P@SHA's New Logo

We are excited to share that P@SHA, Pakistan's only authorized and internationally recognized association for the IT industry, has a brand new tagline to go by: "Pakistan IT Industry Association".

31 years on from our humble beginnings in 1992, Pakistan's IT industry has grown - and we've grown with it.

With a vision encompassing and going far beyond software houses, our new tagline and moniker perfectly capture our mission to promote and advance Pakistan's thriving tech sector now and for the future to come.

April 5-7, 2023

Japan IT Week

The Pakistani tech industry extended its reach beyond borders as delegates arrived in Tokyo to attend Japan IT Week in collaboration with Tech Destination Pakistan, the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), and the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP). The event took place from April 5-7th.

The Pakistan Pavilion was officially opened at Japan IT Week, and distinguished guests, including His Excellency Raza Bashir Tarar, the Ambassador of Pakistan to Japan, Mr. Junaid Imam (MOITT), the Pakistan Embassy Japan, Trade Counselor to Japan Mr. Tahir Cheema, and P@SHA CEC Member and Brand & Global Outreach Chair Jamil Goheer, were present to inaugurate it.

Pakistan's presence at Japan IT Week was made possible by the support of Tech Destination Pakistan, PSEB, and TDAP. In conjunction with P@SHA, their efforts are instrumental in taking Pakistan's IT industry beyond borders, showcasing its tech talent and innovation in front of a global audience.

Accompanied by PSEB and Tech Destination Pakistan, the Pakistani delegation to Japan IT Week held a meeting with JICA, Japan's largest IT association. The meeting focused on identifying Japan's IT industry needs and exploring opportunities for collaboration. Ideas for knowledge and opportunity-sharing sessions and joint capacity-building initiatives for language and cultural enablement were also considered.

April 28, 2023

APICTA Board Meeting of the Executive Committee

The 79th APICTA Board meeting of the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) EXCO was held in Perth, Australia. Pakistan, being a member economy and the host of the 2022 APICTA Awards, participated with a full quorum including P@SHA Chairman Zohaib Khan and P@SHA CEC Members Jamil Goheer & Dr. Shoab Ahmed Khan. 

They discussed strategies for improvement in bilateral IT collaboration between member economies and took part in planning for the APICTA Awards 2023 scheduled for Hong Kong later this year.

The Pakistan delegation emphasized increasing collaboration beyond awards to cross-border business collaboration, research, talent exchange, investments, funding, and joint ventures.

APICTA also held elections during this gathering. We congratulate the new office bearers: 

1. Mr. Fulvio Inserra (Australia), elected Chairman

2. Prof. Cheng Kiang Farn (Taiwan), elected Vice Chairman

3. Mr. Ruwan Amarasekara (SriLanka), elected Treasurer

4. Professor Dr. Shoab Ahmed Khan (Pakistan), elected Chair of Judging Committee

5. Ms. Shirley Wong (Singapore), elected Chair of Marketing Committee.

April 28, 2023

Tech Meetup with Pakistani Diaspora in Perth, Australia

P@SHA Chairman Zohaib Khan and CEC Member Jamil Goheer (Chair, Brand & Global Outreach Committee) attended a tech sector meetup with the Pakistani diaspora in Perth, Australia. They highlighted Pakistan's potential as a global tech destination and strategized ways business leaders in the diaspora can play a role to increase Pakistani IT exports.

April 13, 2023

CXO Meetup Lahore

On 13th April, P@SHA held the second Lahore CXO meetup for Spring 2023. Powered by Stewart Pakistan Limited, the event was a great success with attendees engaging in lively discussions about the technology industry in Pakistan and its significant contribution to the economy. The meetup concluded with a delightful Iftar dinner.

April 28, 2023

AGG CXO Meetup Islamabad

P@SHA organized an industry-wide CXO Meetup exclusively for animation, gaming & graphics leaders in Islamabad on 28th April 2023. Sponsored by Quixel and co-sponsored by 9D Technologies & Terafort, the event featured a discussion of how AGG can contribute to the growth of Pakistan's tech industry. Fasieh Mehta from Quixel led the event, sharing insights about the latest trends & tools for progress.

Attended by many industry leaders and government officials, the meetup connected fellow professionals and gave them a chance to meet some incredible innovators. It also provided a platform to discuss challenges faced by the sector, ways to tackle them, and how to collaborate as a community.

April 3, 2023

Partnership: Green Alliance Gaming Challenge Awards

P@SHA is Strategic Partner for the Green Alliance Gaming Challenge Awards! Organized by USAID Investment Promotion Activity, this award competition funds the development of environmentally conscious games to raise awareness & mitigate the impact of climate change in Pakistan & globally. Apply by May 31st for a chance to be awarded PKR 25 Million to develop games for good!

April 7, 2023

Partnership: Skills Gala x Talent Hunt 2023

We are an Outreach Partner for the Skills Gala x Talent Hunt 2023, a 3-day expo for Pakistan's training & tech companies. Scheduled for May 26-28 at Pearl Continental Hotel Lahore, the expo aims to uplift IT exports and Pakistan's share in the global digital economy. Don't miss out!

