1,600 students graduate under youth programme

Islamabad : The virtual graduation ceremony for 1,600 fellows of the PepsiCo-Amal youth programme held. The graduating cohort has a 40 per cent female participation and has representation from 135 towns and villages across Pakistan.

The speakers at the ceremony were Furqan Ahmed Syed, CEO PepsiCo Pakistan and Afghanistan, Benje Williams Co-Founder Amal Academy, Ali Siddiq the CEO of Amal Academy and Fawad Chaudhry, Federal Minister of Science and Technology. Jaqueline Novogratz, Founder and CEO of Acumen was the keynote speaker at the ceremony.

PepsiCo has partnered with Amal Academy – an education start-up to fill this gap by providing professional skills to university graduates so they can realize their potential and launch into meaningful careers. The program focuses on a wide variety of skills. These include self-confidence, communications, stress tolerance, adaptability, team work to name a few.

All of these have been identified as crucial skills to have by prospective employers.

The Amal Youth programme was launched in 2018 as a pilot to train 1,000 students. In 2020, the programme was expanded into Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A total of 3,000 students have graduated from the programme. The initiative has partnered with 16 universities and with the Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC). This year, over 96% of job seeking graduates received either an offer of employment or ventured into entrepreneurship within three months of completing the program.

Speaking at the ceremony Fawad Chaudhry, Federal Minister of Science and Technology commented, ‘I want to congratulate the 1,600 fellows graduating. I want to wish them luck and would encourage them to pursue their passions. I also want to commend both the partners on this important collaboration.’

In his remarks, Furqan Ahmed Syed commented, ‘The Youth programme lends itself to great opportunities for the youth of Pakistan. Our fellows graduating today are extremely passionate, motivated and keen to prove themselves.’

Ali Siddiq, CEO Amal Academy in his address said, ‘Amal Academy is committed to helping the youth of Pakistan and the Pakistani education system reach its full potential. With PepsiCo’s support, we hope to further expand the programme and benefit more young people going forward.’