrutiny from the last few governments. There have been some moves to protect Canadian consumers over the last few years, but until a true measure to help Canadian consumers takes shape it would be a good idea for those like Carlos Slim and other telecoms to enter a Canadian market that sorely needs proper services in their sector for individuals and businesses. A study of the Canadian, European and Mexican telecoms markets would be a useful and interesting study to provide all consumers with a legitimate and fair market for telecoms usage.