PK: Human Resource Benchmarking Survey 2008 Sidat Hyder Morshed Associates has once again launched its Human Resource Benchmarking Survey (HRBS 2008) to gain insight into the prevailing HR trends which are being followed by organizations in Pakistan. The survey also identifies best in class human resource policies and practices, which, when implemented, can help your company achieve exceptional performance.

PK: Colgate-PalmOlive to implement Sales & Distribution Solution with Sidat Hyder Colgate-Palmolive and Sidat Hyder Morshed Associates (Pvt) Ltd has signed an agreement by which Colgate-Palmolive (Pakistan) Limited, Tetley Clover (Pakistan) Limited and Clover (Pakistan) Limited will use Sidat Hyder – Sales and Distribution for automating its distribution and sales force activities.

Lebanon: Al-Mashrek Insurance and Reinsurance to implement iLaS. Al Mashrek Insurance & Reinsurance (Lebanon) and Sidat Hyder Morshed Associates (Pvt) Ltd has signed an agreement by which Al Mashrek will use Sidat Hyder – Individual Life Administration System for automating its life insurance and sales force activities.

PK: People Steel Mills engages Sidat Hyder for Oracle Implementation Peoples Steel Mills Limited (PSM) is the only facility of its kind in Pakistan engaged in the development and production of alloys and special steels using modern techniques to produce high quality alloys. Continuing in the same spirit – “to improve business process efficiencies in order to effectively compete in the marketplace” - PSM has also decided to arm itself with an efficient information system to be able to make informed decisions at the right time. In this regard, PSM has opted to implement Oracle E-Business Suite of applications.

PK: Pak-Iran Joint Investment Company selects iPaMs for Investments Management Pak-Iran Joint Investment Company has recently signed-up with Sidat Hyder for automation of Investments Management and DFI Operations. The following modules of iPaMs are being deployed at Pak-Iran: Equity Futures & CFS Money Market Treasury Operations

Sidat Hyder celebrated the completion of a year of successful operations of its Dubai office at JW Marriott in December 2007. The event was attended by members of different companies and operational divisions wishing Sidat Hyder a promising future in Dubai and the GCC region. Members of BRAMER Asset Management, Emirates, Noor Group and Yahoo were a few who were present at the event.

PK: Sayyed Engineers sign up for Sidat Hyder – Information Solutions Sayyed Engineers is a pioneering ballpoint pen manufacturing company in South Asia. The company has recently signed-up for Sidat Hyder – Financials to fulfill its accounting needs. In addition to the head office in Lahore, there are five branch offices at Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad and Karachi, and an overseas office in the UAE. The company has established state-of-the-art facilities for the manufacturing of ballpoint pens and lead pencils. From the time of its inception in 1967, Sayyed has continued its commitment to quality and innovation. In addition to being the largest producer of ballpoint pens in Pakistan, it has also been exporting its quality products to many other countries, including Holland, Turkey, Cyprus, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Kuwait, Russia, Afghanistan, Algeria, Libya, Madagascar, Jordan, UAE and Saudi Arabia.

BAHRAIN: Leading Printing Press Company Engages Sidat Hyder Established in 1952, Oriental Press is one of the leading printing press companies in the Middle East. From a humble beginning in Bahrain, the company has set itself on a growth path. Oriental Press’s management aims to stay ahead in providing better quality of print products, service and satisfaction with increasing investments in technology, equipment and human resource and growing commitment to quality. Today, the company offers services to a large client base in other parts of the Gulf and Middle East, and has spread its wings to Europe as well.

To support business expansion plans and achieve growth targets, Oriental Press’s management realizes the need for streamlining current processes, people, procedures and structures by adopting industry best business practices with a move towards an SBU (strategic business unit) based structure. Considering Sidat Hyder’s experience & success in a number of BPR and Change Management assignments for client organizations in the Middle East & South Asian region, Oriental Press engaged Sidat Hyder to guide them in business process reengineering and managing the resultant change. Based on the outputs of Sidat Hyder ’s efforts, the company will contribute to implementing an ERP solution.

PARCO appoints Sidat Hyder to facilitate managing SAP implementation Pak-Arab Refinery Limited, commonly known as PARCO, is a fully integrated energy company. It is a leading player in Pakistan’s energy industry with an asset base of about 100 billion. As a joint venture between the Governments of Pakistan and Abu Dhabi, it is seen as a role model of Pak-Arab business cooperation and an 'enlightened investment decision'. PARCO is poised to consolidate its growth and strategic supplier role in Pakistan.

