File photo from Cohort 2.

6 startups selected for Telenor’s Velocity Cohort 3

The third cohort of Telenor’s famed startup accelerator program ‘Velocity’ officially kicked off on Aug 21 at the company’s Islamabad headquarters with 12 shortlisted startups pitching their products to the panel of judges.

The event was attended by prominent personalities of the tech world including Khurram Zafar – founder 47 Ventures, Salman Wasay – founder Couch Potato, Owais Anjum – founder Cricout, Saad Kiani – Head of Telenor Velocity, and Durdana Achakzai – Chief Digital Officer at Telenor Pakistan.

Jeffery Paine, an international entrepreneur and venture capitalist also attended the event as a judge. He is a General Partner at Golden Gate Ventures Singapore, and a director of The Founder Institute since 2010, a company that has successfully graduated 60 startups.

After an overwhelming response of applications for Velocity Cohort 3, 12 startups were shortlisted to pitch in front of a panel of judges to secure their spot in the top 6.  After careful scrutiny, the judges finally selected the best 6 startups.

The final 6

The top 6 startups which qualified for Telenor Velocity’s third Cohort include the following. All these startups were selected on the basis of their unique business model, strong team base and inventive working model.

1. QanoonOnline

An online lawyers market place providing online legal consultancy services, which are currently not available in Pakistan, to the general public; overseas Pakistanis; and the corporate sector. Qanoon online provides simplicity of finding the best lawyers in the country, according to their law practices and carefully designed Practice Management System for Lawyers, Law Firms and Courts.

2. Macan .pk

A real estate services platform being a one window solution through on call or website for all sectors domestic, corporate and industrial utilizing.

3. Repairwala

Repairwala has an extremely simple startup providing doorstep pickup, repair and delivery of electronic devices with a focus on mobile phones.

4. Enovatrax

E-novatRx is Pakistan’s first integrated, digital (health + finance) platform that enables health consumers to access between 10% to 50% discounts on prescription medicines via a combination of retail discounts and instant manufacturer, e-rebates, processed at a nationwide network of healthcare venues (pharmacies, labs, diagnostic imaging centers, clinics and hospitals) using a mobile app-enabled smart card.

5. SalesExpo

SalesExpo is a unique platform where customers can explore all the available sales/deals available in market; primarily related to ready-made wear. Currently, it is a web based application that publishes the deals/sales related information, by fetching data via web-scrapping technique.

6. Showeventz

Pakistan’s first event management portal which is a one stop solution to the entire event related worries. Enabling people to enjoy their freely.

The Way Forward

The third Cohort consisting of the 6 selected startups will begin from the first week of September and will become a part of the program for 4 months.

Through the Velocity accelerator platform, the startups will get:

• Access to office hours with mentors,
• Access to investors
• Co working space
• Access to customers
• Online Payment solution
• Chance to pitch for seed funding of $10,000 to Telenor Pakistan

Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO, Telenor Pakistan, shared his thoughts on this occasion,

“The world is rapidly moving into the digital space, Telenor has undertaken many ventures  and now with Velocity, we intend to support startups which have the potential to strengthen the digital revolution in Pakistan.”

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Easypaisa Credit Cards – Telenor now offers MasterCards to all Easypaisa customers

Even after applying for several times many people do not get their credit cards issued. This is the reason the credit card penetration in Pakistan stands 0.01%. The worst condition is due to the long and hectic process.

Usually the banks demand a long list of requirements to be fulfilled to get the credit card. These basically include a salaried job, a sizable income, an office address and a verifiable home address.

Pakistan has other people like freelancers and the small businessmen and there are also people who live in areas in which TCS or bank verification does not work. Thus not everyone get an opportunity to get a credit card.

We might face a good change as Telenor’s Easypaisa is now introducing MasterCard credit cards.

Here is the process:

You just go to the Easypaisa Mobile App -> Click on Credit Cards -> Select your Validity Date, Spending Limit and that is it.

You will get a credit card in less than 10 seconds which you can use anywhere online, On AliExpress, Daraz or with Careem.

This virtual credit card can be used for any sort of transaction online or offline (where physical cards are not required for swiping) and payment will be made from your Easypaisa account.

While its real-life usages are endless, Easypaisa has made the product immensely useful; check its below features.

