Digitising Pakistan crucial for the youth

[ghazi52]

Here's how an ex-Google executive Tania Aidrus plans to lead Pakistan into the digital age

Tania Aidrus is back in Pakistan after 20 years to lead the country into the digital age. At the 'Digital Pakistan' inauguration today (Thursday) in Islamabad, the former Google executive shared her plan to lead the country's digital transformation.

She spent more than half her life outside Pakistan, studying at the world's best schools and working at the forefront of the global tech industry. But now she is back in Pakistan, ready to lead the country into the digital age.

Meet Tania Aidrus, a former Chief of Staff and Head of Strategic Initiatives on the Next Billion Users (NBU) team at Google, who quit her position a few months ago to head Prime Minister Imran Khan's ‘Digital Pakistan’ initiative.

In her own words, she wants to "put Pakistan on the map" as far as technology and innovation were concerned.

Tania holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BSc from Brandeis University. Prior to her appointment as a Google executive, Tania co-founded a mobile health diagnosis company called ClickDiagnostics which connected rural patients in emerging markets to doctors around the world.

She was also a leader in the Global Business Organization at Google in the US and then in Singapore where she was the Country Manager for South Asia Frontier Markets at Google.

During her speech at the inauguration of the ‘Digital Pakistan’ initiative, Tania recalled how she had been contacted by the prime minister's team to head the ambitious project.

"A person I knew told the prime minister about me and he forwarded an email to his reform team to contact me," she said. "Over the next course of months, I was in contact with Mr Jahangir Tareen and members of the federal cabinet. I even met the president before I met Prime Minister Imran and discussed the project," she said.

Tania said that the Pakistani diaspora around the world wanted to contribute to the country and serve it.

"I spent 20 years outside Pakistan," she said. "I went abroad with a very strong message about Pakistan. People say that I am politically connected to some people. That is not the case, I don't have a relationship with anyone in the government. My objective is simple--I just want Pakistan to succeed," she added.


Tania Aidrus@taidrus
https://twitter.com/taidrus/status/1202598348492038145

Thank you PM @ImranKhanPTI and @JahangirKTareen for giving me the opportunity to contribute back to Pakistan. With everyone's support we will inshallah make #DigitalPakistan vision a reality.

As the PM says "ghabrana naheen hai"

Tania said that she had identified five key areas where the government needed to build 'building blocks' and centralised strategies from the highest order. She said that the first among these areas was the access and connectivity pillar.

"A soldier posted in Siachen gets one opportunity a week to speak to his family members," she said. "I want to ensure that whenever he connects to his family via a video call, he is able to do so without any issues."

She then spoke about the second key area, which was upgrading the country's digital infrastructure.

"Just like you need the road infrastructure in a country, Pakistan needs a digital infrastructure," she said. "To advance in the tech world, we need to have a digital infrastructure in place."

Tania then identified the third key pillar--E-governance. She said that the incumbent government had gotten elected on the promise of transparency.

"The best way to ensure transparency is to digitise government processes," she said. "Nowadays people have a tremendous amount of difficulty when it comes to land documentation and other processes. We need to digitise these."

She said that Pakistan conducted procurements of at least Rs3 trillion each year.

"We need to see how much we can save from these Rs3 trillion," she added.

Tania identified the fourth key pillar of the digitisation process — Digital Training and Skill.

She spoke about how universities in Pakistan were not teaching students about technology. Tania said that by the time students graduated from universities in Pakistan they were unable to compete with the global economic model.

Tania then spoke about the fifth and last pillar the government needed to work on--Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

"We need to create an environment where entrepreneurship and innovation takes place," she said. "The government needs to make it easy for investors and entrepreneurs to invest in Pakistan. We need to attract companies that are worth billions of dollars," she said.

She had a special message for skeptics in the end.

"To the skeptics I say, it is not a question of whether we will succeed or not. It is a question of how quickly we can," she said.

PM Imran launches 'Digital Pakistan' campaign

Prime Minister Imran Khan launched the ‘Digital Pakistan’ campaign on Thursday as a part of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s digitisation programme aimed at introducing the latest technologies for public welfare.

The inauguration ceremony was held at the Prime Minister's Office in Islamabad.

The prime minister also addressed the ceremony today, saying that digitising Pakistan is crucially important for the progress of the country's youth.

He said that the world has been progressing while Pakistan has largely lagged behind.

“Digital Pakistan will be the government’s utmost priority. It will unleash the potential of the youth. Pakistan has the second biggest population of youth and it can be turned into strength through digital work,” said the premier.

“Women can contribute to this sector as well and gain jobs,” said the prime minister.

PM Imran said that e-commerce and e-governance can change the face of an institution.

 

[xyx007]

I have been involved in few projects on digital transformation and with some experince I found two fundamental gaps (disconnects, misalignment, fragmentation) explain to me why the digital or developmental payoffs have not spread as widely and equitably as the access to internet and mobile. The first gap is between investing in the digital technologies, on the one hand, and in the economic policies, institution, and human complements that are essential to digital transformation .digital technologies can accelerate development but they cannot bypass all other factors that can make the technologies work for development outcome. for example. in public service delivery, these complements include public leadership and change management, capable institutions and staff, governance and accountability mechanism, an incentive for adoption and citizen-centric service, civil service reform.
if apply in simply one school project, glaring examples of failure come from projects that ignored the local challenges and contexts and the many factors -like teachers, curricula, local content, and school governance, that is, the education ecosystem that must be transformed jointly with access to the internet, hardware, and software.

the second fundamental gap is among elements of the digital framework ecosystems: the infrastructure (connectivity), local digital framework services industry, technical skills to adapt and maintain information infrastructure and systems, development-oriented local content industry, application to meet the needs of diverse local users, and the core policies and institution to sync these highly independent elements.
These two gaps have persisted across all developing countries where complementary assets and coordination mechanisms are weak or missing.

