'Startup Lahore to break old monopolies’

Conference, organised by MIT Forum, brings start-ups and investors together

LAHORE: Adviser to the Punjab Chief Minister Umar Saif has said that the Startup Lahore conference is a message of hope towards self-reliance, which will eliminate longstanding monopolies.

He was speaking at the two-day conference, organised by the MIT Enterprise Forum Pakistan (MITEFP), in collaboration with the Information Technology University (ITU), at the Arfa Software Technology Park.

Investors, entrepreneurs, mentors, speakers and representatives of tech companies are participating in the conference. These include more than 150 start-ups and around 30 investors. Saif said the interest in the event was highly encouraging as 220 companies applied and 85 exhibitors set up their stalls, which confirmed that the youth were determined to proving the power of entrepreneurship.

Innovative ideas and emergence of new companies proved that doors of the opportunity had forced the world to talk about the start-up ecosystem of the world’s sixth most populated country, he added.

MITEFP is a global organisation of dedicated professionals associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) through the MIT Technology Review and is one of the 24 worldwide chapters looking to engage stakeholders of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

One of the key features of the Startup Lahore would be the Start-up Rumble. It is a platform that will make it viable for the entrepreneurs to submit a business idea of no more than 350 words and all the ideas will be subject to a vote. The shortlisted start-ups will be invited to Lahore to present their ideas as well as a detailed business plan in front of a jury.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2017.

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