Success Story

Shahnaz Bibi Success Story

Shahnaz Bibi a resident of Bahawalpur was living a financially stressed life with her husband and two children. Her husband was the only bread winner for her family but he too was unable to earn sufficient amount of money to smoothly run the everyday household expenses. Financial issues were the main obstacles which barred her from getting a formal education – a vicious cycle which was now resulting in her children being deprived of education as well.

Having a strong resolve to secure a financially sound future to her family and children, she decided to start a crop cutting business to share her husband’s financial burden. The first consideration to start any venture is securing the necessary finances to purchase equipment - in this case it was a crop cutting machine. The second obstacle was psychological- societal disapproval for a woman to involve herself in any business activity.

Braving the second storm as she went, she sought out Khushhali Bank Limited, the pioneer bank in micro-finance sector to secure the initial capital for starting her business. Khushhali Bank not only accepted to her loan request but also provided her the business consultancy to get her started.

Today, with the help of Khushhali Bank,Shahnaz Bibi is successfully running her business which not only enables her to generate finances to smoothly run household expenses -but her children are also getting education from the best school in town. She is a great role model for other women of the society who desire to change the fortunes of their families for a bright future free of financial woes.

Press Release

Xpress Money Payout Services now available at Sindh Bank Ltd.

~ Expands its footprint to over 5500 locations in Pakistan ~

~Xpress Money remittance products and services available at 160 branches of the Bank~

PAKISTAN, Islamabad, November 18, 2013: Xpress Money, the world’s most dependable money transfer brand, today announced the availability of its payout services at 160 branches of Sindh Bank in Pakistan. Through this tie-up the two organizations will complement and combine their expertise to jointly offer innovative remittance solutions to their esteemed customers.

Xpress Money customers can avail the services, namely Cash Pick up and Direct Account Credit across 160 branches of the bank. With this alliance, Xpress Money now has a strong network of over 5500 agent locations across the country.

“Sindh Bank is one of the most reputed banks in Pakistan. It has a large user base with excellent reach in the remote areas of the country. Through this strategic alliance, we can provide instant and secured access of remittances to our customers across Pakistan,’ said Mr. Rizwan Ali Hamdani, Country Manager - Pakistan, Xpress Money. “With World Bank estimated USD 15 billion remittance inflows to Pakistan and the regulators emphasizing the importance of money transfer through official channels, the significance of such an alliance helps in improving the accessibility to formal channels of remittance,” he added.

Xpress Money has engineered new standards to offer a wide range of services to address varied customer demands. Xpress Money constantly provides innovative services to enhance their philosophy of ‘Bringing Home Closer’ to the growing non-residential Pakistanis across the globe.

Success story

Mobeena's Success story

(File Photo / Illustration)

Women mostly in rural areas have to struggle to find an identity for themselves being largely dependent upon male family members for financial and social support. Lack of education facilities and income resources are the additional obstacles that prevent a woman from earning a quality lifestyle. Same was the case with Mobeena, Resident of Mirpurkhas who was living a financially stressed life with her husband and 4 children who were not able to join a school because their parents was not able to bare their educational expenses.

However, one thing distinguished Mobeena from the average woman was a strong resolve to support her family and to give them a chance at building a bright future free of any financial worries. This made her decided to start her own enterprise of garments.

Implication of starting an enterprise was a tough task because she had to face problems that were lack of market knowledge, society backlash and most importantly lack of resources. Her husband supported her morally but due to financial constraints he was not able to support her financially. She contacted Khushhalibank the premier Microfinance bank for financial assistance and the bank not only responded positively on her loan request but also guided her with best possible entrepreneurship ideas to help her run her business smoothly.

Now with support of Khushhalibank Mobeena is now successfully running her own enterprise of sale and purchase of garments in her town. With having a successful experience at the town level she is planning to expand her business to the nearest cities and opening of a kids garments shop for her sister. Not only has she become a successful entrepreneur, she is now also a role model for other members of society as she has produced jobs for other women in the society who are now able to support their families and are changing the fortunes as Mobeena did for her family.

