KARACHI: Diaper changes, child allergies and closets overflowing with nothing to wear — these are conversations of everyday life for countless women. They rarely make it into boardrooms or startup pitch decks.

Yet the Women in Tech event, funded by Standard Chartered, acknowledged these realities, which became the basis of new business ventures.

Starting with 86 applications in 2019, Women in Tech has now grown to 1,900 applications from over 100 cities across Pakistan. From these, 10 startups were selected for seed grants worth Rs1 million each, along with a two-month mentorship programme through INNOVentures Global.

The top three winners this year were baby food brand Yumkins Foods by Hira Mubeen; Atfaal by Erum Sheheryar, which upcycles textile waste into kidswear; and Ootein by Maria Ameer, Pakistan’s first certified allergen-free food brand inspired by the founder’s own struggle with celiac disease.

The winners received scale-up grants of Rs5m, Rs3.5m, and Rs2m respectively, at an event held on Thursday.

The shortlisted 10 startups collectively generated close to Rs25m in verified revenue within two months. If they maintain this trajectory, these ventures are projected to deliver 3.3x annualised growth, reaching a total of Rs150m in revenue over the next year.

While that may seem like pocket change to the corporate sector, it’s important to remember that many of these ventures began at home with a woman simply solving a problem in her daily life.

Take, for example, the need to work from home. Childcare and household management are realities for most working mothers. And even with supportive environments, many corporations fall short.

Digital Superwomen’s founders realised that there is more scope in freelancing than in the corporate sector. The venture aims to address this by offering short online courses that can be managed with kids and provide basic skills that allow women to work from home and apply for jobs.

Another example is Lahore-based AZCode, a coworking space with a roughly 60 per cent female user base.

“Pakistan has one of the lowest rates of female workforce participation in the world. Women face unsafe workspaces, limited flexibility, and cultures that often silence their potential. Co-working spaces exist, but most offer only infrastructure — not inclusion,” says co-founder Asra Ameen.

“The more women are involved, the greater the multiplier impact,” said Nida Athar, CEO of INNOVentures.

Across these 10 startups, over 80pc of the teams are women, and more than 1,200 women have been engaged as suppliers, customers, and partners, she said.

From 2015 to 2021, local startups collectively raised $563m across 225 deals, but women-founded startups received only 1.4pc of that total, said Raeda Latif, country head of corporate affairs, brand and marketing at Standard Chartered.

“Since then, things have improved — women-led startups now represent roughly 10pc of the ecosystem,” she said.

As the principal country officer of the International Finance Corporation, Naz Khan pointed out that women’s entrepreneurship should not be treated as a side story; it should be seen as a driver of economic growth.

Studies have shown that 90pc of the income earned by women is reinvested into their families and communities, shaping generations to come.

Some areas identified as needing improvement among women-led businesses included digital bookkeeping, using analytics to track returns on spending, and developing the discipline to record every rupee.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2025