The day started with the session titled ‘Tales from the Trenches’ where the leading entrepreneurs presented their tales to the audience. If I had to review each in a one-liner then it would be this way. Puzzle by Adil Moosajee, Owner of Ego, was all about, to quote him, ‘Either find a way or make a path of your own. Work with happy people and others should be OUT.’ Reboot by Jawwad Farid, CEO of Alchemy discussed about learning from failures because ‘Before you can win, you have to lose’ and to be an entrepreneur, it is important being comfortable about what you are therefore looking behind is okay unless you don’t get obsessed about it. Adversity by Sameera Raja, Owner of Canvas Gallery, talked about her Breast Cancer Adversity and conquering it while managing her life. She emphasized on scheduling not only your work but how you present it to your audience. Appetite by Shahzad Ali, CEO of Student Biryani talked about how his father through his resilience from his humble beginnings made Cafe Student to a brand Student Biryani. The only favorite story for me was of Jawwad Farid because it talked about starting up a new venture and its hurdles. Others had stories which was about evolution or say an effort to sustain the previous family businesses.

Next up was ‘Investing in Change: Empowering Social Entrepreneurs’ by Batool Hassan, Business Development Manager at Acumen Fund. This was the most fruitful of all. She discussed about the idea of Philanthropy 2.0 where the products don’t need to be free but affordability and dignity should be brought into the market. Examples of Khuda ki Basti, Saibaan and other creatively planned projects were shared to illustrate that businesses can be run for social development and you don’t only get your capital back but reasonable profits can also be generated, if you are not running after the greed of money. She was kind enough to answer our questions even during the lunch break.

TieCon Debate was honestly more about pulling legs of each other. The topic being ‘Conventional Wisdom is becoming increasingly irrelevant’ itself had its flaws. In my honest opinion, any kind of wisdom can be relevant if you know how to mold and use it for your good. Personally Shahjehan Chaudhry stood out because he played the game pretty intelligently and fairly. Unilever representative at the against panel, was all rhetoric and made less sense, still won the debate and as Hassan Rizwan of Prymus Technologies rightly commented that surely ‘our education system is flawed.’ Sadly, people usually like how things are presented than the actual content. Next time it should be a discourse instead of debate. Thankfully lunch came in as a relief.

After lunch it was very apt to have a musical performance when people would usually go into the snore zone. Alan Simon from Taal Karisma introduced his Percussive Fusion Band and gave the people an insight on how band indulges in different beat cycles which haven’t been explored much before. Their each track was a delight and body percussion that they presented was pretty decent as a lot of people claim about the art but their performances eventually come flat. Ustadji their debut single is up on the radio and a must listen.

Skype helped with video-conferencing where Jahanzeb Sherwani, Founder of Jugaari shared his i-phone app experience with techies.

Birds of a feather featured Breakout sessions on various aspects of entrepreneurship skills like Bootstrapping, Branding, PR, Team Building and Social Media, where participants divided into their respective interest groups. Small focused groups surely brought a lot of ideas and learning on board.

Dr. Umar Saif who is Associate Professor at LUMS talked about pitching ideas to VCs. He gave an impression that VCs don’t pay much heed to your product, vision or technology but they invest more on the quality of team. Therefore it is the time when project becomes fund-able, as in at the point of take off, that it needs to be pitched else it would be too early or late. This was followed by Adil Saleem of Seen Report who shared his experience of making dream of this portal a reality which was also incubated by Dr. Umar Saif.

Last up was Asad Umar, CEO Engro Chemcial who talked about Making Your Move! The talk highlighted that once you start running your project, your business model should keep on updating and your passion should be supported by intellect whereby you know how to probe questions on achievements and move forward.

Every speaker highlighted about asking yourself that is it really your dream to become an entrepreneur?, if yes then one should not wait for being experienced as it would never be enough. Moreover an entrepreneur should be reading to take the tough part and learn from the mistakes. Social Media was also discuss at length which become a low or no-cost tool for marketing the businesses. Next time it would be great if Social Entrepreneurship takes the lead or maybe a whole conference can be dedicated on the subject.

Kudos to Sabeen Mahmud, the president of TiE to come up with an interesting line of speakers in such trying times and Shireen Naqvi with her Torque team for managing the conference on such high standards.

PS: The food was really good =D
PSS: I love the conference logo and badge.

It started with an exhibition titled ‘Troubadours of Allah’. The pictures of this collection were shot by Horst A. Friedrichs in the Indus Valley, Sindh and displayed Sufi Musicians of the region. Images are a good mix of documentation of not only the sufi shrines and artists but also aesthetics, material culture and symbols.

Some of the images depict interesting moments including ‘a fakir wearing kajal in his eyes‘, and ‘an image with carvings focused while a person praying is in a shallow focus’. The placement of the photographs could have been more properly planned to illustrate an essay and some pictures with long exposure did remove details. There was also grain in some of the prints. Out of few long exposure shots, only one picture pleased my eye, that of ‘two static almost marrying sitars with movement of people behind’. The exhibition is opened till 20th November 2009 for public.

