Illustrious Pakistani start-up founders, inventors taken on board

LAHORE: The National Incubation Center Lahore (NICL) at Lahore University of Management Sciences has taken on board illustrious Pakistani start-up founders, inventors and investors to help accelerate innovation and entrepreneurship-led economic growth in Pakistan.

According to a press release, the seven new council members include four Pakistani women venture capitalists and entrepreneurs with academic qualifications from MIT, Harvard and Stanford. NICL’s Foundation Council curates, inspires, mentors and monitors the progress of its Foundry Programme that culminates in successful launch of ventures.

The NICL’s revamped venture incubation model is rooted in discovery and innovation. “Being an integral part of LUMS, we are uniquely positioned to pioneer this model by fostering an intersection of applied research, industry and talent. Solving Pakistan’s biggest problems requires extraordinary human capital development. We are fortunate that we are able to do so with the help of faculty at LUMS and our stellar council members who embody our spirit of excellence, resilience and character,” said Saleem Ahmad, NICL chairman.

The new council members include tech disruptor Dr Wardah Inam, founder and CEO of Overjet, a dental AI-venture based in the US which recently raised $27m from leading VCs. She is joined by Anna Khan, general partner at Charles River Ventures (CRV), one of the oldest venture capital firms in the US where she focuses on enterprise software and has invested in Storyboard, Workstream, Cord, Figure, and Tribe.

Also joining is Sacha Haider, principal at Global Ventures based in Dubai. She brings investment experience in MENA, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia, through her work as an investor at Colony Capital in Mexico, Abraaj in Kenya and L Catterton in Singapore.

Halima Iqbal, founder and CEO at Oraan, Pakistan's first women-led, women-first fintech, is also a new council member. The council also welcomed Rabeel Warraich, founder of Sarmayacar, a major Pakistani venture capital fund. Joining him is Omair Ansari, co-founder and CEO of Abhi, a Y-Combinator affiliated start-up that has built a Shariah-compliant salary advance platform aimed at digitising consumer credit in the country.

Salman Khalid is founder of Chogori Ventures, an angel investors syndicate for Pakistan, and director of BNP Paribas in the M&A team for MENA. Speaking about the recent developments at NICL, Dr Arshad Ahmad, vice chancellor, LUMS, recognised NICL’s transformational journey over the past year. “Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the new team continues to uplift the quality of the Center’s services with a laser-focus on impacting Pakistan’s entrepreneurship talent.

The calibre of recent appointments is a reflection of its exceptional strengths and persistent focus on delivering results,” the VC said.