Productivity Pockets:

Boredom is DEAD

By Naveed Siraj, Intel

Are we too productive to be creative?

Our global thirst for growth and increased productivity means we have become dependent on connected mobile devices. We live 24/7 lives, we are always ‘on’, always connected and always entertained. Smartphones have killed boredom.

This may well sound like a good thing, with productivity levels surging. But, what is the cost of this productivity boost?

There are no longer pockets of time devoted to unwinding, unplugging or heaven forbid being bored.

Employers are able to reach employees at any given time and the boundaries of the office now extend beyond the walls of the office block and into people homes, cars and hobby time.

“It’s become impossible to do nothing,” said Intel Fellow, Genevieve Bell.

Even looking at the projected global GDP growth targets makes the mind boggle.

According to a recent McKinsey report, simply keeping pace with the projected global GDP growth will require an estimated $57 trillion in infrastructure investment between now and 2030. Nearly 60 percent more than the $36 trillion spent over the past 18 years.

In today’s highly productive mindset being bored is negative, it’s considered to be a waste of precious, useful time.

People no longer stand idle waiting for the train, they connect with others on social networking sites, check work email or play candy crush. Boredom has been extinguished – we have successfully scraped together all the spare five minutes of our day and filled them with activity.

But is boredom all that bad? Or has it just been given a bad reputation?

Intel Fellow and director of the Interaction and Experience Research Group within the Intel Labs, Genevieve Bell has researched the topic of boredom. According to Bell, “being bored is a moment of extreme productivity where your brain can reset itself” and allow for new and innovative ideas to flow.

Perhaps it’s time for a smartphone intervention?

So, how do you balance productivity with time for creative thinking? Simple: It’s time to turn off your smartphone. Stop playing candy crush, stop following your friends on Facebook* and be happy to sit with our own thoughts. What if we changed the way we use our smartphones and looked to them as a convenient way to tap into our imagination rather than seeing the device as a simple boredom cure?

Smartphones, tablets and other ultra-portable devices are the perfect devices for people to reach for and record their creative ideas. These devices can also be used to make yourself more productive during traditional work time, potentially unlocking time for boredom later in the day.

It’s time to revive boredom.

Unplug.

Put down that smartphone.

Make time for downtime.

Unleash your creativity.

Take your business or hobby to the next level.

The writer is the Country Manager for Intel Pakistan.

Innovation & technology

Shell highlights youth's contribution to innovation & technology

ISLAMABAD, November 04, 2013: Matthias Bichsel, Projects and Technology Director of Royal Dutch Shell Plc met with Electrical and Mechanical Engineering students at the National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST) today. They spoke about Shell’s global focus on technological innovation in its operations and developing integrated energy solutions. 

Mr Bichsel highlighted a number of exciting new projects that Shell is working on around the world and in the South Asian region, where thousands of engineers and scientists are working on front-end design and product development and on the delivery of high-end advanced technical studies. In his address, he added that Shell sees “universities as our friends. Not only do they provide a rich source of recruits, but they are also a wonderful source of research and innovative ideas – some of which are important to many of the things we do at Shell.”

“Additionally, Shell endeavours to create learning opportunities particularly for young bright minds like those at the university, and the Shell Eco-marathon is one such event that does this. I’m very pleased to see the wonderful fuel-efficient vehicles teams here at NUST have worked so hard to build,” he said.

At the event, Major General Obaid bin Zakria said, “the opportunities for our students to meet with and hear about global technological and engineering projects and opportunities is a crucial part of encouraging them to think creatively not only about their careers, but also to think seriously about how they can apply their knowledge and the education they have to help solve practical challenges facing Pakistan and the world.”

Over 150 students from electrical, mechanical and mechatronic engineering disciplines attended  the address by Mr Bichsel, after which he and members of the faculty at NUST viewed various ongoing projects students are working on, including Shell Eco-marathon vehicles for the 2014 competition.

A tale perseverance:

Mai Muneeran

Thinking about change helps us believing in ourselves, and gives us the hope to make plans bigger than our existing circumstances. But when it comes to the womenfolk in Pakistan, all their aspirations become more difficult to realize compared to the male members of the society, unfortunately. In the most of the underdeveloped areas, women have to struggle more for everything, starting from developing an identity of their own to getting themselves established financially.

