NICL Investor Summit – Happening on April 10th, 2021

National Incubation Center at LUMS, funded by Ignite and MOITT, is pleased to invite you to its bi-annual Investor Summit (NICL Investor Summit 2021) being held on Saturday, April 10th, 2021 from 9:00 am to 6:30 pm PKST. NIC at LUMS is an effort to inspire, enable and facilitate problem solvers, with a mandate to expand outreach to those who lack access.

Featuring Start-up Founders, Investors and Venture Capitalists

NICL Investor Summit 2021

The event will bring together 35+ early-stage start-ups incubated at NIC Lahore and Quetta who will pitch their ventures in agritech, cleantech, edtech, healthtech, and fintech, to seasoned investors and start-up founders in Pakistan. It will serve as the capstone event of a Foundation Program meant to provide real-world experience and access to entrepreneurial youth. In the past several months, incubatees recruited from all over Pakistan, have received 130+ hours of instruction from LUMS faculty members and industry consultants across 50+ sessions; 150+ hours of 1:1 mentorship from LUMS alumni and corporate leaders at Amazon, Google to JPMorgan and McKinsey; and attended guest talks by 10+ investors, industry and technology specialists.

These ventures include Pakistan’s first shariah-compliant buy-now-pay-later service; cost-effective prosthetics for amputees that utilize 3D scanning and printing technology; a biosensor chip to monitor and reduce toxins in crops and improve nutrition; identifying shoplifters in real-time by using AI; an automatic low-cost roti making appliance; logistical solutions to increase cargo capacity; an e-commerce aggregator for fashion brands; and a food delivery service that empowers female entrepreneurs who prepare meals at home; employment solutions from a startup to reduce unemployment from Pakistan and maximize the job opportunities by IT and digital skills.

You are requested to participate to encourage our nascent ecosystem and help our youth realize its potential via Facebook live. The recorded sessions will be available on the NICL Facebook page. Investor queries to connect with the start-ups may please be emailed to Invest.NICL@lums.edu.pk.

NICL Investor Summit: Saturday, April 10th at 9:00 am PKST

You can join via Facebook Live. The event is divided into four sessions of two hours each, featuring eight start-ups in each session. Each start-up will make a 5-minute pitch, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A by the investor panel. The audience may submit comments, suggestions of comment, and participate in the live polls to help promote preferred start-ups.

Panel of Judges

The event will bring together seasoned angel investors and venture capitalists active in Pakistan including

• Ali Mukhtar (Founder, Fatima Ventures),
• Aatif Awan (Founder, Indus Valley Capital),
• Faisal Aftab (Partner, Lakson Venture Capital),
• Yusuf Hussain (Head, HBL VC),
• Ali Irfan Najam and Salman Gaba (Senior Associates, 47 Ventures),
• Hammad Umer (Pakistan Director, Insitor Impact Asia Fund),
• Ali Farid Khwaja (Chairman, KASB Securities), and
• Omer Ghani (Pakistan National Investment Portal).

They will be joined by successful start-up founders including

• Muneeb Maayr (Founder, Bykea),
• Qasif Shahid (Finja),
• Usman Javaid (Ricult),
• Badar Khushnood (Co-founder, Fishry.com),
• Hamza Iqbal (Founder, Healthwise) and
• Zehra Ali (Founder, Ghonsla).

Angel investors, mentors, and corporate leaders will be represented by

• Fatima Asad-Said (CEO, Abacus Consulting),
• Ahmed Hussain (Director, Service Sales Corporation),
• Shoaib Zahid Malik (Director, Kausar Group),
• Faisal Mushtaq (Senior Vice President, Change Healthcare),
• Naseem Aftab (Sales and Marketing Head, PSO),
• Kamran Niazi (USAID),
• A. Rahim Butt (MD, InfraPro) and
• Ahmed Uzair (Partner, AUC Law)

About NICL

The National Incubation Centre at LUMS, Lahore (NICL) is on a mission to contribute to Pakistan’s economic development by promoting innovation and entrepreneurship. NICL aims to bolster Pakistan’s start-up ecosystem by incubating businesses that address a large commercial opportunity and attract investment capital for growth. This is accomplished by inspiring and facilitating a generation of problem solvers, especially in high-impact areas for Pakistan, including but not limited to, agriculture, education, environment, financial inclusion, healthcare, and applications utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning.

NICL’s flagship Foundation Program, supported by Ignite and MOITT, incubates enterprising problem solvers through a rigorous selection process conducted by role model entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. The immersive six-month-long transformative journey, guided by committed mentorship of business leaders and instruction from LUMS faculty and industry experts, culminates in an investor summit where ideas crystallized into ventures are pitched for capital raising.

NICL regularly originates and conducts outreach and training programs with potential for positive socio-economic returns, especially for youth and female-led microenterprises across Pakistan.