To support its growth initiatives, besides other things, PARCO has embarked on a plan to streamline its business processes and to implement new systems to support them. In this regard, PARCO has engaged Sidat Hyder Morshed Associates as their information technology consultants with the assigned role of managing and supervising their SAP implementation with a view to automate all aspects of their business.

According to PARCO’s management, considering the fact that Sidat Hyder has extensive experience of having provided similar support to a number of companies, and its reputation for delivering quality results and ensuring project success, its appointment for the project is a fairly sound and logical decision.

Sidat Hyder’s competitive advantage is a combination of sound in-depth business knowledge and ERP skills, which we offer to clients across many industry verticals. In the recent years, companies in Pakistan’s energy sector that have availed and benefited from Sidat Hyder services include Pakistan Petroleum Limited, Pakistan State Oil, National Refinery Limited, Sui Southern Gas Company, Attock Refinery Limited, to name a few.

Sidat Hyder to conduct 'Value for Money' study for SSGC In recent years, SSGC has made significant investments in IT, which have helped the company to radically transform its operational capabilities. These investments have been both in the form of Software & Hardware as well as in Human resource with a sizeable establishment having been created.

Now, with an objective of determining the ‘Value for Money’ (VFM) being invested, the management of the company has desired to conduct a review of the IT functions at SSGC and in this regard has awarded the project to Information Risk Services of Sidat Hyder.

We believe that we have strong credentials to undertake IT Function Reviews and to conduct feasibilities and value for money reviews. The exercise will be carried out by a qualified staff that not only has exposure to Information Technology, but has also received formal training for conducting similar reviews.

e-Business Unit signs up projects in Canada and UK The e-Business Unit at Sidat Hyder is focused on the latest IT technology trends and is fast gearing up towards building a sizeable workforce for offshore software development, outsourcing, manpower placements, training and related engagements.

The e-Business Unit has been awarded assignments by customers in Canada and UK. With full capacity to service in different time zones, we are on our way towards successful delivery on these projects, which cover the latest Java technologies and frameworks.

DUBAI: Red Entertainment and Distribution
Red Entertainment and Distribution (“Red”), a Dubai Airport Free Zone company is a sales and distribution company supplying gaming titles across various titles and formats to the Middle East and Gulf region. Its operations comprise distribution of popular games in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other countries. Sidat Hyder Morshed Associates - Dubai carried out an assignment jointly with Beaufort Associates involving documentation of As Is Processes, Identification of control weaknesses, duplication or inefficiencies in the existing processes and recommendations for improvement, documentation of updated processes, development of SOPs for To-Be processes, prepare an Implementation Plan and conduct IT Gap Analysis.

TDAP engages Sidat Hyder for HR Management. The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) is a corporate body established under a Presidential Ordinance. TDAP is the successor organization to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and is mandated to become a dedicated, effective and empowered organization that is professionally managed.

TDAP has engaged Sidat Hyder to carry out a consulting exercise which will include development and design of HR policies, procedures and processes, role profiles and job descriptions, compensation and benefits structure, keeping in perspective the local market realities, performance management mechanisms and employee relations management tools, Sidat Hyder will also assist TDAP in career and succession planning, identification of training needs and will undertake training for staff as part of this subset assignment.

MCB to implement Oracle Financials Services Application (OFSA) Sidat Hyder has been selected by MCB Bank Limited (MCB) to implement Oracle Financial Services Applications (OFSA) suite, a business intelligence tool. OFSA will significantly enhance MCB’s ability towards effective monitoring and decision making across multiple dimensions; and build a more efficient organization along with meeting time-sensitive regulatory reporting requirements.

Asian Stock Funds & Safeway Mutual Funds sign up for iPAMs Asian Stocks Funds and Safeway Mutual Funds have signed up to migrate to the latest release of SIdat Hyder iPAMs, covering modules for Equity, Money Market and Treasury operations and are scheduled to go live from July 1, 2007. The automation also effectively covers areas for Back Office Financial Accounting, Payroll and Fixed Assets Management.

National Clearing Company Selects Sidat Hyder - Financials The National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL), one of the most significant infrastructure projects of the capital market, is continuously striving hard to nurture persistent growth of the capital market through steady improvements in efficiency and reliability of the National Clearing and Settlement System (NCSS). NCCPL’s management has recently opted for Sidat Hyder – Information Solutions to facilitate financial accounting and reporting for the company, which is scheduled to go live on July, 2007.

