Informal magazine July 2018 09 Informal Magazine JULY 18 | Page 26

INFORMAL NEWS
HEC Launches Online Scholarship Disbursement Portal
The Higher Education Commission (HEC), United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP)
celebrated the launch of the online scholarship disbursement portal for the
USAID-funded Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship (MNBSP) program that
includes 30 partner universities across Pakistan. A Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) for the same was signed between HEC and NBP. This
online system is part of USAID’s multi-year $ 36 million Merit and
Needs-Based Scholarship Program. It is the first program at HEC to adopt an
online disbursement mechanism.
Pakistan Launches World’s First Government Backed
Program to Train Freelancers
DigiSkills, Ignite’s flagship program to train 1 million freelancers in Pakistan,
has been formally inaugurated by Anusha Rehman, Minister for Telecom and
IT on her second last day of ministership ahead of the government’s
retirement. A brainchild of Anusha Rehman, DigiSkills is said to be Minister’s
favorite program, as she believes that the program has the potential to
single-handedly take the country’s IT exports to over $10 billion in just a few
years. For those who don’t know, DigiSkills is a first of its kind
government-backed initiative that aims to train 1 million freelancers in
Pakistan.
i2i Launches Startup Toolkit For Entrepreneurs in Pakistan
Invest2Innovate (i2i) has launched a Startup Toolkit to support the
entrepreneurial community of Pakistan. The i2i Startup Toolkit is an
effort to combat the lack of relevant information which could save
founders from making mistakes. It is a comprehensive guide on legal
procedures and the entrepreneurial journey, created in collaboration
with the Co-founder of Wukla, Mubariz Siddiqui. It is a challenge to turn
a startup into a thriving business. A huge number of startups fail to take
off due to limited access to legal advice, poor decision-making and lack
of know-how.
50,000 Schools to Learn Through Virtual Reality in Pakistan
Cinematic experience has never been the same again in Pakistan since
the arrival of IMAX. The kind of immersive experience it provides adds
tremendously to the viewing quality, excitement and entertainment. The
good news is Pakistani classrooms will soon be transforming into much
more engaging and immersive experiences enabled by Google
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