What’s Tech Villages Initiative?

 The evolution of aptitude and perception is the driving force behind community development and economic expansion in society. Skill building is a significant tool to empower a population. Technology has lain beside every aspect of our life, giving rise to an easier, decent, and more diverse lifestyle. 

Tech Village is an endeavor underwritten by the Karakoram Area Development Organization (KADO), uConnect Technologies Pvt. Ltd and Special Communication Organization (SCO) to facilitate youth to unearth contemporary tech agilities. In confederation with the local community, both the enterprises inducted IT hubs in secluded neighborhoods of Gilgit-Baltistan to operate on the skill-building of the participants at their doorsteps.

The Camps:

Owing to the Tech Village undertaking, more than six IT camps are employed in Hunza and Nagar districts. With the assistance of the local community, several camps in various locales of Hunza and Nagar are already inducted which are currently functional as:

1. Tech Village Ghulkin
2. Tech Village Hoper Nagar
3. Tech Village Khanabad
4. Tech Village Karimabad
5. Tech Village Aliabad

The Skills

The primary assortment of the skill development project is completed. The participants ‌learned essentially numerous facets of digital marketing, content writing, graphic design, and video editing. Moreover, they are being exposed to ‌top freelancing platforms like Upwork and Fiverr to auction their skill into the international market.

Some of them are:

• Digital Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization
• Content Writing
• WordPress Website Development
• Graphic Design
• Video Creation and Editing
• Communication

The Impact

HARD WORK ALWAYS PAYS OFF! Today, all the partakers of Tech Villages are retailing their digital marketing services to local and the international call through media like Upwork and Fiverr at their doorsteps.

Over and above 70 projects from global clients are attained at Ghulkin center independently. The participants are operating on other substantial ventures in further camps, covering Aliabad and Karimabad Hunza.

Tech village is turning out to be a game-changer. The undertaking not only works for the youth to learn tech skills delivered their doorsteps but makes them able to earn promptly from the international market. The communal drive is working to curtail unemployment rate confrontations by extending online alternatives.

Furthermore, this tech-driven monetary prototype could have a marketable contribution to the regional economy and augment the financial predicament of the area. 

At a communal level, skill expansion in emerging markets benefits the prosperity of regional populations and ameliorates the ratio of unemployment in the vicinity. 

Prospective Initiatives

KADO and uConnect with fast and free internet connectivity from SCO are aspiring to sustain the Tech Villages venture in every locale of Gilgit-Baltistan. The contemplation is to ratify the regional lasses of Gilgit-Baltistan through skill advancement.

The world is now deliberately shifting from a typical economy toward a more surging digital economy. The freelance market currently contributes to the world’s economy through the direct and indirect inflow of revenue ascertained to uplift subsistence economies and open a new corridor for futuristic work and job paradigms.

 Keeping in view this fact, the Ministry of Information and Technology (MoIT) ensued a vision to procure a self-sustainable and self-empowered youth by acquainting them to the new realm of the freelance marketplace that has now exponentially amplified within the country and abroad.

An inclusive National Freelance Training Program (NFTP) was designed to make that happen. It is operational in all provinces across Pakistan, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, with 20 state-of-the-art centers across the country. It offers youth a great opportunity to unleash and anchor their skills on firm grounds with the help of exceptionally skilled trainers.

This would allow a person to enter a new market and sell his work using his newly acquired skills and knowledge. Not only this, but it connects to a global network of freelancers with different skills with miscellaneous customers. Not only amateur freelancers but also students with no skills can benefit and learn various skills from the opportunity. This free-of-cost training program entails 2000 charges at admission and is completely refundable with 80% attendance.

The main objectives of the program are as follows:

●       Reducing Unemployment

●       Youth Self-Sustainability

●       Create merit-based equal opportunities for all, notwithstanding gender, sect, or religion, especially for underprivileged areas.

●       Contribute to increasing the influx of foreign exchange through trained youth working on international platforms.

NFTP provides its students with a three-month training program that includes a variety of elements organized into three distinct domains:

1. Technical

●        Web development basics

●        A brief intro to programming languages

●        Introduction to databases

●        Theme building and development of websites through WordPress

2. Content Marketing and Advertising (Non-Technical)

●        Creating engaging and intensive content

●        Digital Marketing

●        Blogging

●        Lead generation and SEO

3. Creative Design

●        Creative logo design

●        Corporate identity kit

●        Adobe Suite

Students of the partner institution and individuals with 14 years of education are eligible to apply for the 3-month program (3 cohorts per year).

National Freelance Training Program, KIU, – fostering creativity, innovation, skills, and entrepreneurship

National Freelance Training Program, Gilgit is among the NFTP’s 20 state-of-the-art centers in partnership with the Karakoram International University, the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan, and the Special Communication Organization (SCO), providing a chance for the students to enable themselves to elevate their financial tier in the current rampant inflation streaks.

