AKD | Momentum Pakistan: Nation’s upcoming entrepreneurs shine!

April 15, 2018 / BY AKD

Momentum Pakistan: Nation’s upcoming entrepreneurs shine!

If there were any doubts about Pakistan’s bright economic future, they have just been extinguished this past weekend at Momentum Pakistan.

Never, since the inception of Pakistan has there been such a booming startup scene in the country. Credited to the rise of the Internet and online business in Pakistan, start up’s, incubators and entrepreneurship summits have started popping up. Foreign interest and investment are at an all-time high and encouraging incubators such as Nest I/O and Jump Start who train, facilitate and provide expertise to young and bidding entrepreneurs have played an instrumental role in breathing new life in Pakistan’s startup scene. The best part? Many of these start up’s are focused on helping to develop the country and to work for welfare whilst still operating as a viable business. Unlike previous trends, these start up’s want to work right here in Pakistan and contribute to the country’s unstable but hopeful economy. This idealistic pursuit was at its prominence during Momentum Pakistan.

Founded by Syed Amir Jafri with the motivation to turn a startup into a growing business of its own, Momentum is a global startup community designed to inspire, connect and educate Pakistani entrepreneurs who work on fresh, disruptive and functional ideas for economic development through the next decade. Whilst industry giants such as AKD trade cast and others have been developing for decades, the small guys were relatively ignored. Momentum Pakistan is working for the small guy so that even those with limited financial resources can dream big and achieve their vision. A summit like a Momentum is worth praising because, on the 19^th and 20^th of February at Expo Center Karachi, Pakistan proved that the future of business is booming!

In front of around 15,000 spectators over the course of the two days over 400 startups, 50 speakers, 50 exhibitors, some 24 investors, and representatives from 20 incubators were able to demonstrate their skills and pass on their knowledge. Even prestigious global companies such as IBM, Enclude, Microsoft, and Acumen were present as well to witness our youth’s talent. It was truly refreshing to see young faces from accelerators, schools and universities bring forward ideas well beyond their age. Making the best of the opportunities provided to them and through undying persistence and hard work, they have created businesses by themselves!

Some of the speakers included:

Jehan Ara, President of Pakistan Software Houses Association

Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram, CEO at Sehat Kahani

Nadia Patel Gangjee, Founder, and CEO at Sheops

Yusuf Hussain, CEO at Ignite

Umar Saif, CIO Government of Punjab

Bilal Athar, Founder at Wifigen

Badar Khushnood, Co-founder at Bramerz

Junaid Malik, CEO at Slide

Raza Matin, Business Consultant at Google Pakistan

Nauman Sikandar Mirza, CEO at Foodpanda

Shahmeer Amir, CEO at Veilux

The success of Momentum has proved that, despite the shaky stock market situation, our business community is progressing and maturing. It is not all about big companies and influential names anymore but rather about committed individuals and ingenious ideas.