Let me begin in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Merciful. Thank You my Lord for making this possible. The 10th All Pakistan Programming, Engineering and Business Competition came to its close on May 2, 2009. The year’s biggest event at FAST Karachi truly lived up to its standards. Originally scheduled for the 30th of April and 1st of May, the event had to be postponed and transformed into a one-day affair because of the violence in Karachi. The postponement and rescheduling of the event was probably the toughest situation that I have ever encountered in my life.

Initially, we had over 200 teams registered and the total number of participants exceeded 620. These were record figures for any event in Karachi. The biggest plus was the fact that over 170 of these participants were to come from all over Pakistan (outside Karachi). Following the postponement by two days – the actual turnout was of over 140 teams, over 450 participants of which over 80 were from outside Karachi. And frankly, the turnout was unexpected. Given the situation – none of us expected such a great turnout of participants, guests, judges and visitors.

How we managed to pull it off – together – shall remain a mysterious miracle for years to come. But one thing is for sure, this year’s event is indeed being counted amoungst the best event’s ever held at FAST (Karachi). I congratulate my team for winning all the appreciation from the Chief Guest, Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, corporate guests, visitors and our faculty. It would not have been possible without your sheer dedication.

For me, personally, had it not been Papa’s (Syed M. Faheem) and Ammi’s trust and support in me, I would never have made it where I stood a few days back. Arsalan Tariq Mir was also a great support I had. I can never thank him enough for his never ending cooperation and support. Bilal Musharraf, Maisam Raza, Saad Jamal, Saad Najeeb, Umair and Humayoon were there for me throughout the 4 years of journey till I became President of this mega-event. I will have to thank my little brother, Maisum, for bearing with me – spending sleepless nights just because I had to stay awake for Procom.Net.

It would not have been possible without Mr. Pervez Mohsin and Prof. Zafar Nasir’s unconditional support and trust in me and my team. I believe one of the reason’s behind our success lies in the fact that they did not interfere in our decision making – rather stood by us against people who tried to.

Both my Vice-Presidents, Naveed and Umair deserve all the credit for putting in their maximum. We really gelled together as a team when it was required. Atif Khan’s cooperation is also worth applause. He was part of all critical decisions that we took. We stood firm and pushed ahead when problems refused to let us move forward.

Adnan M. Yousuf (aka TipTop) was a great motivator since the very beginning. Moosa, Hasan, Saleh, Musab, Suhaib Zia, Zain Alvi, Fakhar-ul-Hasan, Abdullah, Waqar, Shoaib Ahsan, Asim Fayyaz, Hassan Yousuf. Thank you all for making it a success.

Assad Ullah kept pushing me when I thought of backing out of the race to become President. His efforts for the Design team can not be under-estimated. He was sick yet he made sure we had all the panaflex banners ready just before it was too late. We missed you at the event Assad.

And of course when it comes to the Juniors – Wahib Saif, Murtaza Munawwer Fazal, Hani Haider, Shahrukh, Ravendar, Ali Ikram, Asif, Ali Raza, Waqas Adnan, Amir Khan, Faizan Mehboob, Mohammad Ali, Fahad, Syed Hassan.. you guys rocked! Forgive me if I’ve missed out any names here, but you guys were brilliant when it mattered!

Hats to Ali Abbas Rizvi, Usman Tariq, Ali Ahmed Zaidi and Sami Moiz for Guest and Participant relations work. I am especially thankful to the little girls, Zahra Bhojani and Saima Karim for thier untiring efforts. A special word of thanks to Anum Fatima Sayani – the little girl working on a very important task these days =D

I have tried to mention almost everyoneI could remember. Forgive me again if I have missed out on any name. It was a total team effort and like I mentioned in my speech, I am proud of you ALL.

And as for motivation, here is what Mr. Faizuddin Alim (Snr. Business Development Executive at TPS) has to say about our event:

Hats off to all you! For making my journey special! For making this success possible!

Best Regards
Syed Ammar Faheem
President
Procom.Net 2009