Digital Youth Summit 2015: Tech Entrepreneurs from all over the world will gather in Peshawar Pakistan

Peshawar, Pakistan. One of the oldest cities of Asia and capital of the Province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), is a vibrant city, a melting pot of local and regional cultures that make it the city of hospitality. And in a few weeks, once again, the city will host the Digital Youth Summit which will take place on May 7-9, 2015.
 
Thanks to the joint efforts of the KP IT Board, the local youth-led organization Peshawar 2.0 and the World Bank, Peshawar will open its doors to the Tech Community from all over the world on May 7-9, 2015.
 
The Digital Youth Summit is the biggest tech conference of Pakistan that aims at “bringing together the next generation of digital entrepreneurs”, showcasing local startups and giving access to youngsters to income-generating opportunities based on Information and Communication Technologies.
 
Over the past two years the World Bank has been partnering with Peshawar 2.0 and the KP IT Board to explore new income-generating opportunities for the youth of KP. While talent and creativity are abundant, for many years the Province of KP has been severely affected by social conflicts and terrorist attacks that have deteriorated the investment climate, prevented the private sector for investing more in KP, led to high youth unemployment rate.

​​In this context of uncertainty, two “non-traditional” sectors have been identified as both attractive for youngsters and growing at global level while providing new opportunities: tech entrepreneurship and on-line work.
 
Thanks to its low entry barriers, Information and Communication Technologies provide the tools to easily take an idea to the global market, and quickly tackle challenges such as knowledge gaps or distance. A computer and an internet connection are all you need to access a wealth of open-learning material (the success of free portals such as Code.org, Khan Academy and Coursera are great examples) and, for instance, serve clients from different geographies as e-lancer (an e-lancer is an on-line freelancers – have a look at Elance.com trends).
 
Peshawar 2.0 and the KP IT Board have a clear vision: to take Peshawar to the next level and make it the city of Technology, Design and Arts, and the World Bank has been supporting their efforts. Peshawar 2.0 is a youth-led organization, they are working with the local government to build a movement of innovators and creators that embrace technology and encourage others to do so. The rationnel is very simple: a change of mindset is needed - venture out and use you talent to start your own business or serve clients from all over the world.

But the Digital Youth Summit is not just a conference. The event, that will see the participation of top experts and tech entrepreneurs from Pakistan, South Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the US, will be proceeded by training activities on various aspects of tech entrepreneurship (including training camps for coders powered by Microsoft) and will launch further training and apps competitions that will take place over the next months. Furthermore, a series of training session on on-line work are being conducted all over the KP province by the partner organizations Empower Pakistan, Women’s Digital League and KADO to support youngsters in their efforts to earn money.
 
And in case you are wondering about the great innovations coming out of Peshawar, have a look at Messiah (a life-saving apps) and NoKunda (a system to report electricity theft).

​For more information, visit www.digitalyouthsummit.pk and follow @kpdys.

To learn more, watch the DYS Video. 

Views about DYS 2014 from Digital Youth Summit on Vimeo.