LAHORE: The National Incubation Center (NIC) of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) on Saturday hosted biannual investor summit to provide real-world experience and access to the entrepreneurial youth.

In the past several months, incubatees recruited from all over Pakistan had received 130 hours of instruction from the LUMS faculty members and industry consultants across 50 sessions. The NIC is an effort to inspire, enable and facilitate problem solvers, with a mandate to expand outreach to those who lack access.

The flagship event will bring together 35+ early-stage start-ups incubated at the NIC Lahore and Quetta who would pitch their ventures in agritech, clean-tech, ed-tech, health-tech and fin-tech, to seasoned investors and start-up founders in Pakistan.

These ventures include Pakistan’s first Shariah compliant buy-now-pay-later service, cost-effective prosthetics for amputees that utilise 3D scanning and printing technology, a bio sensor chip to monitor and reduce toxins in crops and improve nutrition, identifying shoplifters in real time by using AI, an automatic low-cost roti making appliance, logistical solutions to increase cargo capacity, an e-commerce aggregator for fashion brands, and a food delivery service that empowers female entrepreneurs who prepare meals at home.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2021