Easypaisa Credit Card Features:

• You can create your own credit card within 10 seconds
• You can set your own expiry date and spending limit
• You can create unlimited number of cards (maximum two at a time) with different expiry dates and spending limits
• You can pause a card, i.e. to freeze it temporarily
• You can delete any card within 2 seconds
• There are no charges for creating a card, you will be charged from your Easypaisa account only when you will use the card for any payments online

 Charges:

• There are no fees for creating a card, deleting it or keeping it active
• You will be charged only when there will be a payment made online
• Easypaisa says that they won’t charge currency exchange fee (usually 2.5 to 3.5%)

If talked in simple words this is a MasterCard and Easypaisa Powered Virtual Debit Card.

Create MasterCard Credit Card of Your Own

For this you need to have an Easypaisa account, a limitation that can be overcome very easily. Simply get an account and install its mobile app.

Once you have an Easypaisa account and mobile app installed, you will get below screen.

It tells you the account balance, options to do various operations etc on the home screen.

At the bottom right, there’s a button “Virtual Card”, click on it.

Click on “Create Another Card”

Here you select the expiry or the validity of your card. Once selected, click “Next”.

Here you select the spending limit of your choice. So for instance if you want to use this card for Netflix payments, you can set your limit at Rs. 1,000 per month to make sure that nothing is deducted beyond your expectation.

Select your limit and click “next” to get your card up and ready for usage over internet.

It will take just couple of seconds, and here you go:

You can flip the card to see CCV code.

There are “Pause” and “Deactivate/Delete” buttons available on the card that you can use to temporarily deactivate your card or to permanently delete them.

Source: ProPakistani

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In line with its vision to empower societies and in a strategic endorsement of the GSMA’s Connected Women Initiative, Telenor Pakistan has committed to increase the proportion of women in its subscriber base by the year 2020.

Telenor Pakistan’s two-pronged commitment states increasing the proportion of women in its mobile internet customer base from 40% to 48%; and mobile money customer base (mobile accounts & social disbursements) from 10% to 15% by 2020 in Pakistan.

The commitment comes as part of the GSMA’s ‘Connected Women’ Initiative that aims to reduce the gender gap in mobile internet and mobile money services in low- and middle-income countries and unlock significant socio-economic opportunities.

“Telenor Pakistan is proud to join hands with the GSMA in a collective effort to connect women around the world. In Pakistan, over 51% of the population is women and as one of the largest digital services providers in the country, we deem it our responsibility to act to create gender parity in our customer base,”

said Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO, Telenor Pakistan.

“We are committed to bring the benefits of telecom and digital technology to women in Pakistan to empower them to support their families, and in turn, contribute to the socio-economic prosperity of the country at large. Our endorsement of the GSMA’s Connected Women Initiative comes with the commitment to increase the proportion of women in our mobile internet customer base from 40% to 48%, and mobile money customer base from 10% to 15% by 2020,”

he added.

“Widening access to mobile services in Pakistan is critical; it is an important topic that business leaders and governments must address,”

said Claire Sibthorpe, Head of Connected Women, GSMA.

“In a country with such a high gender gap in mobile services, Telenor Pakistan’s commitment to increase the share of women in its customer base is all the more important.

Mobile ownership can have a transformative effect on women’s lives, for example by providing access to vital financial services, which women are 45 per cent less likely to have access to than men in Pakistan. Ensuring digital and financial inclusion for women is essential because when women thrive, societies and economies thrive.”

Telenor Pakistan’s efforts to bring women into the digital and financial mainstream include mAgri (mobile agriculture) for women, which provides agronomic information to women farmers in Pakistan to maximize crop yields.

The Sindh Education Reform Program (SERP), and Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), have chosen Easypaisa, Pakistan’s first mobile financial service and a product of Telenor Microfinance Bank for transparent and timely disbursements of social and educational stipend entitlements to women living in rural areas with no access to formal financial services.

Read full announcement by GSMA here

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ICT Award 2017

Continuing its streak of recognition for innovative telecommunication products and services, country’s top cellular operator and digital services provider, Telenor Pakistan, has been awarded the “Excellence in Telecommunication” award at the RCCI ICT Award 2017 by the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized the 3rd RCCI ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Awards at a local hotel in Rawalpindi that was attended by Ms. Anusha Rahman, Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecommunication and Dr. Ismael Shah, Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, among other dignitaries of the industry. On behalf of Telenor Pakistan, the award was received by Muhammad Aslam Hayat, company’s Chief Corporate Affairs and Strategy Officer.

Telenor Pakistan was chosen by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority as the winner of the category.

