Two Pakistani and Sri Lankan ICT firms link up to solve social issues leveraging technology and sports
A Dubai based ICT provider in Pakistan Interactive Group has joined hands with Sri Lanka’s EZY Group of Companies to solve pressing social issues in both countries by leveraging technology and face challenges of the 21st century.
Shahid Mahmud
In an interview with the Business Times, Shahid Mahmud, Chairman of the Interactive Group noted that their partnership with EZY Racing provides a natural platform that synergizes with “our efforts to position our brand as one that is synonymous with passion, leadership and the spirit of competition”.
Commenting on the partnership, he said that his company has decided to serve hundreds of thousands of youth through the revival of international sports in Pakistan.
Mr. Mahmud said that his automatic choice to boost motor sport in Pakistan was Sri Lanka’s EZY Racing as his company has already established strong links with the EZY Group of Companies headed by Shafraz Hamzadeen.
“Sri Lankans and Pakistanis have suffered from the actions of factions of our society that hindered progress and economic prosperity; however we have demonstrated our resilience and resolve to face challenges head on,” he added
“We should provide opportunities for our youths to occupy themselves in productive purposes preventing them from being misguided,” he pointed out.
Sport is one of the ways to occupy the youth enabling them to display their skills both locally and internationally, he said adding that cricket teams of both countries have already showed their prowess and set an example to the whole world.
He said that he has a great confidence on the ability of Shafraz and EZY Racing as both firms are working together in the IT sector.
This was one of the reasons for his company to enter into EZY Racing’s very first international partnership, by becoming the Principal International Partner of the Black and Red Team, he revealed.
Interactive Group is a leading ICT provider in Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and provides a vast portfolio of products and services in the ICT domain to the public and corporate sectors in the region.
Interactive is in nearly three decades of technology leadership in Pakistan, where it undertook large telecommunications infrastructure projects like establishing Paktel Limited with Cable and Wireless, the first nationwide VSAT networks for the public sector, the first free to air TV channels over satellite, as well as the National Police ICT infrastructure building a number of data centres, thereby establishing a public safety network that interconnects all the police stations in Pakistan.
He disclosed that his company has deployed their healthcare solutions in over 50 hospitals catering to over 11 million patients annually.
He told the Business Times, the Interactive Group in collaboration with EZY Group of Companies plans to introduce projects and services especially in the healthcare, public safety and enterprise domains especially for Sri Lankan and South Asian consumers.Referring to their achievements in the field of motor racing, he said that the two companies have formed an alliance with the Mechanical Engineering Department of the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) by providing training and technical knowhow for their engineering students to present a ‘Made in Pakistan’ single seater Auto Cross car at the Formula Student Competition at the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit where 114 teams displayed their engineering strengths in UK recently.
The NUST initiative was the newly formed partnership’s first venture, where they have powered the Pakistan Student Team as Interactive EZY Racing.
The EZY Racing cars and their new livery will see a significant branding space allocated to the Interactive Group as they set about providing their newest partners due prominence. In addition, the Interactive Group will also be provided clear visibility on EZY Racing’s International Motor Racing involvements which are scheduled to be rolled out this year.
He said that through their partnership with EZY Racing, Interactive looked forward to increasing their organisation’s awareness in the Asia Pacific Region.
“Our partnership with EZY Racing provides us a great platform to showcase our company to a global audience. APRC provides us the ideal dais to enter countries with our innovative products and solutions which we intend on making use of, through our partnership with EZY Racing,” said Mr. Mahmud. EZY Racing will be competing in the Asia Cup of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship in 2014 where they will be competing in Malaysia in August, Japan in September, and China in November and concluding the year with Thailand in December.
The team intends competing in the entire Asia Pacific Championship in 2015 with Rally New Zealand, starting March 2015.