Saad Hamid and Awais Imran to represent Pakistan at Telenor Youth Summit 2013 in Norway

ISLAMABAD – October 31, 2013: Telenor Pakistan has announced Saad Hamid and Awais Imran as representatives from Pakistan at the Telenor Youth Summit 2013 in Oslo, Norway, which is being organized in collaboration with the Nobel Peace Center. The two winners of the qualifying competition will also get a chance to attend the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony and Concert.

The competition attracted over 260 entries towards bringing positive social change through the use of mobile communication and internet. As per the judging format, more than 100 shortlisted ideas were displayed on the djuice website for public voting, the entries received a total of 6,670 votes. 11 top voted ideas were presented by the candidates to a jury comprising renowned industry experts including Badar Khushnood, Pakistan Country Consultant for Google Inc., Jehan Ara, President Pakistan Software Houses Association and Usman Javaid, Director Marketing, Telenor Pakistan.

The two winners – Saad Hamid and Awais Imran were triumphant for their ideas titled ’60 second education project’ and ‘Learning a new language using Mobile ICT’ respectively. As a preamble to the event an orientation session for students from more than 25 universities across Pakistan was also conducted through HEC-NUML video conferencing link.
Atifa Asghar, Director Corporate Communications and Responsibility, Telenor Pakistan lauded the enthusiasm of all the contestants and said; “We at Telenor believe that mobile internet will continue to serve as a catalyst for growth and create opportunities for all. The competition, in line with our ‘Internet for All’ campaign, helped us find young future leaders and presented their dynamic ideas to deal with pressing societal issues. The global summit will provide these two winners with an opportunity to be heard at a global level.”

Earlier, speaking at the winners’ announcement ceremony, Badar Khushnood, a jury member said, “Youth Summit is a great initiative by Telenor in promoting healthy competition and ICT competencies for social change. Providing a platform for expression and rewarding in terms of an unforgettable experience of learning and networking is a great way to bring out the best in our youth. I wish the best of luck to winners from Pakistan in representing their country on the global stage!”

While appreciating efforts from all contestants, Jehan Ara, another jury member said, “The Telenor Youth Summit is a great example of how corporations can contribute towards the development and promotion of local talent, something we have in abundance particularly in our youth. The ideas presented in the competition showed the commitment and passion that the young people of this country have in wanting to bring about positive change. It was a privilege listening to them and engaging with them. A couple of the ideas were so impressive that I will be presenting them to the P@SHA Fund jury for evaluation and potential funding.”

Expressing his delight, Saad Hamid said, “Telenor Youth Summit is a great opportunity for me to represent Pakistan on a global platform.” Awais Imran shared a similar sentiment. “I’m very excited to be a part of the Youth Summit and look forward to the extensive exposure and networking opportunity with a diverse group of peers”, he said.

The Telenor Youth Summit, which will be held from December 9 to 11, is a new global initiative of Telenor Group. It is conceived as a place for exchanging opinions on ways in which mobile communication technologies stimulate growth and change the society. The host of the Summit will be Jon Fredrik Baksaas, CEO of Telenor Group. During the Summit, young people from 13 countries of Telenor operations together with Telenor Functional Experts and already established Change Makers will further develop the ideas to be presented at the Nobel Peace Centre, as well as at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in 2014.

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Posted by Yamin Malik on Oct 31 2013. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.