April 7, 2023

Partnership: Jamil & Jamil

Great news for our valued members! As part of our commitment to provide you with exclusive benefits, P@SHA partnered with Jamil & Jamil (a renowned tech law firm) to offer legal services to members at exclusive discounts for members along with a free one-time consultation.

April 20, 2023

Partnership: Epiphany for Ten18Con

P@SHA is the Strategic Partner of Epiphany for their upcoming flagship conference in Lahore on May 18, 2023 at University of Central Punjab.  Ten18 Con (previously Game X) will bring together gaming, animation, art, Web 3.0, esports, media and entertainment tech businesses, publishers, investors, and partners. It will be a first-of-its-kind, live, in-person event that offers multiple tracks and activities, including meaningful conversations, Pitch Fest (a platform to pitch to investors for your GameTech business), masterclasses, and more.

April 26, 2023

MOU: Hub71 Incentive Program

P@SHA has teamed up with the Hub71 Incentive Program!

If you're a P@SHA member, here's your chance to be accepted to get up to AED 500,000 worth of incentives as well as access to mentorships and key stakeholders such as VCs to build your company in Abu Dhabi.

April 3, 2023

Recommendations for Inclusion of IT Development Projects in ADP 2023-24 (PSEB/PITB)

The 2nd Session of the Working Group on the Information Technology Sector for Making Recommendations for Inclusion of Development Projects in ADP 2023-24 was held on April 3, 2023. The meeting was attended by various stakeholders including PSEB, PITB, and P@SHA. The group discussed various initiatives aimed at enhancing the IT sector in Pakistan.

Recommendations from P@SHA were presented by CEC Member, Bilal Hashmat. The initiatives discussed were working with HEC in curriculum development. The group identified fundamental gaps in the existing curriculum that needed to be addressed to produce market-ready graduates. a comprehensive assessment of all levels of education, including primary, secondary, and tertiary education, was advocated, and the revamping of the IT curriculum was suggested to meet industry needs. Pursuing industry-recognized certifications was also proposed to increase employability for graduates.

April 8, 2023

IT Special Forex Account - Retention and Utilization Engagement with the State Bank

In an ongoing engagement with the State Bank, P@SHA reiterated its position regarding USD retention and cross-border business payments for the IT and ITeS sector. P@SHA has highlighted the challenges faced by businesses in implementing the circular, including the delay from banks in offering online/digital facilities, such as dollar-denominated cards. P@SHA has advocated for consistency in policies and has encouraged SBP to ensure consistency in providing ease of doing business to the IT& ITeS industry.

April 11, 2023

Digital Investment Forum - MoITT & Ministry of Foreign Affairs

In the recent meeting between the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and the DCO Secretary General, a proposal was made to hold the first-ever DCO Digital Investment Forum (DIF) in Pakistan. The event is planned to take place in August/September 2023 and will focus on four key pillars of engagement: software exports, infrastructure development, cyber security, and emerging technologies.

Along with MOITT and PSEB, P@SHA has provided feedback on potential areas of cooperation, the phased planning of the Digital Investment Forum, and long-term strategic engagement between Pakistan and KSA.

April 2023

Engagement with FPCCI

P@SHA provided inputs to FPCCI on restrictions in trade with Malaysia and Indonesia. Pakistan has FTAs with Malaysia and Indonesia in goods and services and therefore the Ministry of Commerce has solicited inputs to ease the cross-border trade. Some of the key areas include; duties on productive assets, careful mapping of tariffs, and others.

The suggestions provided by experts will be used for the ongoing re-negotiation with Malaysian and Indonesian authorities.

The proposal was drafted by the Policy Lead in close consultation with CEC members Khurram Rahat and Azam Mughal, and was reviewed by the Government Relations Committee and CEC.

April 20, 2023

Engagement with STZA

P@SHA, under the lead of Committee Chair, Bilal Hashmat, has engaged in discussion with STZA to initiate collaboration with The Special Technology Zones Authority (STZA) to support the growth of the Pakistani IT industry. These include the reconstitution of STZA's Board of Governors, implementation of the Cluster Strategy, addressing operational challenges for STZs, facilitating STZA applicants, developing an SME Package, and raising awareness and attracting investments for the IT industry.

April 27, 2023

Round Table Conference on Recommendation for Digital Transformation in Pakistan (Ministry of Planning)

A round table conference was held to discuss recommendations for digital transformation.

The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce & Industry (OICCI) has submitted its recommendations for digital transformation in Pakistan in the form of a report: "Recommendations for Digital Transformation in Pakistan". The report highlights the present challenges and presents viable solutions to overcome them and make swift progress. To discuss the recommendations of the report, the Minister of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives hosted a roundtable with relevant stakeholders chaired by the Honorable Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives. The aim was to align Pakistan’s government efforts with the needs of the rapidly expanding IT market and improve its ability to export products globally while simultaneously boosting local IT businesses.

To create a conducive environment for investors, the conference attendees recommended a focus on consistency and implementation of policies by the government. P@SHA reemphasized the need to enable ease of doing business for the IT industry. Along with a focus to reduce cost of doing business, recommendations included skills development, infrastructure enablement, and promotion of local products. P@SHA was represented by Policy Lead, Kashoon Leeza.

