Women across Pakistan were encouraged to lead the country’s information technology (IT) and e-commerce sectors as the 9th edition of the Women Tech Quest (WTQ) took place in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore on Saturday.
The WTQ, an initiative of 10Pearls University, not only puts women’s tech skills to the test but also helps them gain recognition and network with others in the industry, opening their paths to new opportunities.
In Karachi, the competition took place at the state-of-the-art National Aerospace Science & Technology Park (NASTP), while in the capital it was held at the Nust School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and at the University of Central Punjab (UCP) in Lahore.
In all cities, the competitions were followed by sessions where women industry leaders gave their insights into the world of tech and business. They highlighted how women have been leading various initiatives with digital innovations making their challenges a bit easier.
Addressing one such session in Karachi, Hira Khalil, the senior lead for e-commerce at Dawlance, noted that the e-commerce industry was “booming in Pakistan and women could gain the most from it”.
Similarly, Sohail Zindani, an author and entrepreneur who founded his The Sohail Zindani Company, urged women to lead the digital disruption in Pakistan.
Javeria Siddiqui, chief financial officer (CFO) at Feroze1888 Mills Limited, advised women to aim to have multiple streams of income.
Bringing the day-long WTQ to an end, Sarah Peracha, chief executive officer (CEO) at Peracha Ventures and Futurist Vally founder, gave a motivational boost to those who could not secure a winning position: “Maybe some wanted to win today’s competition but everyone is a winner in it.
“You all are winners, who worked so hard every day after signing up for this competition.”
The contest had six winners from each city, divided into three categories — testing, design and coding. Each category had one winner from the students and professionals sections.
From Karachi, Umme Shara won the design category for students while Muntaha Memon bagged the award from the professional side.
Memon told Dawn.com that her test involved building an online dashboard for a school system. “It was very basic in terms of design,” she said humbly of the contest she won.
In the category of testing software, Rabeeha Ali emerged victorious in the student section while Nida Ramzan won the professional contest.
Ramzan told Dawn.com that database knowledge and checking for bugs were among the various skills tested in the competition. “The most challenging is test cases’ curation, for which you have to perform some brainstorming tasks,” she added.
In coding, Noori Shaukat bagged the winning student place from Karachi while Maryam Nasir was the winner in the professional section. All six winners in Karachi were awarded a cheque worth Rs25,000, as well as a Rs5,000 voucher by one of the sponsors.
E-commerce — ‘You can run a business from your bed’
The post-contest conference kicked off with a keynote by 10Pearls Senior Director Anne Bracegirdle.
In her address later, Dawlance e-commerce lead Khalil said: “The e-commerce industry is booming in Pakistan and women can gain the most from it.”
Stating that the figures for male digital users were often high, she said a possible reason for that could be that many women, who were not well-versed with using the internet or had other online safety concerns, used their close male relative’s accounts for online shopping.
She highlighted that the industry received a major boost after the Covid-19 pandemic, which had many people confined to their homes. “E-commerce has made it so easier that you can even run a business from your bed.”
Asking the women audience about the numerous challenges they faced, two participants listed stereotypes and a lack of available time as some of those.
Responding to an audience member, Khalil pointed out that advice often given to women business students to not venture into marketing and sales was now invalid as people no longer needed to market a product by visiting shops physically.
Boasting Dawlance’s efforts to bridge the gender gap in employment, she said: “We have women as almost 45 per cent of the workforce in the [e-commerce] department.”
‘Women should lead like women’
While the WTQ is exclusively for women, and all speakers except one were also female industry leaders, Zindani stood out as the odd one — which he acknowledged right at the beginning of his zestful session.
Zindani, who founded his own coaching firm, was speaking to the participants during a session titled ‘Future-ready leadership: why women should pioneer the tech disruption’.
“I don’t know where this [concept] came from that women have to win like men. […] At least have a better benchmark,” he quipped, eliciting chuckles from the audience.
Explaining his line of thought, Zindani said: “Women should succeed like women, not like men. We need to eliminate this idea of men and women and bring the idea of masculine and feminine.
“There is a love for facts, ideas and structure, and there is a love for design, compassion and love,” he added, describing the world views of masculine and feminine professions.
“Human potential is not masculine or feminine; it is both.”
Zindani further said the conversations for women’s rights had been propagated so much in recent years that the essence of that potential was lost.
Speaking on empathy, he said that it was not the same as the widely known idiom “to put yourself in someone else’s shoes”.
He then went on to recall an anecdote of a conversation about the differences in challenges faced by working men and women. “I asked him ‘Have you ever been followed to your office by [men’s] eyes?’.”
‘500 psychologists in entire Pakistan’
Another of the speakers at the WTQ was Dr Sara Saeed Khurram, co-founder and CEO of telehealth startup Sehat Kahani, who recalled various achievements secured by her initiative.
Dr Khurram highlighted how Sehat Kahani played a vital role in treating patients during the Covid-19 pandemic, recalling its app launch in April 2019. She stated that four million people had used the health service till today, terming it a great achievement.
During her address, she also noted the lack of available mental health services in Pakistan. Dr Khurram claimed that in the entire country — comprising over 240m people — only 500 psychologists and psychiatrists were present.
A 2019 study cites a 2009 report by the World Health Organisation, which says 342 psychiatrists and 478 psychologists were available in the country back then.
“We (Sehat Kahani) have fixed the cost of each consultation at Rs200,” Dr Khurram added, emphasising the importance of mental wellbeing for pregnant women and their child’s health.
Speaking further about making healthcare accessible to the lower-income class, she pointed out that the Akhuwat Foundation had made various efforts to that extent.
Building upon Sehat Kahani’s achievements so far, she highlighted a planned timeline for the organisation’s prospective launches in Saudi Arabia and other countries. “There are 3.5m people in the world who do not have access to healthcare,” Dr Khurram said.
Financial habits to build for career growth
Siddiqui, the Feroze1888 Mills CEO, highlighted that personal health and finance were the two aspects of one’s life upon which a person should build their habits.
She stated that to secure long-term career growth, women needed to have awareness of their expenditure and patience for climbing up the ladder.
While stating that overspending was not always the issue, Siddiqui said: “The cardinal rule says you have to spend less than you earn, which is difficult in Pakistan.”
Advising women on savings, the Feroze1888 Mills CEO suggested setting aside 20pc of their salaries as soon as they receive it for their personal use.
Underscoring the need to be patient, Siddiqui acknowledged that employees were often not paid high — around Rs40,000 to Rs50,000 — at the beginning of their careers.
However, at the same time, she stressed the importance of having a “long-term view”, adding: “You have to be living below your wage.”
She urged working women to keep track of their earnings and expenditures while avoiding the urge to splurge on shopping sales. “Budget hona boht zaroori hai [Having a budget is very important].”
Siddiqui also encouraged young women, as well as men, to invest in themselves. Striking a chord with individuals doing jobs, she acknowledged it was hard to find time for oneself during the day-to-day work.
“There was a time when we used to thrive. Now, it’s [only] survival.”
Stressing the need to have multiple sources of income and diverse investments, the Feroze1888 Mills CEO said: “It is always possible for all of us to have a second stream.”
The competition finally concluded with participants, speakers and organisers posing for a group photo to imprint this year’s WTQ in their memories.
