The participants comprised of Farhan Riaz - KICS, UET, Ghulam Hussain - Business Startup Center, Comsats , Faisal Sherjan Director, LUMS, Ayub Ghauri , SVP –Netsol; Fatima Rizvi, Marketing Manager Netsol, Muhammad Sohaib Sarwar – Director BIC – UVAS, Rida Shoaib – Manager Plan 9, Ayesha Mubashir – Manager, Warda Altaf – Manager Tech Hub, Afzan Munir – Manager Tech Hub, Mohsin Bashir - BIC Government College University.
After giving the brief outline that how PBIT could assist them, CEO PBIT opened the forum for discussion and encouraged knowledge sharing across independent incubators. The attendees appreciated his efforts for taking this step and bringing everyone together in the right direction. Key issues that were discussed included but not limited to legal concerns, policy advocacy and incentives to start ups issues at the Govt. level.
While addressing the social barriers, the discussion focused on the linkages on improving the structure so that the current incubator ecosystem can be enhanced and startups face less or no issues. They emphasized that there is a dire need to look into a way to setup a commercial fund that can help startups commercialize their ideas. Every single participant shared their recommendations and views regarding the challenges they face.
The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks from all participants and they mutually expressed interest in holding similar future meetings, on periodic basis to discuss any tentative changes in the incubator ecosystem so that the momentum is not lost for the progress in this regard.