Startup Weekend, powered by Google for Entrepreneurs, is an internationally recognized competition offering a platform to budding entrepreneurs to present their creative ideas, hone their entrepreneurial skills, and execute their plans. Being a 3-day event, startup weekend’s first day would kickoff with the participants checking in, followed by an opening ceremony with notable industry thought leaders and technology experts are invited as speakers and guests. Once again this year, Startup Weekend Lahore will be held at the National Incubation Center in Lahore at LUMS, from 16-18 November 2018.
One day 1, participants will be pitching an idea in 60 seconds, and through voting, 20 to 30 ideas shall be qualified for the secondary round.
Day 2 starts with remaining participants now bunched in teams, exposed to some rigorous counselling and mentoring sessions with acclaimed entrepreneurs and coaches. This would entail an unprecedented experience of building effective and coherent business models under their guidance.
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On the third and final day, the participants will be presenting their business models in front of a panel of reputable judges, followed by a critical Q&A session. The third day would finish with the dinner and a closing ceremony where the names of the winners would be disclosed. NIC would award the winners with an incubation opportunity.
Azka Waseem Hasan, Convener at the Techstars Global Startup Weekend Lahore to be held 16th to 18th November 2018 spoke with IDG Pakistan.
Startup Weekends have been promoting startup culture in Pakistan, while providing access to mentors and coaches, and a platform to take their business ideas to market. Additionally, as a winning prize, the National Incubation Center provides fast track incubation to the top 3 business models.
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Commenting on the industry support system, Azka shares,
“We’ve got mentors and coaches from different technology companies who have extended their support and helped mentor and coach the participating startups. For this year, we are proud to announce IDG Pakistan as the official media partner for the event.”
Some of the coaches who are to be a part of this year’s SW include Abdul Aziz (Lumensoft), Abdullah Ahmed (Software house), Dr Amena Hasan (CEO, Business for Social Project), Nevil Patel (VP Operations, i2c Inc.), and Omar Farooq (Founder, Appster).
Judges for this year’s event include Tosheeba Sarwar (Plan9), Syed Ali (CEO, 7Vals), Hussain Nasir (Co-founder, Rolustech), Shayan Zaeem (Co-founder, fizz.io). Masood Yunus, a US based consultant on IT & Blockchain is also speaking at this year’s SW Lahore.
Read: UberPITCH 2018 Comes To Pakistan – Powered by NIC
Some of the judges and coaches from past events include notable names like Zafar Khan (CEO Sofizar), Shayan Zaeem (Co-founder Caramel Tech Studio), Sajjad Kirmani (CEO Infogistics), Tosheeba Sarwar (Founder Management Outfit), and Amena Hasan (CEO Business for Social Progress), Faisal Sherjan (Director National Incubation Center, Lahore), Humayun Mazhar (Founder/Chairman, CEO CresVentures) etc.
Stay tuned to IDG Pakistan as we bring you more news and updates on all that’s happening at the Startup Weekend Lahore. For registrations, please visit Startup Weekend Lahore Facebook Page or contact them on swlums@startupweekend.org.