 

[Syed_Adeel]

To know all the aspects of this program, Have a look at my vide about Digital Pakistan.

 

[ghazi52]

Digital Pakistan through Green Banking

SYED ASIM ALI BUKHARI

December 16, 2019

Recently the Prime Minister of Pakistan launched the ‘Digital Pakistan’ program with the vision to accelerate the journey of a developed and interconnected Pakistan in a Clean, Green, Paperless, transparent and efficient manner. On a global level, the journey of digitalization started with the ‘Industrial Revolution (IR) 3.0’ or the ‘Digital Revolution’ which marked the adoption of computers and automation systems in various business sectors. The next IR, i.e. Industry 4.0 took the ideology of digitalization to new heights with the ‘combination of cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things and the Internet of Systems in which computers are connected and communicate with one another to make decisions with little or no human involvement’. In addition to the numerous benefits offered by IR 4.0 to all the stakeholders, one of the greatest advantages of digitalization is the development of a Clean and Green economy.

Various industries have made great strides in the area of digitalization and the global banking industry is no exception. The banking sector is one of the largest consumers of resources such as paper and electricity through the extensive networks of branches and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). The carbon footprints of this industry are not just limited to its daily banking operations. All over the world banks have been involved in financing polluting industries such as fossil fuels, textiles, mining, chemicals, etc and playing a significant role in global climate change and natural resource degeneration. However, Green Banking through the technologies of digital banking can play a significant role in minimizing the adverse environmental impacts of a bank’s business operations.

Green Banking involves digitalizing bank operations through the concept of the “Bank of Things”. This is derived from the concept of “Internet of Things (IoT)”, which involves the “network of interrelated computing devices that connect and exchange data with one another via the Internet”. The Bank of Things (BoT) technology enables banks to be in continuous contact with their customers through cyberspace and offer limitless services, such as automated guidance on investment, spending, savings, etc. based on the customer’s real-time financial data thereby eliminating the use of various resources that are required in providing banking services through a brick and mortar operations.

The world is moving towards cyberspace banking with banks operating in cyberspace without any branches. This digitalization of the banking services will eliminate the branch’s carbon footprints and save resources at the consumer end as well. Banks are launching Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) powered robots to assist its customers to search transactions, transfer and deposit funds and get advice on financial products. Banks are also using “BoT” in a number of other operations, such as gathering Know-Your- Customer (KYC) data. With the use of technology, banks can reduce money laundering and complete the KYC process using the customer’s digital signature without any delay and secure the data using cryptographic techniques such as blockchain technology. Powered by 5G internet, global banks are using cloud computing and quantum computing to provide consumers with immense data processing capabilities through everyday devices. The rapid adoption of cryptocurrency is also an important milestone in the digitalization and ultimate greening of a country’s economic system. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is also introducing regulations for cryptocurrency transactions to reduce the risk of money laundering.

As the developed countries are envisioning and planning their journey towards IR 5.0, the Digital Pakistan program is an effort by various organizations to take Pakistan in the era of Industry 4.0. The effects of digitalization are emerging in a number of business sectors and government organizations in Pakistan. Some examples of government’s digitalization initiatives include automation of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), Land Revenue Authority, E-Enablement of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Prime Minister office computerization program, computerization and execution of government cases, development of mobile apps for Wafaqi Mohtasib and corruption complaints, etc. The effects of digitalization can also be seen in the Pakistan banking sector. The majority of banks have launched their mobile apps and web-based services for the customers. Digital services such as digital wallets, one-touch banking, biometric verification, collaborating with information technology companies and interconnecting customer data with other organizations are being implemented. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is planning to issue digital currency by the year 2025 and also working on implementing digital currency regulations for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures. As compared to the global scenario, the Pakistan banking industry is still at the infancy stages of digitalization.

The adoption of digital banking needs to be synergized with the ideology of Green Banking. Digital Pakistan and Clean and Green Pakistan Index are not two separate initiatives. These are in fact paths leading to a common vision, i.e. a Clean and Green Pakistan. Similarly, if our banking industry wants to minimize its adverse environmental impacts and benefit the natural environment than it needs to be digitalized. A digital bank is truly a Green Bank. Green Banking promotes the development of a digital and paperless banking industry that can act as a facilitator for the digitalization and ultimate greening of all the other business sectors in an economy. Green Financing by Green Banks can ensure the provision of investment required for various green business initiatives such as the renewable energy scheme by the State Bank of Pakistan or the digitalization of various industrial sectors.

However, the digitalization of any sector of an economy cannot be achieved without first providing awareness, education, and training to all the concerned stakeholders. The President of Pakistan has also linked the success of Pakistan’s digital revolution with the trained human resource in the respective areas. Currently, the majority of the stakeholders have a low level of awareness or knowledge regarding Green Banking adoption. The government needs to realize that the banking industry is one of the major contributors to the country’s economic growth and interconnected with all the other business sectors. It should facilitate the digitalization and ultimate greening of Pakistan’s banking industry. The vision of a Digital Clean and Green Pakistan is not possible without a Green Banking industry.

 

[American Pakistani]

Hopefully Pakistanis take advantage of digitization.

 

[El Sidd]

Any fan of the government please tell me the best practices taken by the government to ensure data protection and privacy laws are adhered to in this initiative?

Anyone?

No one?

Hmm Ok