One example of the program’s success is Muzaffar Faqir, a student of the Economics Department from KIU who completed his training in the second batch from the National Freelancing and Telecommunication Program (NFTP). Just 8 months ago, he took the leap and started freelancing. He faced many challenges as a freelancer, but he was determined to

succeed. Through hard work and dedication, he quickly established himself as a top-rated freelancer on Upwork, earning $15,000 till now through his projects, which included working with international clients. But his success didn’t stop there, as he also landed a job as a Marketing Manager for a Canadian company. He has completed over 80 projects with international clients, proving that his skills and determination have led to his success. “I am very grateful for the training and opportunities provided by the NFTP, it has been a stepping stone for my career,” he said. This success story highlights the impact of the program on the lives of the students who complete it, providing them with the skills and opportunities needed to succeed in the freelance market. Top of Form

Bottom of FormMoreover, with 155 fresh trainees in the current cohort and 315 graduates, an estimated revenue of $63,836 USD (Rs 11.8 million) has likely been generated so far. Since its inception, it has triggered the interest of many students to get enrolled and polish their skills. Contrary to other companies, the institution is unique of its kind in many aspects;

●        It provides quality and exceptional service and facilities to students at a minimal cost.

●        KIU stands out as the primary beneficiary of the services and protocols.

●        Digitizing and skill enhancement opportunities for the students of KIU

It is indeed nourishing a more self-reliant youth while also encouraging youth to earn an income to support themselves and their families. A prognosis in terms of fair socio-economic conditions for the entrepreneurial regimen is foreseeable with the current endeavors of the initiative.

Imagine someone would like to start a business but he is facing several challenges such as shortage of funds, time, skilled personnel, lack of business acumen and a space to work from with ease and peace. It is due to these and similar other challenges that dampen our youth from becoming entrepreneurs and future employers. Consequently, they often knock their selves out to a different corner of job seekers, the number of which is growing exponentially. Yet, very limited job opportunities are available in the existing turbulent economic conditions.

Particularly, in Gilgit-Baltistan – a far plunged area of Pakistan – with no large-scale industries or major economic activities, the youth often look up to the government for employment. It is no wonder that public sector of Gilgit-Baltistan is then the largest employer in the region with more than 1 lakh employees as I write this article, a huge burden on the exchequer. 

To augment the challenge even further, our society in general and our parents in particular think that success is only achieved if one becomes a doctor or an engineer. Those who are left out from these two fields are expected to pass competitive exams and become bureaucrats. It does not end here. The remaining are expected to have some sort of permanent government jobs (pakki naukri) to be considered successful. Entrepreneurship or starting your own business is not on the menu at all and therefore, it could not pull enough traction in the past. This is a huge bottleneck and culture taboo that needs to be broken if we want to create a sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem, reduce the pressure on government exchequer and create a thriving economy by making entrepreneurship as a viable alternative career path.   

To this backdrop, Karakoram International University (KIU), Gilgit with the help of Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan embarked upon establishing its first business incubation center (BIC) at its main campus in 2016. The purpose was to provide basic infrastructure and allied facilities for researchers and young entrepreneurs who would like to turn their ideas into reality. Thanks to the financial support from HEC, KIU was initially able to create a small co-working space and a dedicated lab for its students. The co-working space has the capacity to host 8 to 10 people whereas; the dedicated lab has 25 computers with high-speed internet facility for the students, free of cost. Since its inception, KIU-BIC has hosted approximately 50 small business ideas among which, 8 to 10 are successfully running their own businesses. KIU-BIC has conducted numerous awareness and training sessions for 5000+ students and engaged with several partners to create a sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem in GB. 

However, I personally believe in extending such facilities and increasing our existing capacities to accommodate even more start-ups. We are lucky enough that the top leadership of KIU also realizes this need and that is why, KIU in collaboration with SCO and Punjab IT Board, has already successfully refurbished a large, dedicated building with the name Pakistan Incubation Initiative which can capacitate more than 100 people at a time. The new location will host at least 20 – 25 startups (15 with our collaborating partners and 10 at KIU-BIC from our own funding) for a 6 months period. Along with our partners, we will provide them free coaching and mentoring sessions on all the challenges that I have mentioned in my starting paragraph. All the start-ups will enjoy non-stop electricity, free co-working space, training, development and networking opportunities with investors, lenders and granting agencies. Among the 15 start-ups, 10 will be paid stipend as well. Every six months, new batches of start-ups will be hosted at KIU-BIC which will accelerate and strengthen our efforts even further. 

I believe that this is going to be a turning point for the youth of Gilgit-Baltistan and a foundation of a real game changer for the economy of the region. These startups will not only reduce pressure on the government for employment, but it will also kick start a huge economic activity across GB. Resultantly, employment opportunities will be created, and youth will be more empowered.The developed world realized this importance of entrepreneurship and a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem in the late 80s and 90s. In Pakistan, although this realization is not very old, it is better to be late than never. Focusing on promoting entrepreneurship is even more imperative in the context of 4^th industrial revolution which is largely driven by technological developments. It is believed that those who could not catch up with the technology and are not well versed with the same will be considered illiterate after a decade or so. KIU-BIC recognizes this fact and is leaving no stone unturned to catch up the bandwagon. I think it is high time for all our youth to pull up their socks and get the most out of the existing opportunities available. I also invite public, private, and not-for-profit organizations to join hands and support us in keeping this momentum on. I am hopeful and very excited for the future of our youth in GB. Together, we shall do wonders, Insha’Allah.