Govt appoints directors, chairman for Ignite tech fund 

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has appointed the directors for Ignite-National Technology Fund's Board and made the National Information Technology Board (NITB) executive director as the board's chairman.

Documents available with Pakistan Today informed that government, in a bid to fill the vacant slot of directors, has made appointments to complete the quorum at Ignite’s board.

The newly-appointed directors include Jazz CEO Aamir Hafeez Ibrahim from ‘Cellular Mobile Operator’ category, Cyber Internet Services CEO Danish Lakhani from ‘Fixed Line Operator’ category and Nayatel Pvt Ltd COO Khawaja Sand Saleem from ‘Data Service Provider’ category.

Similarly, from ‘Scientific and Academic Community’ category, the government has appointed Balochistan University of IT, Engineering and Management’s Faculty of ICT Dean Dr Faisal Khan and Institute of Business Administration’s Centre for Entrepreneurial Development Director Dr Shahid Qureshi.

Likewise, the government has appointed Pakistan Expo Centers Pvt Ltd CFO Business Administrator Ziaul Mustafa from ‘Corporate Management’ category as director of the Ignite board.

NITB Executive Director Shabahat Ali Shah has been appointed as an ex-officio director and chairman of the said board.

Ignite-National Technology Fund (formerly National ICT R&D Fund Co) was established under Section 33C of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act, 1996, as amended in 2006, for prescribed research and development activities in the field related to information and communication technology. The fund comprises of contribution from telecom operators and is utilized through the Ignite company established by the federal government under Section 42 of the Companies Ordinance, 1984 (now Companies Act, 2017).