Pension Funds—Al Meezan and Arif Habib Investments prepare for launch Preparations are underway for the launch of Pension Funds at Al- Meezan Asset Management Ltd.

Sidat Hyder, the largest actuarial services provider in Pakistan today, has been engaged to offer consulting services to develop and design products and structures in-line with the Voluntary Pension Scheme (VPS) as outlined by the SECP.

Sidat Hyder’s Information Solution for Mutual Funds shall be effectively utilized to service the anticipated volume customers. The solution already has the flexibility to manage investment plans based on multiple funds and offers sophisticated features of switching investments between funds

Largest Exchange & Leading AMC sign up for BCP The Karachi Stock Exchange and JS ABAMCO recently chose Sidat Hyder for the development of a comprehensive Business Continuity Plan (BCP). As one of the leading multi-disciplinary consulting practices in the country and having extensive exposure in the capital markets, Sidat Hyder aims to develop an enterprise-wide BCP for both KSE and JS ABAMCO that encompasses every critical aspect of their business units. For financial institutions and others, Sidat Hyder has a dedicated team for the Technology Risk Management practice with certified professionals specialized in key relevant areas. For more details please visit our web site (http://www.sidathyder.com.pk/trm.html).

Shan Food Industries opt for Sidat Hyder—Information Solutions Shan, one of the biggest and most prominent names in the food industries, symbolizes quality, hygiene and taste.

Shan, the leading spice company of Pakistan, has decided to further streamline its accounting, inventory, purchase and production procedures, to enable end-to-end automation using Sidat Hyder—Information Solutions.

Continental Chemicals Signs Sidat Hyder Solutions for the Pharmaceuticals The signing up of Continental Chemicals for Sidat Hyder Information Solution has added yet another feather to the Company’s growing popularity and recognition in the Pharma Industry of Pakistan. Our time tested products are tailored to meet Continental Chemicals’ growing need for automation and integration of various functions and will help them stream line their processes in their present period of expansion and increasing production capacity and volumes as well as in the future.

Modules that will be implemented include Financials, Supply Chain Management and Human Capital Management.

We extend a warm welcome to Continental Chemicals for entering in this automation partnership with Sidat Hydedr

Genix Pharma signs Sidat Hyder Financials Genix Pharma Private Limited operating Pharmaceuticals business in Pakistan is a part of Genix Health Care Limited , UK and a member of A & H Group of companies , UK has signed up Sidat Hyder Financials suite to automate and enhance their financial accounting and reporting for the company.

Sidat Hyder Financial has been successfully implemented at the most prestigious pharmaceuticals such as Pharm Evo , EPLA , Sami Pharmaceuticals , Nabi Qasim , Surge Laboratories and many more.

Sidat Hyder's Partner Program For Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals
Date: March 27, 2007
Venue: Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Karachi.

Sidat Hyder Morshed Associates recently launched a Technology Partner Program for Pharmaceutical and Chemical companies of Pakistan held in collaboration with IBM Pakistan. The idea behind the Partner Program was an effort to initiate collaborative sessions in the industry, hoping to identify crucial needs and requirement areas of the mentioned segments and help adopt industry best practices. To inaugurate its Partner Program, Sidat Hyder held a focused and interactive seminar, which was attended by executives from leading pharmaceutical and chemical companies of the country. The Technology Partner Program not only caters to small and medium sized firms, but can also benefit from feedback by large enterprises. Leading organizations well understand the significance of effectively managing the entire Supply Chain & Planning process along with proper Financial and Quality controls in place. Moreover, the right management tools, systems and resources help achieve strategic and tactical objectives efficiently and cost-effectively.

The Information Technology Partner Program (ITTP) is an initiative designed to facilitate and support Pakistan's Pharmaceutical & Chemical sectors for proper and affordable automation by integrating Sidat Hyder - Financials with a specialized Supply Chain Management & Planning solution for specific industries. The focused session proved to be constructive, and Sidat Hyder hopes to introduce the Partner Program and offer specialized Supply Chain Management solutions to other prosperous industry segments in Pakistan.

For more information on our Technology Partner Program, please contact:

Mr. Arooj Alam Khan.

Sidat Hyder adds Retail Solution to its Portfolio
Date: February 27, 2007
Venue: Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Karachi.

Recently Sidat Hyder exhibited its 'Quick-Service' order management application for restaurants at IBM's Retail Store Solution Event held at a local hotel on February 27th, 2007. IBM along with its business partners are continually working towards innovations in the retail industry, helping organizations and retailers transform into customer-centric businesses. The changing focus of retailers to a more customer-centric strategy, has derived the need for ample tools to do each job more effectively, to optimize their existing infrastructures cost-effectively and securely and to eventually enhance consumers' satisfaction.

