Preparing for the real world: Sukkur IBA students clinch second position in entrepreneurial competition

Out of the 16 shortlisted business plans, two were from Sukkur IBA.

SUKKUR:

Students of Sukkur IBA bagged the second position in the agri-entrepreneurship category at the ‘Invent 2013 The Nationwide Entrepreneurial Challenge’ organised by Karachi IBA.

Invent 2013 is one of the leading student-level business-plan competitions in Pakistan. In the last six months, 350 teams registered their business plans. Almost 200 students of Sukkur IBA participated in the event by submitting 50 plans in different categories of agri-entrepreneurship, techno-entrepreneurship, socio-entrepreneurship and classic- entrepreneurship. Among the 16 shortlisted business plans, two were from Sukkur IBA.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Sukkur IBA marketing manager Sanaullah Shar said that in the grand finale event, the shortlisted teams presented their business plans to a panel of judges and Sukkur IBA’s agri-entrepreneurship teams cleared the multiple stages of competition, including strict grading system, sustainability of business idea and presentations.

They confidently defended their ideas through the critical questions’ stage and the judges announced that the business plan of Sukkur IBA students won second in its category. The students were awarded a cash prize of Rs100,000, he added. The names of the members of the winning teams are Iqra Latif, Hina Shafiq, Sanjay Kumar, Rasool Bakhsh. All of them are the students of the BBA programme at Sukkur IBA.

The IBA entrepreneurship society in collaboration with the IBA centre for entrepreneurial development held the grand finale of its one-of-a-kind nationwide business-plan competition ‘Invent - The Entrepreneurial Challenge’.

Sukkur IBA’s director-entrepreneurship Ali Akbar Rizivi said that the institute was striving hard to create a support system. According to him, students through these programmes will not only learn to develop their own business, but at the later stage, they will be able to provide job opportunities to the unemployed. “I am happy that my students have bagged the second position in the competition.”

Winner Bakhsh said that he saw this runner up prize as a source of inspiration. He said that the team members are encouraged and motivated to develop business and create jobs for the unemployed youth. Through such programmes, he said, they were not only able to become self sufficient, but encouraged others to join the struggle. Thanking his teachers for their untiring efforts, he said, they were sure that with such efforts they could bring a positive change in the region, which would ultimately support the country’s development.

The event was officially sponsored by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, with SECP commissioner Muhammad Asif Arif as the chief guest.  Shar said after six months of rigorous training and workshops across Pakistan, students honed their entrepreneurial skills and developed feasible plans for their business ideas.

This year, 1,600 students from the 140 HEC recognised universities spanning across seven cities participated in the competition themed ‘Ideas Today: Businesses Tomorrow’.

At the event, the associate director for the Centre for Entrepreneurial Development at IBA, Dr Shahid Qureshi, praised all 16 finalists for their hard work. IBA Dean and Director Dr Ishrat Husain felt proud of the efforts and dedication of the students.

Shar said that the judges awarded the first prize of Rs175,000 (including Rs100,000 of seed money) to different categories.

In techno-entrepreneurship project, it was awarded to smart surgi-sol by the National University of Sciences and Technology and the International Islamic University, in agri-entrepreneurship project, green pump by the University of Engineering and Technology Karachi and IBA Karachi scored the prize, in the socio-entrepreneurship project, straw bale hybrid homes by the Centre for Advanced Studies and Engineering won, and in the  classic-entrepreneurship project, easy electric EE by the Centre for Advanced Studies in Engineering took the prize.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2013.