The National Incubation Center at LUMS, Lahore (NICL) has launched applications for its eighth Cohort with the aim to inspire, engage, enable and facilitate innovative entrepreneurs ready to solve critical problems for Pakistan.

NICL’s goal is to partner with visionaries, intuitive problem solvers and business enthusiasts to incubate a greater percentage of businesses that address a large commercial opportunity and attract investment capital for growth. Through their focused approach towards providing training and networking support to tech-based changemakers in Pakistan, NICL serves as a launching pad for start-ups, bolstering the nascent entrepreneurial ecosystem of the country.

“With a keen focus on high-impact sectors such as education, healthcare, agriculture, finance, and the environment, NICL aims to channel the power of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud, blockchain, 3D printing, and the Internet of Things NICL to enable real-world impact and scalable business success,” commented Saleem Ahmad, Chairman, NICL.

“Our renewed vision envisages greater participation from corporate leaders and experienced professionals who are seeking value creation and problem solving by pivoting their expertise to entrepreneurship.  We can facilitate them with requisite resources to fill any gaps in their effort to create a business around their idea such as training, mentor connectivity or partnerships with co-founders and teammates”, he added.

Induction to the NICL program is a competitive process. Applications are reviewed by members of NICL’s Foundation Council, which includes successful entrepreneurs with a diverse range of experiences who have themselves raised significant capital for growth, as well as angel and venture investors active in Pakistan. Once the start-ups with the most potential for impact and success are selected, they are exposed to a meticulous curriculum offered by NICL’s top tier LUMS faculty and international experts.

The course content comprises essential knowledge for budding start-ups with modules on design thinking, strategy and business modelling, marketing and market research as well as the legal and financial aspects of entrepreneurship. They are also given access to state-of-art labs to facilitate prototyping of their solutions. This applied focus, complemented by bespoke workshops and mentorship by LUMS alumni, is instrumental in sculpting abstract ideas into tangible reality.

The program paves the way for the capstone Investor Summit, where start-ups are given the opportunity to pitch their ideas and interact with early-stage venture investors.

This is an exclusive opportunity for passionate problem solvers and courageous entrepreneurs looking for the right guidance to catapult their ideas to success.

The application deadline for Cohort 8 is 25^th July. Interested applicants can access the application form at niclahore.com/apply.

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The National Incubation Center at LUMS, Lahore (NICL) is ready to induct the next group of passionate innovators looking to make a meaningful impact by transforming their ideas into investor-ready business plans.

NICL’s mission is to partner with visionary thinkers and radical doers. With a focused approach towards providing the best training, facilities, and networking support in Pakistan, NICL brings unprecedented opportunities to mobilise start-ups and provide them with the necessary tools to not only ensure scalable success, but also to bolster the start-up ecosystem of the country.

The Center has identified high impact areas for improvement in Pakistan including education, healthcare, agriculture, finance, and the environment. By harnessing the power of technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud, blockchain and the Internet of Things, NICL aims to partner with the next generation of innovators to solve Pakistan’s most critical problems. This national-level purpose also gives start-ups supported by NICL a much larger commercial opportunity than offered by most.

The cohort will be selected to the free-of-cost programme through a rigorously competitive process.

“Each application will be reviewed by members of NICL’s Foundation Council, which includes successful entrepreneurs with a diverse range of experiences who have themselves raised significant capital for growth, as well as angel and venture investors active in Pakistan. Each member is passionately committed to ensuring progress and success for Pakistan, committing their time, capital and experience to curate and develop the start-up ecosystem of the country,”

commented Saleem Ahmad, Chairman NICL.

Over the course of six months, the curriculum will be delivered by esteemed LUMS faculty and international technical experts and will comprise six intensive bootcamps covering:

• 1) design thinking;
• 2) strategy and business modelling;
• 3) marketing, branding and sales;
• 4) finance, accounting, valuation and equity management;
• 5) negotiations and legal aspects of entrepreneurship;
• 6) presentation and communication skills.

The applied focus of academic programming, supplemented by bespoke workshops, a speaker series and mentorship by LUMS alumni, will be instrumental in developing ideas into reality.