Complimenting IBM's RSS product line, Sidat Hyder Morshed Associates exhibited its quick-service restaurant solution at the RSS event. The solution has been recently deployed in Pakistan at one of the leading international food chains, KFC. Fully integrated at the backend with our Supply Chain Management solution, Sidat Hyder's RSS solution offers
end-to-end functionality by catering to restaurant needs and the complete cycle of over-the-counter sales, purchase & inventory management. The front-end application runs on a touch-screen display.

For more information on our Retail Software solution, please contact:

Mr. Arooj Alam Khan.

The alliance gives Watson Wyatt, already one of the world's leading actuarial and human resources consultants, a significant presence in Pakistan. The alliance provides Sidat Hyder and its clients, access to Watson Wyatt's global expertise and experience.

Established in 1986, Sidat Hyder is a highly-regarded professional services firm in Pakistan that provides a wide-range of human resources, actuarial, insurance consulting and IT services to leading local and multinational organisations.

“This is an exciting opportunity for us as it further enhances our ability to offer seamless consulting services around the world to our multinational clients,” said Simon Gilliat, global director of Watson Wyatt's international consulting practice.

“We are very pleased to form this strategic alliance with Watson Wyatt,” said Omer Morshed, Chief Executive of Sidat Hyder. “It allows us and our clients to gain from Watson Wyatt's international experience and knowledge."

Sidat Hyder is a well-established Pakistan-based management consulting, technology services, outsourcing practice and professional services firm. In existence since 1986, it provides a range of products and services to clients that hail from various sectors and include government, multinational and large scale local organisations. It has offices in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Dubai and is located on the web at www.sidathyder.com.pk.

Watson Wyatt (NYSE: WW) is the trusted business partner to the world's leading organisations on people and financial issues. The firm’s global services include: managing the cost and effectiveness of employee benefit programmes; developing attraction, retention and reward strategies; advising pension plan sponsors and other institutions on optimal investment strategies; providing strategic and financial advice to insurance and financial services companies; and delivering related technology, outsourcing and data services. Watson Wyatt has 6,000 associates in 30 countries and is located on the web at www.watsonwyatt.com.

Sidat Hyder Morshed Associates (Pvt) Ltd. has entered in a strategic relationship with IBM Pakistan, by signing the Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Teaming Agreement. This Agreement will establish a mutually beneficial relationship between IBM and Sidat Hyder, aimed at meeting growing customer needs for end-to-end solutions. Under this alliance Sidat Hyder will promote its solutions running on IBM’s DB2 software and hardware. It will also gain access to new customers and revenue opportunities through IBM's marketing, sales, and solution resources.

Sidat Hyder’s Information Solutions Suite now supports DB2 backend due to a growing demand in the market.

Sidat Hyder and IBM are committed to delivering solutions exclusively designed, developed and priced for mid-size businesses, with implementations across diverse industry segments including but not limited to Textiles, Pharmaceuticals, Insurance, Mutual Funds, Food & Confectionary, Ports & Shipping, Retail, Construction, NGOs, Trading, Manufacturing, Service Organizations and more.

As a next step, Sidat Hyder also plans to align its solution offering with Websphere, IBM’s principal middleware offerings. Websphere and DB2 are leading software products with 35% and 36% market share respectively, worldwide. In Pakistan too, a large number of customers are using these technologies for enhanced productivity.

Present at the occasion were Mr. Omer Morshed, Director, Sidat Hyder Morshed Associates (Pvt.) Ltd. and Mr. Humayun Bashir, Country General Manager, IBM Pakistan, accompanied by other senior executives of IBM and Sidat Hyder.

http://www.ibm.com/news/pk/en/2006/12/news_29Dec2006.html

Sidat Hyder, a leading management consulting practice today, has been granted a license by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) to operate from Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC).

“We are excited and eagerly look forward to serving this very competitive & growing market space and to expand into other markets in the MENA region. Our resources are currently engaged on projects in KSA, Lebanon, Pakistan, UAE, UK, USA & Zimbabwe”. <Arooj Alam Khan, Director – Information Solutions said while speaking to the Press at Gitex 2006>.

Specializing in Actuarial Services, Human Resource Consulting and Information Solutions & Services, Sidat Hyder has been actively servicing customers across UAE within the Insurance, Finance and Public Sector organizations.

