Start-up challenge invites application

Event aims to ‘grow businesses, entrepreneurs and the ecosystems’

ISLAMABAD: The US diplomatic mission in Pakistan is partnering with The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) to organise the 2017 edition of the Pakistan StartUp Cup competition for entrepreneurs, with the deadline for submitting applications set at September 20.

Participating start-ups receive extensive mentoring and are judged on the basis of their progress during the competition, a presser released on Monday stated. Mentoring and judging sessions will be hosted in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, and Peshawar, while applications are to be submitted online.

“I especially encourage women to apply.  Some great business ideas are being pursued by women, and we expect that half of the start-ups will be women-led like last year,” TiE Islamabad Executive Director Murtaza Zaidi said.

“In 2016, we saw impressive women-led teams take their business ideas from a dream to a revenue-generating reality throughout the course of Pakistan StartUp Cup.”

“The US Mission in Pakistan offers a range of programs to support Pakistani entrepreneurs as they pursue their business dreams,” American Embassy Cultural Affairs Officer Arlissa Reynolds said.  “Pakistan StartUp Cup is one of our most exciting opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs to test and refine their business models.”

Elaborating on the competition’s theme, the press release said that it is a business model competition which can incorporate any type of business.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th, 2017.

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