The story of Mai Muneeran, resident of Panu Aqil, is no exception. Her Husband was the primary breadwinner for the family and when he became unable to do so due to lack of job opportunities available, things went from bad to worse for the whole family. Her children were pulled out of school and even bare sanitary matters became hard to deal with, such desperate times called only for desperate measures.

One thing distinguished Mai Muneeran from the average women was- instead of falling apart in the face hardship- she had a strong resolve to support her family and to give them a chance to build a brighter future free of financial dependence. This led her to a decision of starting her own livestock and Dairy business.

Mai Muneeran decision was a difficult task to accomplish. On her way to success, she faced implications like social and domestic backlash and contending with lack of resources. Putting aside all her inhibitions, she contacted Khushhalibank, the pioneer bank in microfinance, for financial assistance. Khushhalibank responded Mai Muneeran request with not only the initial finances to enable her for starting dairy and breeding livestock but also gave her the best possible financial and business advisory to run her business smoothly.

Now with the support of Khushhalibank, Ms. Mai Muneeran is running Dairy and livestock breeding business successfully with plans for expansion to a larger scale. She has become a successful entrepreneur who is a role model for other members of the society at the same time. 

Intel Perspective:

A Greener Cloud with better ROI

By Naveed Siraj

Cloud-based services are spreading exponentially with the explosion of public and private cloud services, social media, cross-device data syncing and online storage - to name but a few. Companies and service providers are heavily investing in high-performance, efficient data centers to cater for ever-increasing demand and the power to stay ahead of the market.

It’s no surprise that running data centers of this magnitude is a costly operation and as such, a great deal of importance is placed on efficiency in data centers to ensure a return on the investment. Trust and reputation are critical in cloud environments and consumers and businesses alike require the utmost in service and security.

Many factors affect our ability as an industry to streamline and minimize the operational costs associated with running effective data centers that are less energy consuming but with higher performance. The largest issue is one of methodology and the progression of technology. Ultimately, we are only able to work within today’s technical capabilities, which do not always satisfy industry demand. For instance, HPC has significant business potential, yet due to the high amount of energy needed to run such systems it is not a sustainable or cost effective approach today. However, there are many technologies in the pipeline that will enhance our future technical capabilities and rapidly solve today’s IT challenges when available.

As an engineering company, Intel is constantly making technological advances on a micro level with the intent of reducing costs and improving efficiencies on a macro scale, that are particularly beneficial to businesses. Intel’s technology today can deliver more performance per watt than in any time in the past. By enabling our partners to capitalize on lower operational costs will mean that they will become greener, more profitable and their investment will be returned at a much higher rate and ROI will be realized in shorter time, with increased revenue.

In order to improve data center efficiency and ensure that businesses cloud offering or storage solution investments are profitable, we need to consider three key steps:

·         Modernizing and refreshing technology;

·         Utilizing management systems that measure and account power efficiently (Node Manager and Data Center         Manager [NM/DCM]) and;

·         Maximizing the operational efficiency in terms of power and thermal profile of each server (Power Thermal             Aware Scheduling [PTAS]).

Modernize and Refresh

A holistic and integrated approach to data center infrastructure management can lower operational costs by up to 20 percent.  Power Thermal Aware Scheduling (PTAS) is a new concept for Intel that manages metrics at the workload level such as CPU consumption, memory consumption, input and output levels. Traditionally this data would be separately aggregated into a capacity planner along with building management data, if it was done at all. PTAS takes all of this into account and catches metrics at the server level such as input and output temperature. It allows users to run analytics and make decisions to migrate workloads that are creating “hot spots” to cooler areas of a data center, for example.

Intel has pushed the boundaries by trialing the connection of PTAS to building management systems at a data center in India and Taiwan – so it can interact with air conditioning units to efficiently cool specific areas when needed – rather than the wasteful use of all units at the same time.

