Northumbria graduate entrepreneur impresses in Pakistan

Northumbria University alumnus Muhammad Uzair has won a prestigious international British Council award for business innovation in his home country of Pakistan.

The Mass Communication and Business graduate claimed The Entrepreneurial Award in the Study UK Alumni Awards 2018 for Pakistan. As the co-founder of Peshawar-based business Blimp, Muhammad has impressed the judges by growing the enterprise into the region’s fastest growing digital marketing agency. The company provides web development, content and PR, and graphic design services for small and medium sized enterprises across Pakistan. Mahammad, who graduated from Northumbria in 2011, has also cofounded a social enterprise called Peshawar 2.0, and a co-working space named Basecamp, to help other entrepreneurs and start-ups.

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. Its Study UK Alumni Awards celebrate UK higher education and the achievements of UK alumni all over the world. Now in its fourth year, the award received more than 1,700 applications from international UK alumni in a record 123 countries, representing more than 140 UK higher education institutions across the UK.

In Pakistan, as elsewhere, individuals from across the country were recognised for their outstanding achievements as business professionals, entrepreneurs and community leaders, and for their contribution to strengthening collaborative ties with the UK. Twelve finalists in three categories were selected from more than 150 applicants across Pakistan.

Muhammad said:“I always had an interest in information and communication technology from my school days, and was introduced to coding in seventh grade by my computer science teacher. From that day, I continued learning and exploring different aspects of ICT. At the same time, I had a growing interest in marketing. I was able to connect the dots early on, and started using ICT as a marketing tool for non-profit organisations run by family and friends. This included developing websites and using Social Media for fund raising. Education in the UK helped me build further on my experience, and Northumbria offered the perfect course and learning opportunity for me. After working in a social media agency in Leeds, I moved back to Pakistan with a vision to establish a Digital Marketing Agency in my hometown of Peshawar.

“At Blimp, we use technology to do good. An example of this is how we used it to bring 150 students and 22 teachers online to create virtual classrooms using Google for Education when schools were forced to close down after the deadly terrorist attack on a school in the city in December 2015.”

Rosemary Hilhorst, Country Director at the British Council in Pakistan, added: “The remarkable individuals selected as finalists for the Study UK Alumni Awards in Pakistan have all taken their UK education as a starting point to excel in their chosen careers and shape the world around them. This year’s finalists are testimony not only to the diversity of UK alumni and their endeavours, but also to the transformative impact of a UK education”.

The British Council Study UK Alumni Awards have three categories, including Professional Achievement, Entrepreneurial Award and the Social Impact Award.

To read more about this year’s inspirational finalists, please click here https://www.britishcouncil.pk/alumni-awards-2017-18.

For more information on Northumbria please visit www.northumbria.ac.uk