By Our Correspondent
KARACHI : Women Tech Quest, the pioneer Tech Competition for Women in Pakistan, an initiative of 10Pearls, is a platform for students and professional women to compete, learn, network and showcase their competency and talent in tech. The 9th edition of Women Tech Quest took place on Feb 15, 2025 and was physically held in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad. Over 3000 women from various fields of technology attended the event.
WTQ was launched back in 2017 as a competition dedicated to highlighting women in tech, providing them a platform to showcase their skills, gain wide-spread recognition, and win great cash prizes and exposure to further fuel their careers.
Additionally, every year a carefully curated panel of inspirational speakers also mentor these young women on various topics and conduct workshops, not only leading the participants to share their own experiences but also gain industry knowledge and bolster other women in the field to grow and excel.
The competition having been a longstanding success in Pakistan, was also launched in Costa Rica, Latin America, marking a significant milestone in its global outreach in 2024. Keeping up in line with the essence of expansion, fostering innovation, and diversity, Women Tech Quest 2025 expanded beyond their own premises and was held in premier tech institutes of NUST in Islamabad and UCP in Lahore, marking a significant uptake in participation and attendance.
According to Syeda Sana Hussain, Head of People & Programs – EMEA, 10Pearls, “The 9th chapter of Women Tech Quest has solidified its purpose in the minds of young, female tech-enthusiasts nationwide. It goes to show that our vision 9 years ago of creating an inclusive space of women to come forward in tech has come to fruition and with each year we are just getting bigger and better. Every year, we are breaking even more barriers and reaching out to more and more women. Now all our focus is on the next WTQ which will mark a decade of empowering women and accelerating careers! “
Multiple Competition Streams
The competition comprised three streams; Coding, Testing and Design. The Coding competition included a series of problems presented to the participants; they could use any programming language to solve them. The Testing competition presented contestants with a set of objectives to test database and automation concepts; while the Design Competition required participants to solve a UI/UX challenge, and their approach towards user research, persona building and user flows was gauged.
There were two categories – Professional and Student – for each stream, in each city. Each city had 6 winners, so in total 18 winners were announced. Winners received grand cash prizes and shields, whereas all participants received swag kits and certificates of participation.
Invigorating Speaker sessions and Workshops
In addition to the competitions, this year again hosted a range of inspirational speakers from multiple industries including Anne Bracegirdle, Senior Director at 10Pearls, Tabina Islam, CEO of Arfa Karim Foundation & Director Arfa Karim Technology Incubator, Zainab Saeed, Gender & Financial Inclusion Specialist at The Asian Development Bank, Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram, CEO Sehat Kahani, Javeria Siddiqui, Chief Financial Officer at Feroze 1888 Mills Limited, Hira Khalil, E-commerce Lead at Dawlance, Sohail Zindani, Author, Teacher, Entrepreneur and Disruptor at The Sohail Zindani Company, among others.
Hira Khalil, Senior E-commerce Lead, Dawlance expressed her experience as a speaker & sponsor at WTQ “I am truly honored to have been part of Women Tech Quest, an incredible initiative by 10Pearls. This event provided an empowering platform where women could not only showcase their tech skills but also connect with like-minded individuals and inspiring leaders. I’m excited for the future of women in tech, and I can’t wait to see how this initiative continues to inspire and shape careers!”
Endorsed by leading companies
Leading companies from a range of industries came forth to sponsor the 9th edition of Women Tech Quest and share its vision of women empowerment. This year, Dawlance, EasyPaisa Digital Bank, and Feroze Mills 1888 came onboard as Gold Sponsors, Adamjee Life, DayFresh, Hilton Pharma, Boshce Pharma, and MG Apparels came onboard as Silver Sponsors, Pakistan Single Window (PSW) and Peracha Ventures came onboard as a Bronze Sponsor, Careem was the official Travel Sponsor, and Bonanza Satrangi, Out of the Box, and Nur Candles were the official Giveaway Sponsors.
Afnan Khan, Manager Brand Communication and Digital at Adamjee Life shared his thoughts on the event, “At Adamjee Life, we are proud to collaborate with 10Pearls for Women Tech Quest 2025, an initiative that empowers women in technology and innovation. We believe in fostering inclusivity and providing opportunities that help shape a more diverse and dynamic future in the industry. Through this partnership, we reaffirm our commitment to supporting talent, driving change, and making a meaningful impact in the tech landscape.”
Slack was the official Ecosystem Partner, CW was the Technology Media Partner and Empower Foundation, Ashreitech, NUST- SEECS, UCP, NASTP, Circle, PSEB and P@SHA joined the ranks as Event Partners.
The event was also supported by a host of Community Partners from the Tech Industry which included names such as AWS UG KARACHI Google Developer Groups on Campus – Lahore Garrison University, GDGOC International Islamic University Islamabad, ACM UET (Lahore), GDGOC Comsats Uni Islamabad, GDGOC UET Lahore, MLSA LAHORE, GDGOC Uni of Central Punjab, GDGOC NUML Isl, GDOC Comsats Lahore, and Slack.
