The National Science and Technology Park held the Graduation Ceremony of the 2nd cohort of its Hatch 8 programme of 16 disruptive startups at the main campus of the National University of Sciences & Technology.
Hatch 8 programme is a 6-month pre-incubation program of #NSTP, which is designed to take in entrepreneurs in the idea stage of their product development and transform them into viable businesses. The program offers a variety of services, ranging from workshops to boot camps, free #coworkingspace, as well as access to mentors and investor networks.
Whilst congratulating the graduates, Mr Wahaj Siraj – CEO Nayatel remarked upon the boons of innovation and its impact on society at large. He said that true ideation emanates from a problem-solving mindset and the ability to take the first step in furthering a very young business idea.
Of the 16 startups, four were given awards for high achievement on the basis of revenue generation, customer base and socio-economic impact. The winning startup, RADWI, which makes remotely accessible IoT based Home Automation Solutions, was awarded a cheque of PKR 100,000 along with privileged residency at #NSTP, while the runner-up, Oven Diaries, received PKR 50,000. Two startups, Easy Kasht and Adon Tech were given “NSTP Rising Star” award and received a cheque of PKR 50,000 each.
Two NUST student-led startups, Fincta and PowerWalk, received seed funding of PKR 450,000 each for their startups as part of the SSBC programme.
Vice President National Science & Technology Park, Dr Rizwan Riaz thanked all esteemed guests for attending the ceremony and noted that “the 16 graduating startups have shown tremendous perseverance and strength to overcome the market challenges and hurdles caused by Covid19 pandemic. He added that “NSTP offers a complete spectrum of enabling services and environment that connects stakeholders, provides digital and physical access to information and knowledge base of Pakistan premier university NUST, through a centralised repository”.
Since its inception, NSTP, which is Pakistan’s first Science & Technology Park, has played an integral role in promulgating the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem of the country. Within a span of two years, NSTP has onboarded 7 anchor tenants, 34 hi-tech SMEs, and 60 startups. The tenants at the park have created over 1,500 employment opportunities, raised over PKR 209 million in investment funding, and registered a revenue growth of PKR 1.7 billion.
The occasion was also graced by Ambassador Deddy Faisal, High Commission of Malaysia as he praised the talent of the youth at NUST and NSTP’s role in strengthening the tech ecosystem of the country.
Ms Humaira Sajjad, Yaruq Nadeem, and Usman Ali received shields of “Ecosystem Enablers” for their relentless support to the Hatch 8 programme.
