National Incubation Center (NIC) Karachi, in collaboration with The Asia Foundation, concluded the 3rd BuiltByHer Hackathon by hosting the top eleven teams for a competitive grand finale.
BuiltByHer is a 48-hour-long hackathon that requires women-led teams to hack and find solutions to the most pressing issues prevalent in society.
The 3rd iteration of the competition focused exclusively on the issue of climate change and received applications from more than 130 teams to resolve the problem sets. After the three-day hackathon that was held recently, 11 teams were invited to pitch in the grand finale.
After thoroughly assessing and evaluating the solutions, the judges identified two teams as winners of the 3rd BuiltByHer Hackathon: Bhaan led by Nayab Raza, and She-Guard led by Mehreen Raza.
The winners will receive a seed grant of PKR 850,000 to grow and scale their solutions.
She-Guard is a biodegradable, eco-friendly, and herbal-treated sanitary napkin that has the potential to cater to solid waste, serious health issues, and environmental problems.
BHAAN is developing sustainable and eco-friendly bio-fertilizers made up of freshwater microalgae with the potential to cater to food insecurity, energy crises, and climate change.
Farva Minhas, Program Coordinator at The Asia Foundation, said,
“BuiltByHer 3.0 is another successful collaboration between NIC Karachi and the Asia Foundation. Through our work together we have been able to empower young women across the nation.”
“Apart from the hackathon, we are also collaborating with NICK for implementing ‘Impact Collective’ an initiative that will promote research-based dialogue among the academia and policymakers on understanding ESG frameworks to build climate resilience in Pakistan,”
she added.
BuiltByHer was launched in 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic to identify STEM-based solutions to empower the women of Pakistan.
The second BuiltByHer hackathon was focused on STEM and climate change-based issues, whereas the third BuiltByHer focused primarily to address climate change-related issues, a timely initiative given the impact climate change has had on the nation.
In the last three years, the hackathon has created a large pool of female mentors, coaches, and hackers who are constantly working to increase gender parity in the Pakistani educational and tech ecosystem.
The hackathon has positively impacted hundreds of female entrepreneurs, innovators, and change-makers who wanted to launch their ventures aimed at creating a positive impact within their communities.
Sana Shah, Program manager NIC Karachi said, “Pakistan is going through one of the toughest times in its history, the country is facing catastrophic floods, and we can’t rely on conventional ways to address this problem.”
“We are hopeful that the third BuiltByHer is going to produce hundreds of climate change activists that will educate their communities and build climate resilience,”
she added.