KARACHI: Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES (P@SHA) held its 17th P@SHA ICT Awards on 23rd of October, 2021 at a local hotel in Karachi. The Chief Guest of the P@SHA ICT Awards ceremony was the Federal Minister for IT & Telecom Syed Amin-ul-Haque. The Guest of Honor was Wendy Gilmore Canada's High Commissioner to Pakistan.
Other notable guests included Junaid Imam Member IT, Zarrar Khan Chief Business Services Officer at PTCL Business Solutions, Bilal Mahmood MD at Contour Software, Osman Nasir MD at Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) and the P@SHA Central Executive Committee.
There were 10 main categories and 42 subcategories this year against which P@SHA received over 350 applications, not only from bigger cities but all across the country. These submissions were then evaluated by 52 esteemed judges with phenomenal expertise in their relevant fields.
P@SHA strongly believes that innovation thrives at all levels. Among the applicants, P@SHA welcomed big companies, small businesses, startups, entrepreneurs as well as students of various age groups. To highlight its champions and honor their hard work and courage, P@SHA came forward with the vision of the "Illuminating the Tech SuperStars" for the 2020-21 P@SHA ICT Awards.
P@SHA would like to sincerely thank PTCL Business Solutions as the Title Sponsor and Contour Software as the Platinum Sponsor for this year's edition of the P@SHA ICT Awards. The association would also like to show its utmost gratitude towards the Gold Sponsor - ConsoliAds and Silver Sponsors - NdcTech, Ibex Global and Gaditek for their colossal support in celebrating the champions.
P@SHA is also very thankful to the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) for being the "Strategic Partner", not only for this event but several other initiatives as well.
Federal Minister for IT and Telecom Syed Amin-ul-Haque, congratulated the position holders and applauded P@SHA for its role in uniting the IT & ITES industry. The Honorable Minister also regarded P@SHA as the voice of the industry and declared it a strategic partner in the Prime Minister's IT Taskforce, policy making and international branding.
Chairman P@SHA, Badar Khushnood praised the winners and runners-up of the P@SHA ICT Awards on this occasion and remarked that P@SHA does not only strive to work for policy making and global representation of Pakistan's tech sector but is also driven to play an integral part in bringing to light the talent, creativity and innovation of the Pakistani IT Industry.
The Guest of Honor, Wendy Gilmour Canada's High Commissioner to Pakistan, also expressed her excitement for the tech innovation happening in Pakistan and complimented the champions for their grit and passion for excellence.
Another important milestone celebrated during the Awards ceremony was Pakistan's growth of $2 billion in IT & ITES exports, in the presence of the Federal IT Minister, Member IT, senior industry representatives and P@SHA Central Executive Committee.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021