Inaugural meeting brainstorms Entrepreneurship Centre formation

Dr Sarwer says PEC will be modeled to enable students and graduates to venture out with initial support

LAHORE: The inaugural meeting of the Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT) Entrepreneur Alumni Forum was held in the Senate Hall of the University of the Punjab. Over 57 companies founded by PUCIT alumni had registered for the meeting. The CEOs of the companies and PUCIT teachers participated in the meeting, a press release issued by the PUCIT stated.

While speaking on the occasion, PUCIT Principal Prof Syed Mansoor Sarwar acknowledged the CEOs as an integral part of the achievements of the college and its future hopes. He said the primary purpose of the meeting was to brainstorm the idea of establishing PUCIT Entrepreneurship Centre (PEC) in the college and carry out the work necessary to make it a success story for other institutions to follow.

The founders gave briefings about the companies that they had founded and offered their help to inculcate the culture of entrepreneurship and business incubation among PUCIT students through the establishment of PEC within the next few months.

Dr Sarwar added most of the successful entrepreneurs from around the world were from the oldest, wealthiest, and elite universities, including Stanford, Harvard, Cambridge, MIT, and Berkeley. He maintained that almost all such universities were situated close to hubs of venture capitalists (VC) and investors, and had industry-affiliated investment funds. Also, the alumni of these universities were deeply entrenched in technology companies and they make sure that funding goes to the graduates of their alma maters.

The VC pointed out that the graduates of Harvard and Stanford alone had founded nearly 5,000 companies during the past decade, creating tens of thousands of jobs and contributing hundreds of billions of dollars to the world economy.

Sarwar said that there were also plenty of people in the world who ventured into amazing businesses with very little money and without raising funds. He said that PEC would be modeled to enable the college graduates and students to venture into entrepreneurship with initial support from PUCIT and its alumni.

The participants agreed to establish the PUCIT Entrepreneurship Forum (PEF), indigenous, cost effective, and self-sustainable framework to foster and inculcate entrepreneurial culture at the institution. In this framework, successful entrepreneur alumni and their teachers would brainstorm ideas and devise strategies to foster entrepreneurial culture at the campus.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2018.