The National Incubation Center (NIC) Lahore was awarded a contract under a competitive bid by Karandaaz Pakistan to implement the Women Entrepreneurship Challenge. NIC Lahore was the lead bidder while Balochistan University of Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS), Quetta was its implementing partner for incubating micro-entrepreneurs in Quetta. BUITEMS Business Incubation and Entrepreneurship Centre (BBIEC) is the first and only incubation centre in Balochistan.
Under this partnership, NIC Lahore in collaboration with BUITEMS scouted and incubated women led businesses and provided them with world-class curriculum and facilities. NIC Lahore connected women led businesses who intend to or who are already in business with channels of finance, information and network and delivered a customised training curriculum to its female micro entrepreneurs incubated in Quetta.
Since the commencement of this partnership, 20 micro entrepreneurs were inducted in Quetta and 8 high growth businesses were incubated at NIC Lahore.
To mark the graduation of women entrepreneurs, NIC Lahore hosted an Investors Summit on March 9, 2018 and graduating beneficiaries, comprising of both micro entrepreneurs and high growth businesses pitched their ideas and businesses to a panel of judges from Karandaaz Pakistan. Speaking on the occasion, Faisal Sherjan, Project Director NIC Lahore said, “The Karandaaz Women Entrepreneurship Challenge was a very exciting project. We scouted 8 intelligent committed entrepreneurs to be incubated through our foundation course in NIC Lahore and partnered with BUITEMS to identify 20 women in Balochistan for micro entrepreneurship training. They pitched to the investment team from Karandaaz and out of 19 pitches, 14 of our female entrepreneurs from Balochistan and 2 high growth businesses from NIC have qualified for grants and equity investment from Karandaaz. We are thrilled with the results of this pilot!”
Two high growth businesses from NIC Lahore (Aero Craft Engine and Zari Faisal Designs) and 14 micro entrepreneurs (Sprinkles Fast Food, Stitching Center, Graphic Design, Mustard Oil Plant, Dress Design, Beauty Parlour, Fashion Design, Vacuum Cleaner, Gems and Jewellery, Hatif Art Gallery, Riders Van and Hope School) from Quetta qualified for grants and equity investment.
Established in 2014, Karandaaz Pakistan is a non-profit organisation, promoting access to finance for small businesses through commercially directed investments and financial inclusion for individuals.
The National ICT and R&D Fund (NICTRDF) awarded LUMS a project worth PKR 600 million to set-up the National Incubation Center (NIC) in Lahore. The Lahore NIC is one of the largest in the country and part of the 5 regional NICs that the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom is funding through NICTRDF for the promotion of entrepreneurship in the country.
The NIC Lahore picks up from its previous manifestation as the LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship (LCE), established in May 2014 with the mission to discover, groom, and develop high-growth, high-impact companies. Till date, LCE has incubated 78 companies, 17 of which have raised close to US $4 million in seed funding and are currently valued at US $20 million. It has also created 1,500 direct employment opportunities and another 5,000 jobs were created through vendors and suppliers.
