Microsoft Imagine Cup Launching Seminar was held on January 20, 2009 from 3:30 p.m. till 5:00 p.m. at the auditorium of the IBA City Campus. The program was attended by the faculty members and Computer Science students of IBA.

The guest speakers of the program were Mr. Omer Bin Ahsen (Business Consultant KalSoft Ltd.) and Mr. Naveed Ahmed Bajwa (Senior Partner and Developer Evangelist, Microsoft). The host speakers were Dr. Ishrat Husain (Dean & Director IBA) and Dr. Sayeed Ghani (Associate Dean and Chairperson Computer Science Department).

The program was started with the recitation of Holy Quran.

In his welcome address, Dr. Ishrat said that IBA has a good Computer Science faculty and talented students. The students of IBA can easily compete in such events. He stressed that some percentage of students should go to their own ventures rather than entering into the job market. In this connection, IBA has setup its Centre for Entrepreneur Development (CED) which can provide assistance to the students in their upcoming career.

Welcoming the guests, Dr. Sayeed Ghani introduced Microsoft Imagine Cup competition to the audience. He announced the formation of Web Society, emphasized its importance and invited the students to join it. Dr. Ghani said that by joining this society, the students may become entrepreneurs even before they get a degree in hand.

Mr. Bajwa gave a presentation to introduce Microsoft Imagine Cup and presented the history of the competition before the viewers. He highlighted that the Imagine Cup is the world’s premier student technology competition. Mr. Bajwa announced that this year’s competition is going to be held in Egypt. He also displayed 2009 competition’s categories.

Finally Mr. Ahsen mentioned the importance of such competitions for youngsters and said that along with software development there are many other categories like film making, photography etc. in which students can participate. Mr. Ahsen mentioned that in the competition the people who can participate are competitors, mentors and supporters.

There was a question-answer session in the end.