October 23rd, 2021: Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES (P@SHA) held its 17th P@SHA ICT Awards on 23rd of October, 2021 at the Beach Luxury Hotel in Karachi.
The Chief Guest of the P@SHA ICT Awards ceremony was the Federal Minister for IT & Telecom – Mr. Syed Amin ul Haque. The Guest of Honor was Ms. Wendy Gilmore – Canada’s High Commissioner to Pakistan. Other notable guests included Mr. Junaid Imam – Member IT, Mr. Zarrar Khan – Chief Business Services Officer at PTCL Business Solutions, Mr. Bilal Mahmood – MD at Contour Software, Mr. Osman Nasir – MD at Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) and the P@SHA Central Executive Committee.
The annual P@SHA ICT Awards aim to provide recognition to the technology innovators of Pakistan by providing them an opportunity to gain local, regional and international exposure through on-going promotional activities.
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.
The Chief Guest of the P@SHA ICT Awards Ceremony, Mr. Syed Amin ul Haque – Federal Minister for IT and Telecom, 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, Mr. 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, Ms. 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 USD 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.
This year, P@SHA also conducted 5 insightful roundtable meetings on the event day in the afternoon. The topics for these roundtables were Skilled HR Development, Ease of Doing Business, Diversity & Inclusion, Innovation in FinTech & Digital Payments and E-Commerce. The meetings were attended by several Industry experts, community leaders and experienced IT and ecosystem players.
The position holders of P@SHA ICT Awards are not only celebrated at the national level, they also get to represent Pakistan internationally at the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards every year. Over the last two decades, P@SHA ICT Award winners have won numerous gold and merit awards at APICTA while competing with 15 other prominent economies, including Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Bangladesh in the Asia Pacific region!
Presenting the Tech Superstars for the Year 2020-21:
| Category | Winner | Runner up |
| Head Category – Consumer | ||
| Media & Entertainment | DEIKHO – IDEATION | mjunoon.tv – Convex Interactive |
| Banking, Insurance & Finance | Nano Loan Credit Scoring – Love for Data | Ktrade – KASB Securities |
| Tourism & Hospitality | Peekaboo Guru – FetchSky | Wisdom – Sybrid |
| Retail & Distribution | Omni-Commerce – Logical Technologist | Otoz Digital Retail – Otoz Mobility |
| Marketplaces | Price Oye – PriceOye (Private) Limited | Ghar Par – GharPar Technologies Private Limited |
| Head Category – Inclusion & Community Service | ||
| Community Services | Boltay Huroof – Techfurq | One Touch Rescue – RAR Multibiz Services |
| Health & Wellbeing | HealthCloud – Vicenna (Pvt) Limited | AI based 15 pathologies detection using X-ray – Aino Technologies |
| Indigenous Services | You Meet – Innovation Lab | Nil |
| Regional, rural & remote services | Nexus Pro – Bitlogix Pvt. Ltd. | Nil |
| Head Category – Industrial | ||
| Manufacturing | Wiser Machines – Centre of Advanced Studies in Engineering | E-Khata – EKHATA Technologies |
| Supply Chain Logistics | Swyft Logistics – Swyft Delivery Solutions (Pvt.) Ltd. | Nil |
| Sustainability & Environment | AERAS – Innovation Lab | Nil |
| Head Category – Business Services | ||
| Finance and Accounting | Ultra Low-latency Market Feed Handler – eMumba Pvt. Ltd. | PayFast – Avanza Premier Payment Services |
| ICT Services Solutions | Auto Sphere – Mercurial Minds | Sight – VisionX |
| Security Solutions | Secure Cognitive Multimode Multiband Network – CARE (Pvt.) Ltd. | SYSEC – Sybrid |
| Marketing Solutions | Social Champ | Brand Overflow |
| Professional Services Solutions | FlowHCM – Impetus Systems | Nil |
| Head Category – Public Sector | ||
| Government & Citizen Services | Pandemic Navigator (Covid Modelling) – Love for Data | Zu App – LMKR |
| Head Category – Student | ||
| Junior Student | Control Home Appliances – Government High School Kholian Bala, Haripur. | Car Racing Game – GHS Nuthia Qadeem |
| Senior Student | Affable – Aitchison College | Nil |
| Tertiary Student | JardineAI – Isra University | MGP Arz – Nust Islamabad |
| Head Category – Services | ||
| BPO | Zones | Basecamp IT Solutions |
| Gender Diversity | Trillium Information Security Systems | Netsol Technologies |
| CSR | Xgrid | Sybrid |
| Export Growth | Contour Software – Constellation Software | Systems Limited |
| Top Exporter | Systems Limited | |
| Head Category – Technology | ||
| Artificial Intelligence | Autosphere – Mercurial Minds | Nil |
| Internet of Things | Poulta – Poulta | AERAS – Innovation Lab |
| Head Category – Cross Category | ||
| Startup | Car Helpline – CarHelpline (Private) Limited | EZMakaan – EZ Makaan |
| Game of the Year | Super Salon – Mindstorm Studios | Idle Construction 3D – Sablo Studio |
P@SHA ICT Awards have created a legacy that takes pride in the transparency and rigor of its evaluation process which truly brings out the best in the applicants. The association has always prioritized the integrity of the award and it is given only to the deserving participants upon following strict and detailed evaluation criteria by the judges.The subcategories that did not have any position holders this year are Digital Marketing & Advertising, Education, Agriculture, Transport, Digital Government, Big Data, R&D and Resources, Energy & Utilities.
About P@SHA
The Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES (P@SHA) is Pakistan’s sole trade association representing the IT and IT Enabled Services sector since 1992. Its mandate is to work with the government on policy issues and with all other stakeholders to promote the IT sector and provide platforms that create more opportunities for members of the ecosystem, both domestically and internationally.
CONTACT:Talha Bin Afzal
Director Marketing & Communications
P@SHA
Email: talha@pasha.org.pk