Daily Times

Federal Minister for IT & Telecommunication Syed Amin Ul Haque has acknowledged the fact that Annual ICT Awards have been playing a strong, catalytic role in driving innovation and growth for the past 17 years by recognizing youth leaders in the industry. He further added that the IT industry, spearheaded by Pakistan Software Houses Association – P@SHA, is in a unique position to uplift the entire country out of the economic challenges.

P@SHA, the apex trade body for the IT and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) industry is conducting the 18th annual P@SHA ICT awards later in October this year and through a detailed process of evaluation by a jury of world-renowned members, will cover 10 core categories along with 42 subcategories; which will include startups, fintech, edtech, e-commerce companies and large exporters in the IT industry as well, along with recognizing innovations and excellence in several business verticals. Students from schools, colleges and universities can also submit their projects.

Badar Khushnood, Chairman P@SHA, apprised that these awards are free-to-apply and no sponsorship or contribution is charged – whatsoever. That is the reason that companies, small or large, exporters, investors or JVs, new or established industry players, students, and women entrepreneurs are all welcome to apply to the pertinent categories, he added.

Hira Zainab, Secretary General of P@SHA, explained that P@SHA’s ICT Awards are not only the most prestigious IT & ITeS awards of Pakistan, but they provide a gateway to international recognition, promotion, and the right positioning to awardees on a truly global scale.

The winners and runners-up will consequently be participating in Asia-Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards 2022 to showcase their talent and compete on an international platform. P@SHA has regularly featured in APICTA Awards over the last decade and they have bagged 2 gold & 4 merit awards in 2021 – and, *that made Pakistan one of the top 5 countries in IT talent & achievements.

The IT industry is currently the only industry in Pakistan that can grow at an exponential rate and contribute to exports growth in the same spirit by the highest cash flow positive grading and the easiest to expand since the industry relies only on availability of talent and conducive policies to help it grow. It is pertinent to note that the *IT industry exports in the last 2 years have jumped from approximately $1.4b in 2020 to $2.1b in 2021 and to $2.62b in 2022, showing a growth of 87pc in just 2 years.