With a growing demand for services and qualified resource pool, the DIFC provides Sidat Hyder with a world-class platform to operate throughout the Middle East which allows us to build a strong foundation to our services to the competitive markets in the Middle East and Africa.

The Dubai Office of the firm will serve as the hub for deeper expansion into the middle-east and African markets for the companies’ software products and service lines.

	Sidat Hyder Actuarial Consulting specializes in Life Insurance, General Insurance and Takaful based life products. Other core specialty areas include Employee Benefit Planning: Pensions, Gratuity, Provident Funds, Benevolent Fund Schemes, Medical Benefits, Group Life and Disability Benefits and more.

	Sidat Hyder Human Resources Consulting offers an entire boutique of HR related services covering Recruitment, Assessments, Benchmarking, Compensation Surveys, Psychometric Testing and more.

	Sidat Hyder-Information Solutions, today offers for wide range of industries covering Insurance, Banking, Asset management, Wealth Management, Financials, Supply Chain Management, Construction and Retail Solutions.

	Sidat Hyder-Business Systems Consulting, offers Business Process Reengineering, ERP Implementation (Oracle & SAP), Systems review, Vendor Selection, Information Systems Strategic Planning and more.

	Sidat Hyder – Technology Risk Management, is a new practice and offers a qualified team of CISA & CISSP professionals with vast experience and expertise to meet all types of client information security requirements.

Sidat Hyder conducted a Human Resources Benchmarking Survey (HRBS) for 2006, in order to identify the prevalent HR practices and trends in Pakistani organizations, to identify prevailing best practices and to arrive at benchmarks which can be periodically updated. The survey included participation from 37 organizations across Pakistan, including multinational, local and government organizations. Substantially the sectors represented included Banking, Financial Institutions, FMCGs, Chemical and Pharmaceuticals, Fuel & Energy and Others.

For more details on the HRBS, please contact

MS. Samia Zuberi

LEBANON: Sidat Hyder, a leading provider of insurance policy administration software, today announced that Lebanon based Fidelity Assurance & Reassurance Company has entered into an agreement to deploy and implement its Life Insurance Administration System to support its Life Insurance Service & Product offering.

By leveraging the power and flexibility of latest toolset and technology, to deliver this new product offering, Sidat Hyder brings an unmatched efficiency to Fidelity, as they can provide their users with secure access to the tools they need to sell and service business requirements and needs.

The solution was required keeping in view the fact that the current system in use at Fidelity was not geared to meet the Life insurance operational complexities. Sidat Hyder was then chosen, for an effective and viable solution and delivery.

The entire deal was very quick and the contract agreement was signed the same day when the system was demonstrated to the users. This complete solution under deployment is based on the following core functional modules:

Individual Life Administration System

Product Configuration

New Business

Alterations

Claims & Settlements

Renewal Billing Lapses & Auto Non-Forfeiture

Unit Accounting

Agency Administration

Reinsurance

Subsidiary Ledger Accounting

MIS Reporting

General Ledger System

Illustration System

LRBT is one of the leading NGO’s (Non Profit Organizations) in Pakistan. The trust was founded by (late) Graham Layton and (late) Zaka Rahmatullah in 1984. LRBT provides free medical and surgical treatment to the poor and indigent patients suffering from eye ailments, through its 14 hospitals and 27 primary Eyecare Clinics. Since its inception it has treated over 1.2 million patients & performed over 1.2 million major and minor surgeries. All services provided by LRBT are absolutely free of cost without any regard to cast, colour or creed.

“LRBT has effectively implemented Sidat Hyder Information Solutions covering Financial Accounting & Donations Information Management. With the implementation of integrated computerized solutions we have been able to reduce manual efforts/time required for consolidation & reconciliation of data/information. On Line systems/solutions have also facilitated our users in easy retrieval of information and generation of reports/analysis required by the management for decision making.”

Rashid M. Khan, G.M.Finance

The Pakistan Investment Climate Survey-II (2006) is a joint effort of the Finance and Private Sector Development Department of the South Asia Region (SASFP) of the World Bank, SMEDA and BOI of the Government of Pakistan (GoP) to generate statistical data with the help of which one can assess the influence of the local investment climate, infrastructure bottlenecks, access to credits, etc. on the performance of business establishments and the economy at large in Pakistan with the aim of drawing conclusions about policy reforms; and also to generate statistical data that can be used for a provincial level Investment Climate Assessment (ICA) for Sindh province.

