Ignite - The Technology Fund has awarded the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) a project worth PKR 560 million to set-up the National Incubation Center (NIC) in Quetta. The first NIC center for which the bid was earlier won by LUMS was inaugurated in December last year and is currently housed at LUMS.
An exclusive award ceremony was held in Quetta lately which included entrepreneurs, business leaders and stakeholders including Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecommunications, Government of Pakistan, Ms. Anusha Rahman Khan, CEO Ignite, Mr. Yusuf Hussain, Vice Chancellor, LUMS, Prof. Dr. S. Sohail H. Naqvi, Vice Chancellor, Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS), Engineer Farooq Bazai and Director National Incubation Center (NIC) Lahore, Mr. Faisal Jalil Sherjan among others.
NIC Quetta is the last of the 5 regional NICs that the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom is funding through Ignite for the promotion of entrepreneurship in the country.
The team at NIC Lahore will be leading the design and curriculum for NIC Quetta while BUITEMS will be the implementing partner.The grant from Ignite will fund the capital expenditure and operational costs of the NIC for 5 years during which time the NIC is expected to support hundreds of new businesses.
While commenting on the award, Prof. Dr. S. Sohail H. Naqvi, Vice Chancellor of LUMS, stated, “After winning the bid for the Center in Lahore, National Incubation Centre Quetta will be the next ground for LUMS to groom entrepreneurs. We are proud to take this tried and tested entrepreneurship incubation and development methodology to Balochistan in partnership with BUITEMS, a premier university in Balochistan. This grant by IGNITE validates the work LUMS has already done to promote entrepreneurship and provides us with the resources to scale our endeavours to new heights. We are grateful to INGNITE and the Ministry of IT and Telecom for the trust they have reposed in LUMS.”
The experiential development programme pioneered by NIC Lahore, its vast network of industry mentors and investors, access to world-class research, high energy campus environment at BUITEMS coupled with the LUMS brand name are a few of the exciting features planned for this new facility.
Several partners will be supporting LUMS in this endeavour including the Entrepreneurial Development Advisory Services, 47 Ventures, Telenor Pakistan, Bank Alfalah and Habib Bank Limited amongst others.
