‘Hello Tomorrow Pakistan’ Challenge was launched by LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship (LCE) on 1st June 2017 in collaboration with Hello Tomorrow Pakistan, Pakistan Innovation Foundation and French Embassy.

The Event held at LUMS was graced by great minds such as Prof. Dr. S. Sohail H. Naqvi, Vice Chancellor LUMS; Mr. Sanwal Muneer, Head Hello Tomorrow Paksitan; Mr. Andre De Bussy, Counsellor for Cooperation and Culture Affairs, French Embassy Islamabad; Mr. Zia Imran, Board Member, Pakistan Innovation Fund (PIF) and Mr. Faisal Sherjan, Director, LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship.

The local round would be held at LUMS and would feature all startups. The deadline for registrations is July 10th 2017, while the victor would take away a once in a lifetime chance to appear at Grandeur filled ‘Global Hello Tomorrow Summit’ held in October. The Global event would be graced by over 300 international tech Investors and would provide 3, of the top local winners, an opportunity to present their views and garner support.

Speaking to the participants, Dr. Naqvi was quoted saying,

“The idea is to create successes locally and help aspiring entrepreneurs present the ideas globally.”

Mr. Andre De Bussy noted in his agreement with the views and said,

Pakistan is chosen to be among the ten countries to participate in the Hello Tomorrow Challenge, as we see a lot of potential and viable ideas in the local communities”.

Mr Sanwal Munir too testified to the benefits, saying that the event would open new doors for entrepreneurs.

As far as LCE is concerned, it has been the leading incubator that has harnessed growth of startups for a while now. Its nurtures talented startups and has been a huge success. Such is the extent of success that it was reported as Pakistan’s No.1 experiential platform for the entrepreneurs. We salute the effort put in by LCE and hope that it cruises to further successes.

Hello tomorrow is a global organization, spread in 15 countries, aiming at bringing forth the startups. Pakistan is one of those 15 nations, with Hello Tomorrow Pakistan as its local hub.

The Plan appears to be a success, given that 3 startups from our country may earn foreign support. I hope I am proven correct. Let it all role along.

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LUMS Center for Entrepreneurs

According to the press release 7 startups successfully made it to the Foundation Program at LUMS Center for Entrepreneurs.

Every year LUMS hold a experimental development program where the young business men are invites to learn and improve their skills under the name of LUMS Center of Entrepreneurship.

This year when it was announced hundreds of participants dropped their application via website or visiting the office.

The applications were observed very carefully. Participants were called for interviews and were judged and after the discussions between the Foundation Council members, which is an elite, independent panel of business leaders.

LUMS has selected the following 7 startups for its 7th batch of foundation program.

The startups that made it to the seventh batch include:

1) Spry: a social network which enables users to find professionals around them by their skills set and profession,

2) Paycard: an innovative, cashless and contact-less payment mechanic which works via an NFC card,

3) Stafflex: is a recruitment and applicant tracking system for the recruitment agencies in the Gulf countries and overseas employment agents in Pakistan,

4) Lotech: a centralized control automation system that creates communication between all aspects of a house or a firm,

5) Filter Straw: aims to provide pure water anywhere, anytime through innovative solutions,

6) TechMite Solutions: provides cleaning services by using robots,

7) AeroFly UAS: provides complete unmanned aerial systems for the agricultural survey and surveillance.

The contract was signed at prestigious ceremony that was held at LUMS. The contract was signed between the startups and the Vice Chancellor of the LUMS, Dr. Sohail Naqvi.

Dr. Naqvi took the stage to say,

“We are proud to be supporting entrepreneurs from not only LUMS and Lahore but other universities and cities including Sialkot, Islamabad, Rahim Yar Khan and Sargodha. I encourage all of you to work hard, persevere and stay committed to your dreams. Success will follow.”

Syeb Babar Ali also graced the event. he is the Pro-Chancellor of LUMS. He congratulated the startups and has wished them a very good luck.

Khurram Zafar the Executive Director at LCE also said,

“This cycle has an increased focus in product-based startups, which was an encouraging sign. It was heartfelt to see the entrepreneurial spirit and all the brilliant innovations during the meetings, I encourage startups who weren’t offered a place in the program to continue working on their business ideas and do not give up on their hard work.”

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When the prize of 10 million was announced for the winners of FinTech Disrupt Challenge, 2016 many were enthusiastic. It was organized by Karandaaz Pakistan in collaboration with the LUMS Centre for Entrepreneurship (LCE). Many startups were interested to participate. From 63 applications 28 startups were shortlisted by the judges’ panel that included the popular judge;

Romana Abdullah
Asad Azfar
Amaar Ikhlas
Yasser Bashir
Naeem Zamindar
Mohsin Termezy

After the selection of 28 startups the final day of FinTech Disrupt Challenge was on Sunday. All the participants were enthusiastic and presented their best ideas to judges and audience. Their ideas were about financial transaction system, the promotion of business and the selling of products etc.

At the beginning of the event LCE Executive Director Khurram Zafar addressed and welcomed everyone saying, “Access to seed capital is a major impediment to start-up growth in Pakistan. I hope that others follow suit and are able to financially support young, innovative start-ups so they can grow into large businesses of tomorrow spurring economic and jobs growth.”

