021Disrupt, Pakistan’s premier technology and entrepreneurship conference by The Nest I/O begins today in Karachi at the Pearl Continental.

Into its third year, the two-day conference aims to stir conversations that strengthen the Pakistani ecosystem by hosting 1000+ disruptors, who are entrepreneurs, investors, influencers, mentors, and professionals.

This year’s edition will be hosting:

• 65+ speakers from 20 diverse industry sectors,
• 4 panel discussions with 24 experts on mobility, investment, influence, and scale,
• 6 hands-on skill building workshops for budding entrepreneurs on storytelling, community-building, mindfulness, empathy mapping, raising investments, and pitching for fundraising,
• 3 distinct roundtable sessions exploring investments in Pakistan, social impact and sustainability, diversity and inclusion,
• 20 startups will get the opportunity to pitch in startup rapid fire rounds in front of a diverse audience.

Joining the speaker lineup, the global voices include Mudassir Sheikha, CEO and Co-founder of Careem, Melissa Sassia, Startup Program Manager IBM, Sami Kizilbash, Developer Relations Ecosystem Google, Mostafa Kandil, Founder and CEO Swvl, Chris Rogers, Partner at Lumia Capital, and Kristin Andersson, Board Member for Oslo Innovation Week.

Pakistani voices who will be sharing their disruption stories include Sheba Najmi, founder and Executive Director Code for Pakistan, Junaid Iqbal, Managing Partner for CareemPay, Imran Aftab, CEO 10Pearls, Aatif Aawan, Founding Managing Partner Indus Valley Capital, Isfandiyar Shaeen, Founder and CEO NetEquity Networks, Muneeb Mayr, Founder and CEO Bykea, Rabeel Warraich, Founder and CEO Sarmayacar, and various other mentors and veterans from the local startup ecosystem.

“Although this is our third time organising 021Disrupt, it feels like a whole new experience. Each year its bigger, better, and a lot more exciting. This year we are expecting a crowd of over 1,000; our panel discussions will be more interactive, we are conducting more office hours than last year, so everything in the end is just a better version of what already was a very successful conference in 2018,” commented Jehan Ara, President P@SHA and Founder of The Nest I/O.

Each year, 021Disrupt aims to provide an immersive experience to the Pakistani startup community with an opportunity to engage, partner, co-create, and invest in the future of technology and innovation.