Management

Intel’s Power Node and Data Centre Managers allow control and monitoring of server power at the rack and data center level which means there is transparency in where energy is going – and with transparency comes the ability to control and reduce costs.

From the system level energy reports, you can limit individual server power consumption, limit total rack power draw to increase productivity per rack, and limit aggregated row power draw.  This is very useful if there is an unplanned power event where the Data Center is running on power generators and fueled by on site fuel.  This condition means there is a finite amount of fuel and battery power on site and using a method to “tell” the servers that there is a building emergency and power is in a critical state means the servers can “throttle” back enough to maintain the customer SLA, but intend the on-site fuel.  This is similar to your notebook PC.  When you unplug the power from the wall the notebook changes state because it knows it is on battery power.

Maximizing Operational Efficiency

The costs involved in cooling a data center are a significant outgoing cost – so operating at a higher temperature will help to reduce these costs. Data centers 10+ years ago were typically cooled to 18-21 degrees Celsius for a number of reasons – including warranty on servers stipulating this temperature, this is no longer the case with warranties now set closer to 35 degrees Celsius. For every one degree rise in temperature, there is an estimate four percent operational saving, which shows how Intel’s High Temperature Operation solution can dramatically cut costs. 

To put this into perspective, if data centers were to increase operational temperatures by five degrees Celsius, there could be a total annual power saving of $2.16 billion globally. Achieving these significant results requires innovative solutions in modernizing, managing and maximizing both the infrastructure and cooling methods of data centers.

There are a number of hardware and software products already on the market to achieve this, with significant development in technologies such as PTAS that are paving the way to more efficiency. By cutting operational costs this way, Asian businesses can see a stark return on their investment in data centers much quicker than the way in which most still operate. Only when industries stop and take a look at how their data center is operating, rather than just letting it run the way it always has, will they see the rewards and benefits of a more sustainable and cost-efficient operation.

The writer is Country Manager Intel Pakistan.

Intel Perspectives

Competing Ahead of the Exascale Pack

By Naveed Siraj

It’s no surprise that governments across the globe – including China, Japan, the US, and Europe’s biggest players – are in a race to develop exascale systems. Being able to house the most powerful supercomputers will enable public or large private organisations make them the first port of call when looking to address current and future computing needs. It will create not only significant revenue and employment opportunities, but the chance to become the global hub of IT innovation for various industries. As I’m sure you can imagine, competition is rife.

Currently, Asia is on the way to take ahead of the pack. For instance, the world’s current fastest supercomputer, which is built entirely with Intel chips, was created by the National University of Defence Technology in China, while Australia has just launched its largest supercomputer at the Australian National University. Furthermore, over a quarter of the world’s top 500 HPCs are located in APAC. Without a doubt, Asia is well placed to grab its share of HPC revenue, which is expected to reach US $14 billion by 2016 according to IDC.

However, with the level of global investment in High Performance Computing increasing across the globe, what must Asia do to ensure it goes ahead of the game and is the first to develop exascale systems?

First and foremost, Asian developers must map a true path to exascale success, which I’m sure you can imagines is no easy feat. How can developers anticipate future needs, build platforms that are able to integrate technologies which in some cases may not even have been developed yet, and account for market changes?It seems an impossible task, but if Asia wants to stay at the cutting edge it needs to be able to answer these questions and many more.

At Intel,we are working with organisations in Asia (and across the globe), to provide the answers through our ‘pathfinding’ platform. The process involves identifying the desired product development ‘path’ and setting clear objectives alongside it to keep everything on track.

If countries in Asia are going to be successful in being the first to develop exascale systems, then technological breakthroughs are also going to be vital. An ability to increase processor performance is critical, which means developers must constantly look at ways to enhance memory technology, interconnect and integrate new functions into the processor, reduce power consumption, identify innovative cooling techniques, and identify new technologies delivering increased flexibility to software developers. 

We know that memory is a major factor in the mix, and Intel’s commitment to Moore’s Law will ensure developers have access to processors capable of addressing their current needs today and in years to come.Unfortunately, we can’t yet rely on memory and processors scaling at the same rate, but there are some promising memory technologies that could change all that in the future.For example, Intel recently announced that the next generation of Intel Xeon Phi processor will deliver integrated on-package memory allowing leadership compute and memory bandwidth, and we’re researching new technologies includingmemory stacked on memory.

