NIC’s signs MoU with Huawei across Pakistan to accelerate Cloud and AI enablement for start-ups

Advancing their mission to promote the startup ecosystem of Pakistan, Huawei Cloud signed MoU’s with National Incubation Centers in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, during the Huawei Cloud Summit Middle East in Dubai. The summit, the first major offline ecosystem event of 2022 in Dubai, centered on digital transformation for organizations within the region and included various leaders from the Pakistani startup ecosystem including Head of Program, NIC Pakistan, Zeeshan Bin Shahid, NIC Karachi Project Director, Omar Abedin, Program Manager, Syed Azfar Hussain, Director NIC Lahore and Quetta, Mr. Nauman Zaffar, along with other senior NIC and Huawei officers.

This is the first time any cloud company has brought together to bring all together all major incubation centers on one table, on such a grand scale, to discuss the ideas and challenges they face. The partnership hopes to enable a “Digital Pakistan” and aims to bolster the implementation of Cloud technology as well as Artificial Intelligence (AI) through knowledge sharing. Under its terms, Huawei Pakistan will provide the NIC’s with start-ups special cloud service packages and allow their participation in its international competitions.

In addition, Huawei will enroll relevant selected start-ups to the Huawei Cloud Spark Program, its global accelerator that provides training on cloud computing and talent, as well as funding support for tech-enabled start-ups ready to scale. The goal is to expand relationships through collectively agreed talent capacity building. Such actions will culminate in a pool of highly competent and in-demand professionals who are capable of creating job opportunities.

NIC Karachi, Project Director, Omar Abedin joyously stated at the signing,

“Partnerships with Huawei like these are essential for not just the growth of Pakistani startups but they reiterate the confidence the world has in Pakistani talent.”

“NIC believes great things happen when we team up. This collaborative synergy with Huawei secure and stable solution will enable the Pakistani startup ecosystem to achieve new heights” said Zeeshan Bin Shahid- Head of Program, NIC Pakistan.

Director NIC Lahore and Quetta, Mr. Nauman Zaffar stated,

“Our partnership with Huawei Cloud is a colossal step to enable start-ups and small-medium enterprises in Pakistan to leapfrog towards tech adoption and optimization. The opportunity to innovate and digitize with Huawei Cloud services is limitless, and the window for Pakistani start-ups to accelerate growth and scale up is now. We are thrilled to have partnered with one of the top five cloud services in the world, so our start-ups can actively contribute to a reliable and strong ecosystem that is propelled by data and driven by technology.”

Mr. Wang, Regional VP Huawei, stated on the occasion,

“We are pleased to partner with the National Incubation Centers, who are driving the knowledge-based economy of Pakistan. Globally, Huawei is committed to enhancing the tech enablement of startups through Huawei Cloud and launch the Spark Program to facilitate the startup ecosystem in Pakistan, with the aim to incubate and accelerate tech startups towards a connected and intelligent world, as a friend and a technology partner.”

Huawei is the chief IT and Telecom equipment supplier in Pakistan. Huawei has established secure end-to-end ICT solutions portfolio that gives customers competitive advantages in telecom and enterprise networks, devices, and cloud computing.