In addition, the cohort can take advantage of a multitude of resources including the Entrepreneurs in Conversation series which gives start-ups direct access to those who have successfully tread the path of innovation and entrepreneurship so they can learn and be inspired by those who have made it. And through it all, start-ups will find support and guidance from an esteemed panel of mentors- industry leaders and LUMS graduates who continue to keep the university’s ethos of “Learning Without Borders” alive by utilizing their strong network to connect start-ups with relevant opportunities, often establishing a long-term relationship with ventures.

The programme will culminate with an Investor Summit, where early-stage venture investors will interact with the most promising start-ups. The top graduates will also be offered a three-month residency with participating venture capital firms entailing one-on-one mentorship to develop and further commercialize their ideas. They will also be referred to or nominated to other global programmes that can bring even greater value to their venture.

This is an invaluable opportunity for mission-driven entrepreneurs looking for the right experts to guide them on the journey of transformative disruption. The application deadline is March 28, 2021.

The Investor Summit for the cohort currently in session will be held on April 10 and 11, 2021. It will be live streamed via Facebook on NICL’s page, @NICLSolveTogether.

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‘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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Aquatic Center LUMS

Pakistan’s first ever state-of-the-art Aquatic-Center open in Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). It is global standard Aquatic center approved by  FINA (FédérationInternationale de Natation Amateur) with swimming facility and with an eight lane, 25-meter length.

Coca Cola Pakistan has donated 100 Million Rupees to built this Aquatic centre in LUMS, Lahore.

LUMS Aquatic Center will start working from this week to facilitate LUMS students, faculty, staff and alumni.
Few days ago the inauguration ceremony held at LUMS.

“We are proud that the Coca-Cola Aquatic Center will become certified for national and international water sports competitions and will serve as a center stage for the University to develop teams for swimming, water polo and other aquatic sports. We are thankful to Coca-Cola for their support in establishing this facility,”

Speaking at the inauguration, Rizwan Ullah Khan, General Manager, The Coca-Cola Export Corporation, Pakistan and Afghanistan, said:

“One of the most important pillars of Coca-Cola’s brand values includes the inculcation of an active lifestyle for our local communities. The establishment of Coca-Cola LUMS Aquatic Center is an example of how Corporate Partnerships like these can provide exponential benefits for the sustainability of our society.”

Coca-Cola Pakistan has always supported LUMS in different events and activities which have included an Endowment Fund for the National Outreach Programme, to sponsor financially disadvantaged students.

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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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LUMS is going to host Startup Weekend Lahore this month. The program aims to bring together startups, entrepreneurs and experts so they can interact with each other and learn more.

This event provides a platform for entrepreneurs to share their ideas with the attendees. Mentors and experts can provide support and solutions for the problems related to business and startups.

Since 2012, Startup Weekend Lahore has served as a platform for many successful startups. Beauty Hooked, Shah Sawari, MentMe, Groopic, Sabzi.pk are all the startups that have emerged from the event and have gained popularity and success.

Also last year event was great success. It was attended b 130 innovators and the theme for last year was ‘Ed-innovation’. This year even better event is expected as people are getting more and more attracted to entrepreneurship every day.

The three-day event aims courses like Pitch, Build Something Real and Launch. Form a team of talented people and get ready for one of the biggest events.

The teams will perform certain tasks and on the basis of tasks the teams will be judged.

The tasks include:

1. Model creation
2. Coding
3. Designing
4. Market validation

Finally, each team gives a presentation and states its case to the judges and entrepreneurial leaders and receives critical feedback. They will have to do this in just three days.

Friday night: 60-second pitches that result in the formation of small teams around the best, most viable business concepts.

Saturday and Sunday: Teams focus on user research, customer development, validating their ideas and building prototypes with the help of experienced coaches from the entrepreneurial world.

Sunday afternoon: Teams demonstrate their products and receive valuable feedback from a panel of expert judges.

Benefits if you attend the event:

1) A free .co domain name along with many other perks,

2) Coaching by industry leaders,

3) A network of 120 new developer, designer and entrepreneur friends,

4) Breakfast, lunch and dinner for the whole weekend

The other details are as follows:

Registration fee: Rs. 1500/-

Last date of submission: 14 February, 2017

Event Date: 24 February, 2017 to 26 February, 2017

Venue: Computer Department LUMS

Shortlisted candidates will be contacted with details of processing payment and unique IDs will be assigned to them. Hurry up! and register here.