At Intel we’re also working to create world-class fabric solutions to meet the growing need of High Performance Computing (HPC) and scales with workload system requirement. Creating a single processor with integrated fabric controller results in fewer chips and therefore fewer chip crossings. In turn this delivers lower cost and power consumption, as well as higher performance and density, which are all critical hurdles that must be overcome on the journey to exascale success.

Another key consideration for Asian developers on their path to exascale success is power. If we were to reach exascale today, we would need the equivalent of two power plant’s worth of energy to power one exascale machine. This is of course an unrealistic approach, which is why we need to think about how far we can push energy efficiency today, and in the future with the various technological breakthroughs that are expected. While ‘Near-threshold Voltage Technology’, which improves energy efficiency at the cost of performance, is one possible solution, more innovation is needed in this area. 

Encouragingly, Intel and European researchers have established three European labs with the goal being to create simulation applications that begin to address the energy efficiency challenges of moving to exascale performance.Similarly, we have in place effective parallel programming models where we work in close collaboration with academics and researchers to tackle the various issues affecting HPC.Through the subsequent findings, Intel will be well positioned to advise developers across Asia and the globe as they look to overcome the challenge of exascale power supplies.

The path to exascale by 2020 is certainly achievable, and Intel is supporting organisations across the globe as they attempt to be first over the line. If Asia is to continue leading the charge, then hurdling the challenges posed by energy constraints and adopting and identifying the latest technologies will make the journey much easier. There’s still some way to go, but the hard work already undertaken by developers in the region will ensure that – if they stay on track – Asia will have high chances in the leading pack coming to the finish line.

The writer is Country Manager Intel Pakistan.

INTEL AND MUSICAN FLUME MAKE “INTELLIGENT SOUNDS” TOGETHER

INTEL AND MUSICAN FLUME MAKE “INTELLIGENT SOUNDS” TOGETHER

(Original Flume track performed by tablets with Intel inside)

Sydney, Australia, 

September 27, 2013 – Award-winning Australian musician and producer Flume has worked with some of music’s most exciting artists but his newest song features a very different set of collaborators – a band of tablet computers and Intel.

To highlight the creative power of Intel processors inside the world’s latest must have gadget – the tablet – Intel pioneered an inventive music film project in collaboration with Flume, otherwise known as Harley Streten, one of the world’s hottest new creative artists.

Launched today, “Intelligent Sounds” is a brave technological experiment which sees ‘Felix the robot conductor’, a band of tablet-powered band members and their instruments come to life to perform a new Flume track created specifically for this purpose.

Each ‘member’ of Intelligent Sound’s tablet band was programmed with synthesised notes and triggered to play through on cue, while robot arms were pre-programmed to hit the required notes in time with the final song.

Jayant Murty, Intel’s director of brand strategy and integrated marketing for the Asia Pacific, said the short film is designed to be an entertaining light and sound experience and also to encourage viewers to consider the technology which is at the heart of their tablets.

“It is common place to have tablets play your music but it’s rare to have tablets create them. Intel technology transforms these devices from tools for consuming content into innovative instruments that allow for incredible self-expression,” he said.

Murty said Intel has a proud 45-year history of innovation, bringing incredible performance to computing devices with its world-class engineering and continues to do so with its processors designed for tablet devices, delivering amazing mobile experiences.

Flume said the “Intelligent Sounds” project was one of the more challenging and enjoyable of his career to date.

“I love the challenge of writing music for a particular project and a defined theme. I find working within these boundaries inspires, rather than limits, creativity. This project was a great opportunity to showcase what can be achieved when technology, innovation and creativity come together,” he said.

Fans can view and share “Intelligent Sounds” here and learn more about Intel-based tablets and the making of the video here.

Intel Corporation recently launched the Intel Atom Z3000 Processor Series (code-named “Bay Trail-T”), the company’s first mobile multi-core SoC and its most powerful offering to date for tablets and other sleek mobile designs. For more information visit the Intel Newsroom here.

