ISLAMABAD:
About 8% of Pakistanis have access to higher education, which is less than other countries member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairperson Dr Javaid R Laghari said this while addressing the launch ceremony of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) International Business Plan Competition.
“Despite all the challenges, the HEC is striving to make Pakistan appear on the world map,” he said.
He was sharing his experience from attending the Sixth Islamic Conference on Higher Education and Scientific Research in Sudan. Leghari said access to higher education in Lebanon is 54%, Turkey 45%, Malaysia 40%, and Jordan 38%, and the OIC countries only contribute 1.5% of the world’s technology exports.
“The HEC has undertaken steps for promotion and innovation in entrepreneurship and so far, 22 Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation (ORICS) and six business and technology incubation centres are working at higher education institutions,” he said. He emphasised on the importance of working towards a knowledge-based economy to improve the economic state of the Islamic countries.
Faisal Mushtaq, patron of the TiE competition, maintained that despite a number of competitions being launched in Pakistan, somehow the rewards have never seemed juicy enough to tempt entrepreneurs to participate. “The TiE competition is not one of those. With cash prizes of $1.5 million, it is the richest business plan competition in the world.”
HEC Executive Director Dr Sohail Naqvi elaborated that the competition is all about new opportunities, sharing the passion for entrepreneurship and learning from the insights and entrepreneurial experiences of the mentors and competition judges.
“Such initiatives allow participants to not only to showcase their business plans, but also extend their network and visibility through various cross-functional activities,” he said.
Ahmad Masud, managing director of Channel 7, told the audience that TiE has been designed in conjunction with the Rice University Business Plan Competition to give graduate-level university students in Asia and Europe a real-world experience to fine tune their business plans.
TiE Islamabad will host the level 1 competition after scouting local universities for prospective participants. TiE Brussels will host the finals (level 2) and the winner will be guaranteed places at the Rice University Business Plan Competition (level 3), hosted at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Locally, the competition is being conducted in collaboration with the HEC.
Murtaza Zaidi, executive director of TiE Islamabad Chapter, presented the details of the competition to audience.
The event also had an online audience from around the country, as faculty and students from across the HEC video network in Pakistani universities joined the university heads, students and professionals physically present at the event.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 29th, 2012.
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