Skills on Wheels: PSDF and Uber to work on self-employment opportunities in Transport Sector Lahore: Under the direction of the Chief Minister of the Punjab, Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif; Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) has taken concrete steps to create income generating opportunities for the unemployed youth of Punjab. PSDF and Uber signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), and announced to work together towards enhancing economic opportunities in the transport sector of Punjab. [caption id="attachment_5207" align="aligncenter" width="562"] L-R: Mr. Faisal Fareed – Board Member, PSDF & Managing Director, Maxim International; Mr. Safee Shah – General Manager, Uber Pakistan; Mr. Rana Mashood Ahmad Khan – Minister for Education; Mr. Pierre Dimitri Gore-Coty - Head of Uber Operations Europe, Middle East and Africa; Mr. Jawad Khan – Chief Executive Officer, PSDF; Mr. Anthony Le Roux - General Manager Uber, Middle East & Africa; Mr. Ghassan Haddad - Head of Uber, Public Policy Middle East, Turkey and Pakistan.[/caption] The Minister for Education, Mr. Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan, who was present at the ceremony said: “I congratulate PSDF and Uber on this occasion and sincerely hope that this partnership will reap great benefits for the youth of Punjab; as the creation of self-employment opportunities are very close to the Chief Minister’s heart.” Through this collaboration, young job seekers as well as those generating low income will be provided with the necessary skills so that they can benefit from the opportunities that Uber offers in Pakistan. By running a mass mobilization campaign within Punjab, a trainee pool will be developed and trained in line with a curriculum approved by Uber. These trainings, supported by PSDF, will be designed to help candidates in developing their technical, operational and entrepreneurial expertise, as well as skills that are necessary to ensure the safety and security of Uber’s riders. Once trained, these candidates will then be introduced to and integrated with Uber’s technology system. Talks are also underway to engage the identified trainee pool for selected opportunities overseas. Along with this, both parties also intend to undertake a survey in Punjab to determine the role that new technologies in the shared economy can play in supporting large-scale economic opportunity generation in the transport sector. Upon signing this agreement with Uber, Mr. Jawad Khan, CEO PSDF said, “I am delighted with this latest development and hope that the results will bring us one step closer to achieving the goal that PSDF strives for. Creating income generating opportunities with technology companies is a key priority for PSDF so that we can empower the youth by providing them with carefully designed training opportunities, and creating linkages between them and potential employers.” Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, Head of EMEA Uber said, “We are really excited about the kind of momentum we are building across Pakistan especially in partnership with departments affiliated with the Government, such as PSDF, who are working tirelessly towards disseminating and enhancing essential technical skills amongst the youth of Punjab. With the signing of this MOU Uber aims to utilize the huge talent pool being generated by PSDF, build on Uber’s pool of partners/drivers to provide more safe, reliable and affordable transport to our riders. We believe that by working closely with Mr. Jawad Khan and his team Uber will be able to generate greater economic opportunities in the province and encourage entrepreneurship amongst the youth.” For Urdu Preview, please click on the link below: https://www.dropbox.com/s/c0nioyowvud7swx/Binder1.pdf?dl=0 About PSDF: Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) is a section 42 not-for-profit company established in 2010 under the Companies Ordinance 1984 by the Government of the Punjab in partnership with the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID, UK). The World Bank is also providing funds to the Punjab Government for the trainings to be funded by PSDF. PSDF aims to provide quality skills and vocational training opportunities to the poor and vulnerable populations of all the 36 districts of Punjab in order to improve livelihood prospects for them. Since its establishment in 2011, PSDF has trained 150,000 youth in over 200 trades and it works with over 250 private & public sector training providers. Over the next 5 years, we will be training over 400,000 youth across Punjab that will be employed in Pakistan and abroad. Communications Team Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) Contact: +92-42-35752408-10 E-mail: communications@psdf.org.pk/oldwebsite About Uber: Uber’s mission is to help people get a ride at the push of a button - everywhere and for everyone. We started in 2009 to solve a simple problem - how do you get a ride at the touch of a button? Six years and over a billion trips later, we’ve started tackling an even greater challenge: reducing congestion and pollution in our cities by getting more people into fewer cars. The Uber network is now available in over 470 cities in over 73 countries spanning 6 continents. To request a ride, users must download the free application for Android, iPhone, Blackberry 7, or register for Uber at www.uber.com/go. For questions visit www.uber.com Communications Team Email: press@uber.com