MAM
Pakistan I&B minister urges ad agencies to prop up country’s image
ISLAMABAD: Our neighbours are realising the value of advertising. Pakistan federal minister for information and broadcasting (I&B) Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has asked advertising agencies to play a larger role in the image building of the country, aimed at meeting the future challenges and attracting foreign direct investment. The minister was presiding over the inaugural session of ‘Round Table Conference on Advertising in Pakistan’.
The meet was attended by I&B ministry secretaries, director generals of the national broadcasters and representatives of the ad associations and accredited advertising agencies from Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.
Minister Ahmed urged the ad agencies to work for promoting Pakistan as a moderate, liberal and progressive state in the world. He added that ad agencies would promote marketing values along with code of ethics for the betterment of the society.
The minister also reassured the gathering and stated that the government would try to resolve their problems at the earliest.
Regarding licensing for private television channels, he said the government would grant licences to private companies for setting up private channels aimed at promoting healthy competition in the field of electronic media.
Ahmed said many companies had approached the government for setting up channels including a private channel, Star Pakistan, which would be a purely Pakistani channel. “CNN and BBC have also talked about their Urdu service,” the minister disclosed.
The ministry officials also called upon owners of advertising agencies to make a code of ethics to discourage gloomy advertising in electronic as well as print media.
MAM
Beacon Group appoints Dr Rajesh Patel as Group CEO
36-year healthcare veteran to lead Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek, Biogeny.
MUMBAI: A new chief, a fresh diagnosis and a sharper prescription for growth. Beacon Group has appointed Dr Rajesh Patel as its Group Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1, 2026, signalling a decisive push to scale its presence in the diagnostics and IVD space. Patel steps into the role with 36 years of experience across the healthcare and diagnostics industry, bringing a career shaped by leadership roles spanning sales, marketing, business development and operational strategy. His mandate is both expansive and precise: to steer the group’s overall strategic direction while tightening coordination across its three core entities Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek and Biogeny Diagnostics.
In practical terms, that means driving cross-company synergies, accelerating market expansion and strengthening organisational capability areas increasingly critical as diagnostic players compete for scale in a fragmented yet rapidly evolving healthcare ecosystem. The group is positioning itself to capture unmet demand across chain laboratories, key accounts and standalone labs, segments that remain underserved despite growing diagnostic needs.
The appointment comes at a time when the In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) sector in India is entering a more competitive and innovation-led phase, with companies focusing not just on product pipelines but also on service delivery, integration and customer-centric models. Beacon’s leadership appears to be betting that Patel’s execution-focused approach can help translate ambition into operational momentum.
Welcoming the appointment, Chairman Dr D K Joshi described Patel’s induction as a strategic move aligned with the group’s long-term vision, emphasising the role of leadership depth in navigating the next phase of growth.
For Beacon Group, the message is clear, in a sector where precision matters, leadership is the new differentiator—and this appointment is intended to set the tone for what comes next.