April 17, 2023

Budget and Taxation Campaign

As the budget time approaches for the fiscal year, a policy campaign has been structured by the policy team to be run on P@SHA's social media. The campaign is jointly executed by the Government and Policy and Marketing team at Secretariat.

The campaign has several goals, including highlighting the industry's stagnant growth and the interventions required to correct it. It also aims to promote the key insights of the publication, "Cost of Doing Business for IT & ITeS,". The report is the first of its kind to provide information on the cost of doing business, taxation regimes, sales tax, and other queries.

The campaign will feature tax analysis report highlights, and a webinar for members on tax-related queries through the Policy Jirga platform. The target audience includes government stakeholders, industry leaders and members, and media personnel.

The first post of the campaign has already gone viral and was a huge success. Explaining how Pakistan's IT & ITeS industry has become stagnant for the first time in 5 years, the post called for a stable and predictable policy ecosystem and immediate corrective measures from the government. After a few hours of posting, several news channels reached out to P@SHA for comments. The Prime Minister's Office took notice and called for an explanation from relevant authorities to address the challenges.

AGG Committee

P@SHA AGG x Ignite for CEGA and VPS

The AGG committee has joined hands with Ignite to launch two projects for the gaming and animation industry. The two RFPs include the Centre of Excellence in Gaming and Animation (CEGA) and Virtual Production Studio. The two projects will run separately. CEGA is aimed at helping the gaming and animation sub-sector in resolving the issues of shortage of resources and lack of infrastructure by providing an incubation center, training site, coworking space, and community center for the relevant companies in the subsector. While the Virtual Production Studio will help the industry in both utilizing the VPS technology and building capacity for it in the local market.

The committee had a detailed meeting and a feedback session with the ignite team to launch the projects to make them most relevant and to provide the right opportunities for the sub-sectors.

Green Alliance Gaming Challenge Awards

P@SHA has partnered with USAID IPA for the launch of their Green Alliance Gaming Challenge Awards!

This award competition funds the development of environmentally conscious games to raise awareness & mitigate the impact of climate change both locally & globally. The award ticket size is up to 25 Million PKR and commercially viable games developed through these awards will increase U.S.-Pakistan bilateral trade through partnerships with U.S based game publishers and create investable opportunities to leverage Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan.

To enroll in pre-application orientation sessions in 3 cities of Pakistan please register yourself.

These sessions are scheduled as per the following schedule.

Skills Committee

Launch of TechLift Placement Portal

As a Strategic Partner for TechLift, P@SHA has led the development of Placement Portal giving our members the opportunity and first choice of hiring the TechLift graduates. 

The Placement Portal is a platform for the industry to gain access to the trained pool of resources coming out of this program who have graduated in the following Technology Tracks:

1. MERN Stack Development

2. Web Engineering

   1. .NET

   2. Java

3. Cloud Solutions Architecture

   1. AWS

   2. Azure

4. SQA

5. Mobile App Development

   1. Flutter

   2. React Native

TechLift Updates

31 May - 1 June , 2023

Dublin Tech Summit 2023

The Dublin Tech Summit 2023 will be held in person at the RDS in Dublin from May 31-June 1st, 2023. Days 1 and 2 will be dedicated to talks from a broad range of 200+ expert speakers, alongside an exhibit area with 50+ partners and 150 startups to discover. The conference will feature networking events and more.

Upcoming Events

31 May - 2 June , 2023

GITEX Africa

GITEX AFRICA, the continent’s largest all-inclusive tech event, will connect tech titans, governments, SMEs, start-ups, coders, investors, and academia, to accelerate, collaborate and explore new ventures.

A curation of emerging technologies from fintech, e-commerce, cloud, IoT, AI, and telecom to cybersecurity will be heavily featured during the three-day annual pan-African forum in Marrakech, Morocco.

Unleashing the limitless possibilities of the globe’s youngest continent, the event will shape the vision for a more sustainable, inclusive, and tech-driven digital economy.

12 - 16 June , 2023

London Tech Week

London Tech Week is a global celebration of tech, uniting the most innovative thinkers and talent of tomorrow in a week-long festival. Showcasing how tech is transforming business and society, London Tech Week drives thought-provoking conversations around innovation, diversity, and transformation, providing a platform for the tech ecosystem to come together to drive change.

14 - 17 June, 2023

Viva Tech France

VivaTech is one of Europe’s leading technology conferences, bringing together startups, investors, and corporate leaders to showcase the latest innovations and discuss the future of technology.

The event aims to promote start-ups and companies in championing digital transformation for the common good. With massive international support, VivaTech offers vast opportunities for emerging markets in the IT sector.

26 - 29 June, 2023

Collision Canada

Experience the Tech Olympics at Collision Canada, which attracts people and companies from all over the world to redefine the tech industry. Taking place in Toronto from June 26th to 29th, 2023, this exhibition offers remarkable growth and networking opportunities for the Pakistani tech industry. In addition to showcasing your competencies in front of a global audience you can make valuable connections with international leaders in the technology industry.