Sharing his thoughts on the achievement, Mr. Aslam Hayat said,

“We are humbled to have been honored with the RCCI ICT Award. At Telenor, we stay committed to our mission of empowering the people of Pakistan which is also convergent with the Government’s long-term vision for the country’s growth. We thank the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry for this honor and are enthused to continue serving the people of Pakistan with the same passion.”

Through the annual ICT Awards which started in 2015, the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry cements its efforts to encourage investment in the ICT enabled sector of Pakistan and honor the Pakistani companies at the cutting edge of technological achievements.

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Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO, Telenor Pakistan and Saira Iftikhar, CEO at PLDDB
among their teams at the signing ceremony at Telenor Headquarters in Islamabad

Pakistan’s foremost telecom and digital services provider, Telenor Pakistan, has joined forces with Punjab Livestock & Dairy Development Board (PLDDB) to enhance women participation in agriculture and farming sector. The collaboration will promote awareness on nutrition, dairy, livestock, agriculture and livelihood related issues through Telenor Pakistan’s communication platform in the province of Punjab.

Under the agreement, Telenor Pakistan will launch a dedicated IVR helpline on its mobile agriculture service Khushaal Zamindar for female farmers to sensitize them about making smart choices in order to maximize their revenues from agriculture and farming. The free-of-cost service will be initially launched in five districts of Punjab to gauge the impact and will be subsequently extended to other parts of the province.

Currently about 20 percent of the 2.5 million Khushaal Zamindar users are females. Telenor and PLDDB aim to ensure further uptake through the females-centric helpline which will provide female farmers localized, contextualized and customized information about livestock, health and nutritional requirements.

Through the simple and user-friendly service, the female farmers will just need to dial 7272-51 to access the relevant information, a number where 51 denotes the percentage of women population of the country.

In view of multiple social barriers that resist technology uptake for women, Telenor Pakistan and PLDDB will organize multiple female-only live shows to foster awareness about the usefulness of mobile technology vis-a-vis the agricultural growth. Female farmers will be able to call and ask questions to access real-time information from female agriculture experts and nutritionists at the show.

“An overwhelming majority of women, about 72 percent, is in one way or the other associated with the agricultural sector whose contributions go unnoticed and unappreciated,”

said Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO, Telenor Pakistan.

“We are collaborating with PLDDB to empower them so they can play a more significant and impactful role in the larger economy. Telenor Pakistan is expanding its mobile agriculture service Khushaal Zamindar to incorporate a dedicated female farmers helpline which, in its core, is an acknowledgement of the contributions of these brave women who work tirelessly without eying any appreciation. With the help of PLDDB, we will run a mass awareness campaign to enhance their participation in agriculture and farming which will go on to positively impact the country’s economy.”

Commenting on the development, Saira Iftikhar, CEO at PLDDB said,

“We are thankful to Telenor Pakistan for extending their technical support and expertise to this project which aims at augmenting women participation in Punjab’s agricultural and farming sector. The Government of Pakistan is keen to ensure the role of women in national development, who constitute about 51 percent of the population.

PLDDB and Telenor Pakistan will run an awareness campaign focusing on women farmers to encourage women participation in the process and will extend technical support and advice through a dedicated helpline. I am hopeful  that with the ubiquitous presence of telecommunication technology, we will be able to effectively disseminate the message, monitor progress and provide advisory services when needed to increase the country’s agricultural and livestock yields manifold.”

Telenor Pakistan has forged multiple collaborations and has launched many initiatives to explore the full potential of the agriculture sector of Pakistan, which is the major contributor to the national economy.

Its Khushaal Zamindar farmers’ advisory service provides localized and relevant information to farmers to help them make informed choices to increase their agricultural produce.

Besides improving the agricultural yield, the use of agriculture advisory services will help attain a daily increase of 0.5 liter milk per animal for 5 million livestock farmers of Punjab which will go on to add PKR 250 billion to the rural economy.

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Continuing its streak of industry-first initiatives to promote digital and eCommerce ecosystem in the country, Telenor Pakistan has launched Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) that allows customers to purchase content from Google Play using their mobile balance.

First in the Pakistani market, DCB eliminates the need of credit/debit card by allowing Telenor users to pay for their favorite apps in Google Play and in-app purchases directly from their mobile balance.

Customers can easily activate DCB on their android handsets by adding ‘Use Telenor Billing’ in the payment methods of their Google Play account menu. Once the activation is complete, the user can simply click on ‘Buy’ on their favorite Google Play content, select ‘Bill my Telenor account’, and provide their Google account password to confirm the purchase.

