A total of 250 teams, consisting of over 1200 students, took part in the mega event.
Spanning a period of seven months, the business plan competition titled “Prime Minister’s Entrepreneurial Challenge”, boasted of participation of students from over 30 Pakistani universities. It was held under the auspices of the Offices of Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC) under the supervision of NUST entrepreneurship Society, Cambridge Advisory Network, Ministry of Science & Technology and HEC.
The LUMS team was represented by students from MBA 2012, Haris Bin Javed, Khurram Merchant, Muhammad Bilal Chaudhary, Adeel Shaffi & Omair Shabbir who won the 2nd prize and were given the award by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Yusuf Raza Gillani. Previously the team had won at the Fast Business Club's Business Plan Competition in 2011.
Their team, Seraab's business idea focused on selling irrigation water to the small farmers of Punjab, using solar powered tubewells to extract the ground water. The idea envisaged ensuring cost-effective and reliable supply of irrigation water to the small farmers, using the existing Nehar (canal) system. Availability of year round irrigation water can increase crop yields, allowing harvesting of three crops per annum and thus leading to significant improvement the quality of life of the farmers. Apart from the social benefits and environment friendly nature, the idea represented an excellent business opportunity as the low operating costs ( compared to its competition's ever increasing electricity and diesel costs) generated handsome returns for the investors. The team continues to develop the idea in to a proper business plan for implementation in a proper business structure.