Next was the Sufi Concert where the audience got chance to hear the soulful voices of Abida Parveen from Pakistan and Fareeda Parveen from Bangladesh who sang awe-inspiring poetry of various Sufi Poets.

It was followed by a lecture session next day where Dr Jurgen Wasim Frembgen, Omar Kasmani, Dr. Durre Ahmed and Peter Panke shared their views about Sufism.

Yesterday when I came back home, the same SSGC bill was waiting for me. So once again the tough task was upon me, this time I went to the Telenor franchise. After waiting for around 5 minutes they called me, and my bill got paid with some glitches of course.

One of my other concerns was the Fee charged by Telenor to accept this bill. I would not use a service like this if I have to pay Rs. 10/= on a utility bill of Rs. 140/=. I personally think the rates should be lowered and brought to an acceptable and cheaper range. I would rather use options like internet banking or phone banking to pay my bills where the Fee is negligible to none, varies from bank to bank.

After all this, I come to this conclusion that we should adapt new technologies and appreciate companies who took such initiatives, but services like this should be cheaper and more people friendly.

After my bill payment I received this SMS on my Mobilink network from Telenor.
Trx ID 324**** Rs 140.00 paid by 0528**** to SSGC at 12:19:23 on 23/10/2009 Fee charged is Rs 10.00.

Updated on : 2:30 PM – 6 November 2009 [MEDIA CLARIFICATION]

Islamabad, November 05, 2009: Recently, media has reported that IESCO and LESCO have asked their customers to not deposit their bills at Tameer bank’s easypaisa retailers. IESCO and LESCO have taken the position that they do not have an agreement with Tameer bank for bill collection through this channel.

Tameer Bank has a contract with KASB authorizing it to collect bills and deposit them through KASB’s aggregator service. Tameer Bank entered into an electronic bill collection arrangement with KASB Bank under their “eUBS” service in 2007. This Service Level Agreement was enhanced in February 2009 to cater for its Branchless Banking approval. The channels covered under this arrangement include IVR, ATM, Call Center, POS and other Over the Counter (OTC) modes. We would like to highlight that all utility companies, which have electronic billing arrangements with KASB have been made available to member banks as well. Therefore, Tameer Bank rightly availed this electronic collection under its umbrella agreement with KASB.

As per contract, KASB is responsible for all negotiations and arrangements with utility companies, and we are asking them to resolve this issue with IESCO and LESCO as soon as possible.

In the interest of our valued customers, Tameer Bank and Telenor Pakistan have decided to temporarily suspend the service from IESCO at easypaisa merchants. This service will be resumed as soon as the agreement issues between IESCO and Tameer Bank are resolved.

Tameer Bank and Telenor Pakistan would like to reassure all easypaisa customers who have already paid their IESCO and LESCO bills that their amounts have safely been deposited with the relevant utility companies. Furthermore, our dedicated helpline, 111-345-100 is available 24/7, to address any customer concerns related to easypaisa or previous transactions. Customers are requested to contact with their transaction ID.

The team worked for more than 3 months for conceptualization of the program and the participants made it a success with their hard work in less than three weeks. The participants included both amateurs and professionals. Each trying to make most out of their skills and appreciation or criticism they got would really help them to improve because the aim was to provide a platform rather than exclude anyone due to some lacking in any aspect of film-making. Believe in minds and not mindless entertainment! And to do the mindful and needful judgment, the jury consists of media personalities from Geo and Dawn News network.

I being a team member in all my limited capacity, photographer and audience at the same time, had a great time to see this event shine its glory. The movies which caught my attention personally:

In Drama, Sawaal by Zohair Alibhoy (student of Media Sciences) which questions on lost opportunities and discrimination against the lower segment of society. This movie was impeccable in acting, sound and screenplay. Makhee Bhaee by Danish Ali and Shahrukh Ali, a short experimental (made on handycam with funky chroma effects) having a fun take on how flies can be terrible nuisance and at the same time a fun ride, I know its hard to comprehend such sentence :p This movie proves that if you have creativity, nothing can stop the wonders. The ultimate survival by Lubna Ladhani was also a decent effort on issue of kidnapping and inspired from a real story, giving the message that it’s better to live in simplicity.

In Documentaries, KCR made by Alishan (a graduate of NAPA) which talks about Karachi Circular Buried Railway which is not in use and the rail track itself is worth billion of rupees. Two efforts by Sohail Noorani (Animator at Aaj TV Network) were impressive given that all work he did were on handycam. Dire but Truth, a short documentary on problem of asthama pertaining in sweepers and I Judge/I Act, a short drama about self-introspecton and guilt.

