Lahore (GNP): TallyMarks Consulting (TMC) hosted a dedicated session aimed at helping small and medium-sized enterprises adopt artificial intelligence, held at the Aiwan-e-Iqbal Complex in Lahore. The programme, titled “AI Now Simplified for SMEs,” brought together SME owners, department heads, business leaders, and members of academia from across the city in a focused effort to make AI accessible and actionable for businesses of all sizes. Initiative Aims to Bridge Pakistan’s AI Adoption Gap Among Small and Medium Enterprises
The initiative directly addresses a growing concern within Pakistan’s business landscape. Organisers noted that the use of artificial intelligence has largely remained limited to large enterprises and tech-focused startups, leaving a significant portion of the country’s SME sector behind in what is rapidly becoming a defining technological shift.
Event materials set the tone early with a pointed message: “AI is not your competition. The businesses using AI are.” The statement captured the urgency that organisers sought to convey throughout the day, encouraging participants to move beyond hesitation and take concrete steps toward AI adoption.
TallyMarks Consulting Brings Together Industry Voices on AI Adoption
The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Syed Sohail H. Naqvi, Director EdTech at TallyMarks Consulting and Chairman of Knowledge Streams, who framed AI adoption as far more than a technological choice. He described it as a national competitiveness imperative, stressing that Pakistan’s SMEs must engage with AI not as a distant possibility but as an immediate business necessity.
Tanveer Ahmad Sheikh, Senior Vice President of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, echoed this sentiment, highlighting the growing need for AI adoption to address real-world challenges related to productivity, costs, and market competition. His remarks reinforced the broader business community’s recognition that AI is no longer an optional tool but a fundamental driver of operational efficiency and market relevance.
Practical Roadmap and Hands-On Training
Anas Wahab, Chief AI Officer at TallyMarks Consulting, presented a practical roadmap for immediate AI adoption, offering participants a structured approach to integrating artificial intelligence into their existing business operations without the need for technical expertise or significant financial investment.
The hands-on training sessions were led by Trainer Shahmeer Maqbool and Co-Trainer Ammaz Ahmad, who guided participants through live demonstrations of widely accessible tools including Gemini, ChatGPT, Canva AI, and Google Vids. The sessions were designed to be practical and immediately applicable, with participants engaging directly with the tools rather than observing from a distance.
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A strong emphasis was placed on prompt engineering throughout the training, teaching participants how to provide clearer instructions to AI systems in order to generate better and more useful outputs. Practical applications covered included marketing content, customer support, proposals, reports, and quotations. More advanced use cases were also introduced, including AI agents, recruitment bots, invoice processing, and legal drafting, offering participants a glimpse into the broader potential of AI across business functions.
Making AI Accessible
One of the session’s most resonant messages came from a TMC spokesperson, who summed up the accessibility of AI in simple terms: “If you can send a WhatsApp message, you can start using AI.” The firm encouraged SMEs to begin with straightforward steps, such as trying a free AI tool, creating a business message or social media post using AI, and identifying opportunities to reduce operational costs through automation and intelligent assistance.
The event concluded with a practical action plan focused on helping SMEs become faster, more responsive, and more competitive. Organisers were clear that the goal is not to replace people, but to empower them, positioning AI as a tool that works alongside human talent rather than against it.
The session marked a significant step in TMC’s broader mission to democratise artificial intelligence across Pakistan’s business community, with a particular focus on ensuring that SMEs are not left behind as the country navigates an increasingly AI-driven economic landscape.
