Plenty of potential: IT board facilitating young entrepreneurs

PITB set to establish 13 facilitation centres across the Punjab.

LAHORE: Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) Chairman Umer Saif said on Thursday that 44 companies being run by young entrepreneurs were competing internationally through the board’s Plan Nine Incubation Centre for Start-Ups.

He was speaking to journalists at the Arfa Karim Software Technology Park. Saif said the centre had been providing young entrepreneurs with a platform to share and execute their ideas. He said an incubation cycle lasted for nearly six months.  Saif said the centre was started in 2012.   He said the centre had been helping young entrepreneurs with novel ideas start businesses. Saif said the board had been providing them with several facilities including office space, monthly stipends, workshops, industrial exposure and networking opportunities.



The chairman said 250,000 people were associated with the information technology sector. He said it had potential to grow. Saif said the board had also been providing people with a dedicated feedback system and web-based interactive learning resources. He said the board had been striving to introduce technological and innovative techniques in education, governance and entrepreneurship sectors.

Saif said Pakistan exported software worth $2 billion annually. He said the volume could be increased further if the industry’s potential was harnessed properly. He said the board’s first facilitation centre would start functioning in November in Rawalpindi. Saif said 12 other centres would be set-up across the Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2014.