The survey is being conducted by Sidat Hyder with technical assistance from SMEDA and the World Bank, and covers a sample of 1350 business establishments across Pakistan.

Sidat Hyder Morshed Associates (Pvt) Ltd, shall be completing its 20 years of operations in 2006. It was incorporated as a Management Consulting arm of Sidat Hyder Qamar & Co. in 1986, and in a group served as a representative firm of Arthur Andersen in Pakistan.

In October 2002 the entire practice merged with Ford Rhodes and became a member firm of Ernst & Young in Pakistan with Ford Rhodes Sidat Hyder & Co. being the Chartered Accountant firm and Sidat Hyder Morshed Associates (Pvt) Ltd. being the Management consulting company, operating under one professional management.

Over the years Sidat Hyder has grown in size and practice areas, with offshore work and delivery exposure to over 15 countries and established and recognized leadership in the local market space.

Effective January 2006, the firm has become independent of the Ernst & Young affiliation. This new dimension has extended our frontiers and opened up new practice areas for the firm, which is now fast moving towards going International.

Mutual Funds is a growing industry for the Pakistani market place. With the stock market setting new records and almost every financial institution setting up an asset management company, the choices for investors are increasing every day.

MutualFundsPakistan.Com, has been setup to serve as an independent media and source for investor education, research and investment decision support. The website is focused on the Pakistani Mutual funds industry and provides information and insight on latest industry news, investment plans available, performance comparison, insight on asset management companies and more.

As regional security improves, Pakistan should benefit from its location with large volumes of goods flowing through its ports and container handling facilities. Most of the trading partners transacting with Karachi ports still depend upon traditional paper-based procedures. To be competitive in the international market, introduction of electronic business infrastructure has become mandatory.

UNDP thru UNCTAD has engaged Sidat Hyder to review the feasibility of establishing an electronic platform –- Single Window. The selection of Sidat Hyder is based on its deep knowledge and experience of working with organizations that will be major stakeholders of such a system. These include Central Board of Revenue, Karachi Port Trust, container freight service providers such as Karachi International Container Terminal, Qasim International Container Terminal and Pakistan International Container Terminal, to name a few. The Pakistan Electronic Trading (PAKET) Network will be a platform providing interconnection among the industry stakeholders and related community systems to facilitate information flow and enhance efficiency. It will facilitate the business process interconnection requirements of industry and provide a platform to promote development of new business opportunities. The existence of a common and shared user platform with defined standards and protocols will attract existing suppliers and spawn the development of new businesses including logistics software development, value added services etc., that will contribute to the development of Pakistan’s economy and create employment.

Being conducted in two phases, Phase I covers the review of existing documentation, procedures, and identification of personnel resources for the project. Phase II to include a detailed assessment of the overall technological, legal and organizational aspects of the implementation of PAKET.

Interbank, being a leading Investment banking institution, and a joint venture of the Packages group, American Express Bank Ltd. and International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Interbank needed to automate its Managed services offering to enhance and improve client reporting and operational productivity.

Sidat Hyder solution for Investment Portfolio Management and Accounting (iPaMs) has been selected by Interbank to deliver on this task. The solution is now under implementation and should be live in 4-6 weeks.

iPaMs is one of the leading investments management solution in the marketplace in use with all major asset managers and mutual funds.

Coca-Cola manufactured in Afghanistan is now available at shops in Kabul.

"I believe in the future of Afghanistan - that is why I put my money in
Afghanistan," Habib Gulzar, a partner in the plant, told Agence
France-Presse (AFP).

Sidat Hyder- Information Solutions has been selected to support the core transaction processing and management reporting systems. Sidat Hyder-Financials and SCM are currently under implementation by our support teams in Kabul.

The plant makes Coca-Cola, Fanta and Sprite, and will officially launch the products at Nawroz, though it has already begun selling them in a limited fashion.

Shopkeepers expected good sales from the local drinks, which should be cheaper than the average 35 Afghani for a liter of imported soda.

"People have already been coming here and asking for Afghan Coke," shopkeeper Sher Haadi told AFP. "It is the product of our own country and Afghans are working there. I am so proud."

The new plant, built for $ 25 million, employs more than 300 people. The company had to build a separate facility to produce the carbon dioxide gas needed to make the drink fizzy and because of Kabul's power problems, it had to generate its own power for the 60,000-square meter plant on the outskirts of Kabul.

The new plant is the biggest investment in the industrial sector since the removal of the Taliban, the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency said. It is indicative of "relative stability in the country," the agency said in the statement.