To boost customer trust and avoid accidental purchases, DCB comes with a refund option that is  visible immediately on the purchased app and lasts for two hours Users can keep full track of their DCB purchases via ‘Order History’ in their Google Play account menu.

“We want to simplify and secure digital purchases for our users and DCB achieves it,” said Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO, Telenor Pakistan.

“Through Direct Carrier Billing, we have eliminated the need of credit/debit cards – which most of our young users and unbanked population lacks access to – and boosted customer trust in making digital payments as DCB comes with a refund option and password protects each purchase. Being the country’s primary digital lifestyle partner, Telenor Pakistan will continue to strengthen the country’s digital and ecommerce ecosystem.”

Head of Digital Products, Telenor Pakistan, Nauman Pervaiz said,

“With DCB on Google Play store, consumers will be able to make in-app purchases from within their favorite apps simply by using their mobile balance. New payment options not only help consumers access more content they love, DCB also has the potential to nurture the local app developer economy, incentivizing developers to build for the local market. Telenor is proud to have played a part in bridging financial inclusion and pushing forward our mission of digitizing the future.”

Telenor subscribers can start purchasing their favorite digital content from Google Play store right away as the service is now available to both prepaid and postpaid customers.

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The Chairperson of Telenor Group, Ms. Gunn Wærsted, visited Telenor Pakistan recently. During her visit she made sure to meet all officials and top management representatives. During the meetings the main focus was to discuss the strategic plans of Telenor.

The chairperson also met Ms. Anusha Rehman; she is the Minister of State for Information Technology & Telecom. They discussed the developments in ICT sector of Pakistan. Telenor’s efforts towards the development of Pakistan were also the part of the talk.

Gunn Wærsted said,

“Telenor has a long term commitment to Pakistan, which is evident from the level of investment that currently stands at US$ 3.5 billion since its inception in 2005.”

She added,

“Driven by our vision of empowering societies, our success to date has been built on a simple realization: mobile communication, financial services and internet are not luxury goods for the few; they are for everyone and Telenor Pakistan has played a vital role in the realization of this vision.”

According to Ms. Wærsted to bring about digital growth in Pakistan, predictable regulatory frameworks are needed.

She also congratulated Telenor Pakistan for winning ‘Transformation Award’ ad praised it for all the initiatives by Telenor Pakistan that led to their success in Pakistan. She added that she is expecting same dedication in future.

Irfan Wahab Khan the CEO of Telenor Pakistan said,

“We welcome Ms. Wærsted to Pakistan and extend our heartfelt gratitude to her as well as the Group for recognizing Telenor Pakistan’s journey of becoming a digital services provider.”

Mr. Khan further added,

“We believe that her visit is yet another testament to Telenor’s sustainable investments in Pakistan and its contributions to the socioeconomic development of our society. Operating in Pakistani since 2005, we have made significant contributions to Pakistan’s economy and society, touching lives in a number of ways.

Apart from our expansive network footprint covering 84% of the country’s population, we have made a fiscal contribution of over US$2.3 billion through direct and indirect taxes, generated over 180,000 indirect and induced jobs in 2015 alone, contributed to the GDP, launched initiatives to empower youth and women, and made result-oriented efforts toward digital and financial inclusion in the country, as evident from Telenor’s Global Impact Report by KPMG.”

Ms. Gunn Wærsted was elected as Chair person on 14 January, 2016. About 214 million people are associated with Telenor Group in 13 markets. It has emerged as one of the largest communication networks.

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Telenor Big Bazaar started on 1st February, 2017. Telenor Pakistan has announced a special discount on Telenor 3G/4G smartphones and internet devices. Telenor Pakistan is Pakistan’s foremost digital lifestyle partner.

Telenor Pakistan has a motive to promote digital inclusion in country and Big Bazaar is a part of the aim.

All the internet devices and mobile phones are put in the sale so that users can get maximum benefit out of it.

The sale is on, VISIT here

Big Bazaar provides users with best of the deals in the most reasonable price at door step. This attracts more users as they can browse easily and buy the desired devices without tension of going to bazaars , bargaining about prices and not getting the most efficient or desired device.

We are listing down some of the new prices after the discount.

Small Screens (smartphones)

Telenor Pakistan offers up to 50% discount on mobile phones.