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Karandaaz Pakistan, Planet N Group of Companies and Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) joined hands to host a workshop under title of “Challenges in the Startup Eco-system in Pakistan”.

The aim of the workshop was to being together entrepreneurs so that they can share ideas. Workshop wanted to connect entrepreneurs on the path to commercialization with industry experts. The workshop proved to be successful. As the participants came to know about common challenges faced by startups and with discussion easy solutions were suggested. The areas that were discussed are:

1) Curriculum & Awareness,

2) Company Law,

3) Role of incubators/­Accelerators and Exits & IPOs.

For the discussion of the topics groups were formed. The founder and Coach Planet of N Group, Mr. Nadeem Hussain highlighted some potential areas of improvement they can be solved by promoting entrepreneurial culture. This way it will be easy to maintain economy problems.

Mr. Ali Sarfraz the CEO of Karandaaz Pakistan said,

“Active collaboration and engagement between startups and eco-system enablers, such as incubators, accelerators and policymakers, is critical in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by aspiring and existing entrepreneurs and developing creative solutions. We believe that this workshop organized by Karandaaz Pakistan in collaboration with Planet N and LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship will inspire scalable programs to empower youth in the region.”

At the end of the program a presentation titled “Seeding Innovation Landscape: A Framework for Rooting FinTechs in Pakistan” summarized all the findings of the report submitted by Karandaaz. Qasif Shahid presented it and discussed the possibilities and opportunities FinTech eco-system in Pakistan and the future of digital financial services in the country have.

The event was graced by presence of worthy guests that included people from public and private organizations also representatives from government sector were also present.

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This year again, A talented and passionate Pakistani team is participating in SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Design competition, but this time not only LUMS is participating, now they have combined forces to form a joint consortium of Pakistani universities including LUMS, PIEAS,GIKI, NUST to participate in SpaceX Hyperloop Competition.

They are now a multidisciplinary team comprising of Electrical and Mechanical engineers and hope that Team Pakistan will be able to make it all the way through with an improved design.

This year they have made it to the final design submission round for which if Team Pakistan qualify, they get to present their idea in front of SpaceX engineers after which Team Pakistan will be able to build its pod and race it at SpaceX headquarters at Hawthorne, California, USA in the summer 2017.

The initial qualification is a huge thing in its self since this year even more teams have applied and the competition has sky rocketed. Although, Team Pakistan do not have an official stats as of yet but they think they are the only team from Pakistan to have made the cut.

While speaking with Techlist, Ali Mannan Tirmizi from LUMS (Team member) stated that;

“Our team has come up with the design and is currently running simulations and tests, all the while improving its many aspects. We are looking for potential sponsors who can partner with us shape the future of travel, by financially backing the construction of the pod.

Also we are looking for media partners to raise awareness about the hyperloop movement and highlighting Pakistan’s part in the process.”

SpaceX has built a test track at their Headquarters at Hawthorne California where previously qualified teams have been testing their pods.

Dubai is also working on making the hyperloop a reality. Meanwhile companies like Hyperloop One have been working on their versions of the concept to churn the idea into a reality.

Team Pakistan for SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Design Competition 2017

Team Pakistan is mentored by Dr. Muhammad Sabieh Anwar who is an Associate Professor at the Physics Department at the Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering, Lahore University of Management Sciences.

He has Post-Doctoral experience at University of California Berkley, a D.Phil Physics (University of Oxford, UK), B.Sc. Electrical Engineering (University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore)

Team Pakistan members are:

• Ahmad Sohail (LUMS)
• Ali Mannan Tirmizi (LUMS)
• Barkat Saifee (LUMS)
• Soman Ul Haq (PIEAS)
• Shaur Humayun (PIEAS)
• Salman Ahmad (PIEAS)
• Muhammad Waseem (PIEAS)
• Ahmad bin Arshad (PIEAS)
• Hamza Azhar (GIKI)
• Salman Sheikh (GIKI)
• Carmad Khan (GIKI)
• Hammad Sajid Dar (GIKI)
• Muhammad Muneeb Farhat (NUST)
• Ahad Butt

About Hyperloop

Hyperloop promotes high speed transportation system. It was launched by Elon Musk. He is a successful entrepreneur and a billionaire.