Xpress Money, Pakistan

Remittances from Middle East countries register exponential growth

by Rizwan Hamdani

Almost seven million Pakistanis have migrated across 80 countries for seeking better opportunities. Majority of the Pakistanis migrating overseas are employed in Middle East region, European region and North American region. Over the years, Middle East countries have emerged as preferred migrating destination for Pakistanis and the region currently employs over five million blue collared workforce.

Remittances from overseas Pakistanis are a lifeline for the Pakistani economy and contribute approximately six percent of the country’s GDP. Coming as a sign of celebration, the continuous growth in remittances in Pakistan has maintained its resilience for the year 2013. As per recent data by State Bank of Pakistan release in July, Pakistan received a record sum of US $13.920 billion in 2013 registered a growth US $ 800 million. Out of the total remittances received by Pakistan, Middle East region has a share of 60 percent followed by North American region and European region with 17 and 16.55 percent respectively.

The Middle East region constituting Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain contributed approximately US $ 8.462 billion in 2013. Among these countries, KSA registered a phenomenal growth of 11.33 percent by contributing US $ 4.104 billion followed by UAE contributing US $ 2.75 billion. However, as compared to FY 2012, remittances from UAE declined by 3.46 percent. The other countries in the region, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, contributed US $ 0.619 billion, US $ 0.384 billion, US $ 0.321 billion and US $ 0.282 billion respectively. All these countries registered marginal growth as compared to FY12.

The North American region is the second largest send region for Pakistan which comprises The United States and Canada. The region contributed US $ 2.363 billion. Inflows from The United States witnessed a significant deficit of 6.35 percent with total remittances inflow of US $ 2.186 billion during 2013 whereas Canada remitted US $ 0.177 billion registering a marginal decline of 0.29 percent.
On the other hand, The European region comprising The United Kingdom and other countries in European Union (Germany, France, Netherland, Spain, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland and Belgium) has always been a key send market for Pakistan. The region contributed US $ 2.303 billion. The UK had registered significant growth of 28 percent as compared to FY12. Pakistanis residing in the UK have remitted a total of US $ 1.946 billion in FY13.

From the mentioned in-depth analysis, the Middle East region establishes its dominance as the largest send market for Pakistan. The region employs over 50% of the total Pakistani migrant workforce across KSA, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. The remittance inflow from this region has constantly been on rise since 2010 and has displaced North America and European regions from being the largest send markets for Pakistan. (Depicted below)

Remittance Value (Currency – US $)                                                                                   (Million US $)
Year	North American region		UK and European Union		Middle East region
	USA	Canada	EU*	UK	KSA	UAE	Kuwait	Oman	Qatar	Bahrain
2011	2068.67	184.62	354.76	1199.7	2670.0	2597.7	495.1	337.59	306.11	167.29
2012	2334.47	177.71	364.79	1521.1	3687	2848.8	582.57	382.66	318.82	210.95
2013	2186.21	177.19	357.37	1946	4104.7	2750.1	619	384.8	321.25	282.83
Total	6589.35	539.52	1076.9	4666.8	10461	8196.7	1696.7	1105	946.18	661.07
Remittance inflows from each region	7128.87		5743.7		23067.63

    Remittances Data July 2013: State Bank of Pakistan 

* EU includes (Germany, France, Netherland, Spain, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium)

The growing inward remittances could be impacted with new employment laws in KSA that include visa restrictions and tedious processes for obtaining work permit, which is likely to result in the deportation of 35,000 Pakistanis. Nonetheless the newly elected government is planning to increase the remittances from the existing US$13.92 billion by exploring the Pakistani workers’ market in countries with friendly labour laws particularly the Arab states.

There is an increasing awareness amongst overseas Pakistanis to build a better socio-economic environment for their families back home by improving their standard of living and creating opportunities for the future generation. This is the significant driver for constant year – on – year growth in remittances.

Mr. Rizwan Hamdani is the Country Manager for Xpress Money, Pakistan