• ‘Infinity A’ has a discount of 15% and is now available at PKR 10,999.
• ‘Infinity E’ has a discount of 26% and is now available at PKR now 6,999.
• ‘Infinity I’ has a discount of 27% and is now available at PKR 5,499.
• ‘Max’ has a discount of 50% and is now available at PKR 3,600.
• ‘Zoom’ has a discount of 50% and is now available at PKR 3,000.

Large Screen (internet devices)

Telenor offers up to 60% discount on its internet devices.

• ‘4G Mifi’ has a discount of 10% and is now available at PKR 2,699.
• ‘4G Wingle’ has a discount of 10% and is now available at PKR 1,799.
• ‘3G Wingle’ has a discount of 60% and is now available at PKR 999 in addition to 30GB free internet for a month.
• ‘3G Mifi’ has a discount of 40% and is now available at PKR 2,099 along with 30 GB free data.
• ‘3G Dongle’ has a discount of 47% and is now available at PKR 799 along with 30 GB free data.

Telenor Pakistan’s Director Internet and Devices, Omar bin Tariq said,

“Telenor Big Bazaar’ brings sale on devices of up to 60% which aims at aiding our evolution into a society with affordable connectivity. This serves our twofold ambition of bringing internet for all while promoting and encouraging ecommerce in Pakistan. We will continue to make similar and even bigger strides toward making our mission of digital Pakistan a reality,”

Telenor Pakistan aims to spread nationwide network while providing affordable services. The two strategies of Telenor aim to create a developed Pakistan. The company leads Pakistan’s ICT powered digital revolution. It also is including Government of Pakistan in its goals to achieve success at a major level.

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According to the buzz Pakistan’s second largest mobile operator has decided to shut down all its sales and support service centers in Pakistan.

Telenor has 17 support centers where hundreds of people are working and as a consequence of this sudden decision the employees are going to lose their job. Customers now will turn to 289 franchises that are opened in many cities across Pakistan to get after sale services.

According to what Telenor has planned Franchises will be renovated and equipped with all features that are needed to give after support services.

These measures are being taken to give best possible facilities to all the customers.

Telenor is of the thought that now the customers use online portals and helplines to resolve problems so they don’t need any such facility.

Where employees are concerned Telenor is trying their best to complete the process soon and in an efficient way. It is offering them  compensations, medical allowances, bonuses and all necessary support to them.

Telenor Pakistan has about 36 million subscribers over Pakistan. It has a network of over 200,000 retailers, franchises and support centers. In fact Telenor Pakistan customer service centers were operating very well.

Lets see for the further details from Telenor Pakistan.

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Telenor’s Easypaisa signs an agreement with EFU Life Assurance Ltd. under which Easypaisa will extend its services  to get faster insurance premium collection from EFU Life’s clientele through Easypaisa’s wide network in Pakistan.

On 30th December 2016, the agreement was signed by Muhammad Yahya Khan, Head of Easypaisa, and Taher G Sachak, MD & CEO, EFU Life Insurance. EFU Life is Pakistan-based life insurance company, offering a wide range of insurance products to its clients.

Sharing his thoughts on the development, Muhammad Yahya Khan, Head of Easypaisa, said,

“We are glad to extend Easypaisa’s services to support EFU Life Insurance for insurance premium collection from across the country. Easypaisa, with the help of its expansive network of agents all over the country, will be instrumental in facilitating smooth and convenient collection of premium for EFU.

The agreement comes in connection with Easypaisa’s commitment to facilitate everyday transactions as part of its long term socioeconomic empowerment goals. We will continue to forge partnerships and support interoperability to enhance financial inclusion in Pakistan.”

Speaking on the occasion, Taher G Sachak, MD & CEO, EFU Life, stated,

“Customer centricity is the core of our business.  As the leading life insurer in Pakistan, we believe in connecting with our clients by giving them greater accessibility to our products and services through expansion of our distribution footprint and investing in IT solutions, and also by continuously striving to serve them better.”

And further he said;

It gives me immense pleasure to have partnered with Easypaisa for our payment solutions, giving our clients the ease, flexibility and access to pay their renewal premiums in a reliable and secure manner through the vast network of over 77,000 Easypaisa outlets and retailers.”

Easypaisa being Pakistan’s pioneer branch-less banking service has been transforming the banking and finance scenario in the country. Recently Easypaisa has won the financial innovation award 2016 in London .

Telenor’s Easypaisa has played an essential role in bringing banking made easy for everyone in Pakistan.

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