On the event Pakistan Microfinance Network Board Chairman Nadeem Hussain also discussed the problems and challenges. He also gave the solutions for the financial problems. This all was discussed in the talk that was titled as ‘Unbundling Commercial Banks’. The other discussion was delivered by Qasif Shahid the CEO and founder of Finja  in which he highlighted the potential of technology and the value created by such technologies. This was named as ‘Design Mechanics for Setting up FinTech Operations in Pakistan.’

Then next day Karandaaz & LCE announced 23 Startups as the Winners of FinTech Disrupt Challenge.

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Beauty salons online platform to connect women with beauty services and online booking is now easy by this new startup called BeautyHooked. It is founded by a talented female entrepreneur Sahr Said. She has secured a seed round from Fatima Ventures, a local seed-stage fund supported by Fatima Group. The seed fund amounts to $280,000. It is the first time ever achievement in Pakistan by a women-led startup.

Founded in 2015, BeautyHooked have seen ups and down since launch.  They are catering only in Lahore for now. The beautyHooked team is made up of Sahr Said who is the leader of the company, Sidra Talha, the head of operations and Abdullah Ahmed who has developed the entire technology of the company. After being winner at Startup Weekend Lahore, the startup was offered incubation at LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship.

Sahr got lot of help and inspiration from Startup Weekend Lahore held at LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship. LCE also give her some ideas to kickstart her idea with complete startup.  She thanked to LCE because she is what at this level today only because of LCE programs. Sahr Said as Founder and CEO of BeautyHooked said, “We had investment offers from multiple investors but we went with Fatima Ventures because their strategic goals aligned with ours.”

BeautyHooked being the first women-led startup to raise seed investment, Sahr commented that her vision is to empower women and while she did not have an example before her, she aims to be the morning star for others. BeautyHooked have plans to expand to other cities of Pakistan. They are expected to gain interest in Qatari-corporate business circle for expansion in the Middle East.

About BeautyHooked

BeautyHooked is an ecommerce platform that allows women to find, book and review beauty appointments at salons and spas. It acts as an aggregator between customers and beauty businesses, allowing them to search and book best beauty services 24/7.

The company was founded by Sahr Said in 2015 and was a part of the third cohort of The Foundation at LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship. You can know more about BeautyHooked from their website: beautyhooked.com and Facebook.

About LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship

LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship (LCE) is Pakistan’s most comprehensive experiential development platform for budding entrepreneurs that formalizes the process of scouting, grooming and facilitating passionate startup founders.

Gust and Fundacity recently rated LCE the #1 accelerator in Pakistan and #11 in Asia. Since its inception in May 2014, LCE has mentored over 130 entrepreneurs who have created over 400 direct jobs and provided better economic and livelihood opportunities for thousands more.

LCE graduates have already generated PKR 200 Million in revenues and are valued at PKR 1.5 Billion backed by approximately PKR 150 Million in investment capital by local and foreign investors. More about LCE at: lce.lums.edu.pk and Facebook and Twitter  

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Vegetables Delivery Startup Sabzi.pk Team.

Online fruits and vegetables delivery startup Sabzi.pk is founded by a young and energetic entrepreneurs from Ali Pur Chattha near Gujranwala city.

Sabzi.pk is currently accelerated by LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship (LCE). And recently LCE has announced that sabzi.pk has closed its seed financing from the owners of a large local retail conglomerate. The deal was finalized at USD 7.5 Million which is highest value carry by LCE for seed round funding.

Sabzi has been growing primarily in Lahore for now. They are not only delivering fresh fruits and vegetables to customers at doorsteps, also they have started deliveries to restaurants and hotels in Lahore. Sabzi.pk is giving very competitive prices to customers with high quality fruits and vegetables.

The CEO of Sabzi.pk Farooq  Haider  said,

“ We got multiple offers for the six figures seed capital investment we were seeking, but we decided to go with investors. The Capital will primarily be used to build HR capacity, and to streamline our supply chain.  Also we will put money on customer relationship officers and brand marketing.

Sabzi.pk is planning to expand their operations to other largest cities of Pakistan. “My goal is to turn Sabzi.pk into a national brand and to better farmer’s lives and livelihoods, Farooq said further.

“Farooq’s passion for his startup, professional attitude and work ethics in Sabzi.pk’s team, sustained drive to make the business better and buildup happy customers are all key ingredients for business success. I am happy that Pakistani investors are beginning to give importance to our new startups. Farooq has made us all proud and we wish his venture great success,” said Khurram Zafar, Executive Director of LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship. He was commenting to the deal.

About Sabzi.pk

Sabzi.pk is a startup accelerated by LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship that provides an online and phone based fruits and vegetables delivery service for household consumers and corporate customers in the hotels, restaurants and catering companies.

About LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship

LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship (LCE) is Pakistan’s most comprehensive experiential development platform for budding entrepreneurs that formalizes the process of scouting, grooming and facilitating passionate startup founders.

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