Pakistan’s first Social and Creative Incubation Program Launched
4 Million students are enrolled in around 192 Universities / HEIs that is less than 2% of total population. These qualified graduates are drivers of socio-economic change. Creating more than 1 Million Job per annum is among greatest challenges and will not be possible without proactive role of universities in Pakistan.
Till today, HEIs in general, focused more on developing employees and not employers / entrepreneurs. Now is the time to transform universities to entrepreneurial institutes with prime focus on indigenous impact-based research to solve social issues in creative and innovative ways.
NUML hosted a graceful Opening Ceremony of Pakistan’s first Social and Creative Incubation Program, on 29th Jan 2019. Center for Global Innovators (CGI), an Islamabad based Innovation Consulting Company has partnered-up with one of the most prestigious business schools in Europe — Cranfield School of Management, UK to help design & deliver Social and Creative Incubation program two public sector Universities — NUML University, Islamabad and Lahore College for Women University, Lahore. This Social and Creative Incubation program is being delivered with the support from British Council.
Mr. Imtiaz Rastgar, founder and Chairman of Rastgar Group and Chairman of HEC Innovation Steering Committee, was the Chief Guest of the occasion. Mr. Imtiaz Rastgar is one of the best entrepreneurs of engineering sector in Pakistan. Mr. Imtiaz Rastgar appreciated the launch of the program and provided his value advise to the upcoming entrepreneurs. Prof. Dr. Farkhanda Manzoor, VC, Lahore Women College University, graced the occasion with her presence and presented her vision to transform Lahore College for Women University into an entrepreneurial university. Director General NUML, Brig Muhammad Ibrahim welcomed the guests and shared the NUML’s enthusiasm and commitment towards social uplift of the society. Dr Imran Zawwar represented Cranfield School of Management, UK. Startup Ecosystem Leaders, Dignitaries, Delegates of partner organizations, Deans & Directors of NUML and LCWU also attended the event.
Business Incubation Center (BICON) NUML team led by Dr Gulfam Baghoor has been working hard with Center for Global Innovators (CGI), Cranfield School of Management and British Council for the launch of this Incubation program. Co-founders of CGI, Imran Jattala and Mustafa Minhas were delighted at the launch of this incubation program. Mustafa Minhas expressed his desire to scale this program across Pakistan in coming years. A Panel Discussion on “Social & Creative Entrepreneurship for Economic Growth” was also organized during the event. Panelists included Mr. Parvez Abbasi Project Director NIC Islamabad, Mr. Kamran Yusuf Shami Chief Information Officer OGDCL, Mr. Talha Chishty Program Manager British Council, Ms. Farhat Asif President Institute of Peace & Diplomatic Studies and Dr Humaira Shahbaz. Panel discussion highlighted different aspects of Social & Creative Entrepreneurship and how this can contribute towards the economic growth of emerging markets like Pakistan.
Ms Asna Javed, IT Team lead at IBM and a differently-abled person, in her motivational talk shared that she was born without arms. But she never let this hinder her progress. She shared with the audience that if she can do engineering & work at one of largest corporate in the world, there’s nothing impossible in this world. Director General NUML, Brig Muhammad Ibrahim presented the Chief Guest and Panel Speakers with shields to conclude the event.
CGI is building an Impactful Startup Ecosystem in Pakistan and we are looking to collaborate with the stakeholders from Government, Policy Makers, Legislators, Universities, Development Sector, Impact Investors and Startup Incubators/Accelerators.
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About the Author:
This article is written by Team CGI comprising Ahmed Mujtaba Khan, Abdul Rahman, Mahnoor Memon & Asma Aslam. CGI — is building Innovation Ecosystems & is Connecting Global Innovation Thought Leaders to Pakistan & South-Asia.
