Through a rigorous selection process, twenty-two Pakistani technology entrepreneurs have been selected to represent Pakistan at the 6th Annual Startup Grind Global Conference, which will take place February 12 – 14, 2018 in Silicon Valley, USA.
Over three days, the conference is hosting more than 7,000 startup founders and investors from across the globe, where the agenda includes 40+ keynotes and fireside sessions to exchange ideas and best practices. The focus of the conference is on how to start and grow businesses, and increase job creation in Pakistan.
Read: Overview – 021Disrupt Investment Roundtable White Paper by The Nest I/O
The entrepreneurs will also be joined at the Conference by famous Silicon Valley based technology entrepreneurs, including Reid Hoffman from Linkedin / Greylock Partners, Cal Henderson from Slack, Steve Huffman from Reddit, Guy Kawasaki from Canva, Mary Grove from Google for Entrepreneurs, Marc Tarpenning from Tesla, and Dr. Andrew Ng from deeplearning.ai /Stanford / Coursera, and big names including Houzz, Pocket, Unilever Foundry, Tech Stars, Y Combinator, Box, SendGrid, MailChimp, Forbes, Khosla Ventures, and many, many more!
Startup Grind in Pakistan
Startup Grind officially kickstarted in Pakistan with its Karachi chapter back in 2012, but was reignited when Arzish Azam, Founder of JustPrice.pk and Alumni of the Founder Institute, Pakistan initiated the Islamabad chapter in January 2017.
As Chapter Director Islamabad, Arzish Azam has been the force behind all the activity including fireside chats and mentoring sessions with some of the leading technology entrepreneurs and investors. “We’ve hosted leading technology experts including Ali Mukhtar (Fatima Ventures), Rabeel Warraich (Sarmayacar), Faizan Aslam (BookMe), Sadaffe Abid (CIRCLE Women) and more,” he shares.
“During the past three months I have been on a mission to build a nationwide presence for Startup Grind. We now have 13 chapters in 10 cities and 4 universities across Pakistan including Peshawar, Sargodha, Sialkot, Gujranwala and Faisalabad in addition to Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.”
Read: Ignite’s DigiSkills Program Inaugurated: Targeting 1mn Freelancers in Pakistan
PAK-US Tech Exchange
This delegation marks the launch of the 2018 PAK-US Tech Exchange, which is a week-long immersion program in Silicon Valley to create global opportunities for Pakistani technology entrepreneurs, powered by Startup Grind Pakistan and supported by Draper University, OPEN Silicon Valley, Motwani Jadeja Family Foundation, Virgin Teez and Careem Erupt.
“This is the largest independent Pakistani delegation traveling to Silicon Valley, which indicates the need our entrepreneurs face to scale their startups globally, and the help provided by Embassy of the United States in Islamabad is proof of the strong ties that exist between America and Pakistan”.
As part of this exchange program, the tech entrepreneurs will have campus tours of tech giants like Google, Facebook and Apple. They will also participate in the World Bank event featuring “The potential of BPO in KPK Pakistan” arranged by OPEN Silicon Valley.
Read: Plan9 Concludes LaunchPad Week: Welcoming The 11th Cohort
Silicon Valley’s top entrepreneurship program Draper University has arranged a workshop on “Exponential Thinking” for the tech entrepreneurs to get a preview of their Entrepreneur Immersion Program.
“We hope to make PAK-US Tech Exchange a gateway for Silicon Valley to connect with Pakistan’s emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
– Arzish Azam, captain of the delegation who envisioned the Exchange Program.
Speaking to IDG Pakistan about this program, Arzish says,
“We hope to solve the disconnect between Silicon Valley and Pakistan’s emerging tech entrepreneurs so they can use this structured program to scale their startups globally. We’ve reached out to Silicon Valley’s leading Pakistani entrepreneurs, through OPEN Silicon Valley, to provide guidance and mentorship to these young entrepreneurs to help them create more job opportunities through innovative ventures.”
IDG has been the exclusive knowledge and technology media partner for Startup Grind Islamabad. Commenting on the partnership, Arzish says
“IDG had been at the forefront of promoting innovation in Pakistan and it is playing a pivotal role in helping the ecosystem through enabling access to information.”
Read: Startup Grind Islamabad Makes A Comeback!
Startup Grind hosts monthly events in more than 300 cities and 115 countries featuring successful local founders, innovators, educators and investors who share personal stories and lessons learned on the road to building great companies.
For more information on PAK-US Tech Exchange, please visit http://www.putechex.com/. Stay tuned as we bring you updates on the delegation.
Image source: Press Release (Pakistan-US Tech Exchange)
