Despite the craziness of this year, 35 startups finally transitioned into the next phase of their startup journey, having spent a year at the National Incubation Center Karachi. To commemorate this milestone, NICK arranged a graduation ceremony for cohort 4 and 5 as they embarked on the next chapter of their lives.
Chief Guest of the event, Federal Minister for Information Technology & Telecom, Syed Amin UI Haque, congratulated the startups on their success and praised NICK’s efforts. The momentous occasion was also attended by Asim Shahryar [CEO, Ignite], Dr Sarsosh Hashmat Lodi [Vice Chancellor, NED University, Mr. Junaid Imam [Member IT], Mr. Danish Lakhani [Board member, Ignite], Mr. Jawad Azfar [GM Projects], Mr. Faisal Jamil [VP LMKT], senior officials of the ministry and Ignite teams, and other dignitaries.
Asim Shahryar, CEO Ignite, acknowledged the rapidly growing startup ecosystem of Pakistan and stated a 200% increment in investments in Pakistani Startups over the last year. The government of Pakistan’s pro-entrepreneurship policies have also played a significant part in this increment. He also mentioned plans to create more incubators and tech verticals in more cities to ignite the future of startup ecosystems in Pakistan.
Director of NICK, Omar Abedin, thanked the guests for attending and encouraging the graduating startups. He shared the significant contributions of NICK startups to the economic growth and prosperity of Karachi, and the nation, through startups such as Bykea, Azcorp, Lorryz, Asani.io, and others.
Towards the end, a cake cutting ceremony ensued to commemorate #NICKTurns3 and announcement of Ignite’s National Incubation Centers as a Champion Project in the enabling environment category at the International Telecommunication Union’s WSIS Process Prizes 2021