Animations were a real treat and each one of them stood to its merit. Especially Give me More by Sunny Sadruddin who studied at Vancouver Film School and In Search of the Light by Malik Gillani, a student of Karachi School of Arts. Both were amusing and thought provoking with technical brilliance.

In Music Videos, Alvida had a good concept while Josh by Safar Band brought some pumping patriotic music on the cards.

Flow of films with proper categorized slots and audience interaction could have been improved. Overall execution of the program was good and the platform deserves its due credit. The Awards Night is planned this week.

Here are the links of some videos that can also be viewed online:

Animations:
In Search of The Light

Give me More!

Garlic Maniac

Promos:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=149245189128&oid=105235734858

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=109464737110&oid=105235734858

Whenever I would I wake up at the middle of the night, I would dial non-stop until I get through. It was anti-depressant for me. I would wait for 3 minutes and listen the horrible music. Then the operator came and gave the same answer, “we are very sorry, we are working on it” and the very special, every time, “it would take three to four hours”

I mean it was like different parrots being ratafied the same line. So when I was really frustrated I said ‘Shame on you’ to one representative. At the height of my frustration this came up:

Me: “Kab se phone kar raha hun it been more than 30 hours har teen ghante ke baad phone karta hun and you people say EXPECTED HAI teen aur ghante lagey ge. Kia sab ne rata laga rakha hai”
Representative: “We are trying, baarish hai es liye problem horaha hai”
Me: “Baarish kab se ruki huwi hai, aap log ne kia teen ghante teen ghante laga rakha hai” :p
Representative: “Mazrat ke saath aap ko thora aur wait karna parega”
Me: “Kab tak light aaigi”
Representative: “Bas thori aur dair intezaar karey” (She didn’t even dare to say three hours =p)
Me: “Kitna aur intezaar, teen ghantey” =D

and then few hours later

Me: “Light kab aayegi”
Representative: “Expected hai teen ghante lageinge”
Me: “Itne ghante hogaye, aap ne bas teen ghante ki ratt laga ke rakhi hai. Lagta hai sab bhete huwe hain aise hi, ke teen ghante khatam hi nahi hote abhi 30 se uper ghante hochuke hain”
Representative: kind of crying, complaining tone “Sir kia karein try kar rahe hain, itni problems hain. gadiyan(vehicles) nikalti hain aur phir log pathar maarte hain aur….. koshish jaari hai”

These guys seriously know their stuff =p

Btw it took 40 hours for electricity to resume at our place.. duh!

Another btw the amount saved for bills on these 40 hours have been compensated on the calls.

If you have heard the song ‘Piya tu’ from movie Don, replace Piya with ‘Light’ and Mona with ‘Kesc Not’ and it would fit the whole mess perfectly. Try it.

A one- woman play about a harassed & overworked housewife, kept behind locked doors. The play is adaptation of “A Woman Alone” by Dario Fo & Franca Rame. Considering a one actor cast, Sheema Kermani displayed a very powerful performance, also gave audience a room for imagination & thought. The best part was the feedback was not only a standing ovation but also the emotions coming from the audience during the act.

When she was asked about how to solve the problems of violence & harassment that women face, she said that plays only bring out problems & then Sheema encouraged audience to suggest solutions. By initiating this dialogue, the whole process become more thought-provoking.

It was also remarked by a member of audience that the hall only had a number of men and such plays should be presented in front of men too because they are the ones in the majority who do violence and harassment. Moreover to break this chain of hatred and dependence, women need to get such education which can used professionally and making them financially independent. It was also suggested that it is the responsibility of mothers to inculcate their offspring with the respect a women deserves but in my opinion, it is only effective enough when the whole family is a role-model.

A kudos to both AKU and Tehrik-e-Niswan for this intellectual lunch.

Now when I visited Dolmen Mall Hyderi some time back, I can see that with inclusion of Sindbad there, the visitors to the food court and fun has increased manifold. They have games for kids and elders alike. AND TO MY AMAZEMENT, THE FREE TOKENS STILL CONTINUE UNDER THEIR TAGLINE ‘Education Before Recreation’.

For people near living by especially a must visit and don’t forget to play Air hockey which is auto-serve =D. Also Zekes Shack the water shooting game, you will love the mess.

PS: I am frequent visitor there :p

Today: Us Bewafa Shehar Main at 8 pm sharp
For more: http://tehrik-e-niswan.org.pk/

I was just introduced with an interesting SMS service offered by a Pakistani company. Some interesting features include:

• SMS for free on any number in Pakistan (it seems like a hoax but it’s not)
• All your sent and received messages are saved on your profile
• Personalized tagging for everyone you are having a conversation with
• Delivery status (you would know if your sent message has been delivered to the receiver or not)
• You can integrate your Twitter account with it as well
• Numbers of invitation increase as more friends accept to register
• Ideal for everyone who live outside Pakistan and want to stay in touch with friends

Site: iSMS.pk
Membership: Free (takes 1-2 days to process)