By: Wajiha Imtiaz
ISLAMABAD: British Council conducted the Welcome Home Event, Islamabad for the Commonwealth Scholars on December 13th, 2022, whereby alumni of different academic sessions and scholarship categories, some as old as the batch of 2014 attended the event which was also streamed live via Microsoft teams. The three-hour session organized at a local hotel was inaugurated by the Manager of Higher Education Mobility, British Council Haroon Rashid. Followed the Welcome talk by Maarya Rehman, Deputy Director – British Council. She appreciated scholars on their successful journey, extending a warm welcome and highlighting how the accolades brought home can add value to the developmental projects within Pakistan. Speaking of the projects there was an engaging panel discussion on the topic “Social Entrepreneurship – Thinking beyond employment”, which was moderated by Durreshawar Mahmood, a Commonwealth Shared Scholar from 2014, actively working on women initiatives, green sector, policy-making, and poverty reduction. The panel comprised three members: Nagina Liaqat (MSc. HR management Sheffield Hallam University, Freelancer, Lecturer, Educationist, Placement officer Women University AJK); Omar Parvez Khan a successful entrepreneur, the Founder at Metric, attended Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) holds expertise in financial modeling and market analysis. Usama Malik, Deputy Advisor Ministry of Law and Justice Pakistan, Chairperson legal affairs committee, Director at Directorate of Legal Education Pakistan.
The panelists presented their views on the significance of entrepreneurial projects, and presented insights on the importance of financial support to young entrepreneurs presently, in a dearth of job placements. Usama Malik highlighted the impact legislation has upon the availability of seed funding for startups, Omar Parvez emphasized the need of creating incentives for venture capitalists (VCs) while Nagina Liaqat explained how important networking is for startup founders. There was a guest talk by Yaruq Nadeem on the topic, “World is in your reach: Globalisation and new ways of working” that described how access to different platforms has increased employment opportunities, keeping in view the global shift to the hybrid model of working, the avenues of work for companies around the globe have increased. The session was concluded with the closing remarks by Salvador Lopez who is the Director Education for South Asia, British Council, He had the best advice for scholars: “rely on the networks (you have developed) and capitalize on them, not only for your benefit but also for the greater good of your country”. There was a certificate distribution ceremony and a group photograph, the evening ended beautifully with a networking dinner on the rooftop amidst the warmth of coals, fond memories, goodbyes, and a spark of future goals.