The whole event is surely going to bring revolution in mass transit. The entire event is going to be fun, full of knowledge and above all it is environment friendly. Special arrangements have been made to make this event special and successful.

Hyperloop system is connects Los Angeles to San Francisco with two tubes. The speed at which passengers will be transported at 700mph. Gigantic! Isn’t it?

The whole setup will be powered by Solar Panels. It reduces time taken to travel between two points. It reduces time to more than half. It is quicker than a routine road trip. If estimated it takes about 6 hours to take a road trip but by this Hyperloop the distance is covered in just 35 minutes.

Teams from different universities across the world will participate in the competition of designing pods for the Hyperloop competition. The event will be hosted by Elon Musk.

Previous Year’s Event Highlights

In the summer of 2015 SpaceX invited student teams from all over the world to design pods for the hyperloop. There was a round of registration, initial designs and subsequent final design submissions.  

Team HyperLUMS was the only team from Pakistan to have qualified for the highly prestigious “SpaceX Hyperloop Competition” in 2016. Only 120 teams from a competitive pool of 1000+ teams globally had made it to the SpaceX design weekend in the USA.

HyperLUMS was invited by SpaceX at Texas A&M University, USA  in January 2016 where a team comprising of electrical engineers presented their design infront of a panel of engineers from Tesla, SpaceX and academia.

Competition involved top university teams that included top notch universities such as MIT,Stanford, Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Virginia Tech, TU Delft among other top institutions from around the globe. 20 Nations competed that included the USA, Egypt, Japan, India, France etc. MIT won the overall prize for the competition.

Innovator and billionaire Elon Musk himself was present at the event. Fortune has published the whole event coverage.

People from Pakistan have always been proving themselves in all fields. This young and talented Team is trying to promote technology and bring Pakistan to a level where it is revolutionized and is a technology hub.

The post Pakistani Students to Participate in the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Design Competition 2017 appeared first on Techlist.

LUMS Annual Photography Summit is in the queue. So guys and girls, grab your cameras and get ready for clicking something really fine.

The summit is arranged by LUMS Photographic Society.  This year it is going to be the second edition of this glorious event.

Society’s  flagship mega event, the LUMS Annual Photography Summit 2017 is to promote the photography skills among people.

It is providing aspiring and  amateur photographers a platform to display their talent.

For the event, registrations have started. If you want to take a part in the event you need to know some details that will help you.

This year, there are 2 categories of Competitions;

i) DSLR CATEGORY

• Macro Photography
• Product Photography
• Theme-based Photography
• LUMScape
• Event Coverage
• Light painting

ii) CELL PHONE CATEGORY

• Selfie Story
• Product Photo-Shoot
• LUMScape
• Macro Photography
• Photo Scavenger Hunt
• Event Coverage

The participant are guided to apply separately for each category.

DSLR  is the new trend but not everyone has it. Skills should not be limited by specifying a camera category. Keeping this in mind LUMS has introduced a new category this year and that is pictures clicked by mobile phones.

Its all about talent and photography skills.

LAPS is not only a platform to discover your talent but to socialize with other people and professional  photographers. When you are surrounded by people of mutual interest you can learn more than you can imagine. Socializing itself open the gates of imagination wide on you. So you would be able to click more inspiring photos. Seminars and workshops will help you to achieve more and more.

The event will be officially declared open on the opening ceremony if LAPS that will be addressed by the Chief Guest. The participants and other audience will be welcomed on the event. They will be guided about LAPS. They will also be given awareness about the need to promote art.

The event also includes a concert. Now this is a news for all music lovers. Music is itself an art and when it is combined with other forms of art it becomes even more beautiful.

LAPS plans to make the event even more fun than the last year. This year expectations are even more high.

The event will display the photographs taken by team of LAPS’17 along with various fun stalls. The stalls of food, games and other activities will be the part of the mega event.

The end of event will be marked by speeches by Chief Guest and organizers. The result will be announced on closing ceremony.

After that theme dinner will be served where the work of winning participants will be displayed.

Register Now:

To get register in LUMS Photography Summit, Visit http://www.laps17.com/registrations/ or fill the registration form.

For further details visit laps17.com

If you are a selfie freak or a great picture clicker than this event is made for you. Go ahead and Enjoy.

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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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