Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CENTIN) UMT partnered with the JumpStart to organize CENTIN Expo 2019, a premier entrepreneurial event. The event was conducted from 1-8 March 2019 which covered all modes, including exhibition of Startup Stalls, SME’s, Pitching of Ideas followed by panel discussions and key note speeches by the giants of business industry and national and international investors.
The highlight of the expo was an equal participation of government enterprises alongside private players from varied fields such as construction, agribusiness, automotive, electronics, energy, e-commerce, multi-modal logistics operators, warehousing, IT solution providers, and passenger mobility as well as passenger hospitality organizations.
The startup expo at PC Hotel Lahore comprised of 50+ startup stalls from multidisciplinary areas including Technology, Hospitality, Healthcare, Dairy, Water & Energy, E-Commerce, Transportation, Garments, Academia, Electronics, Tourism, Cosmetics, Organic Food, Courier Services, and Gaming. One of the goals of organizing this expo was to encourage and support our youth for entrepreneurship for which we strived hard to provide a platform to the students for transformation of their academic projects into real business ventures. The expo concluded with a detailed visit of startups and SMEs’ stalls by the President UMT, Mr. Ibrahim Hasan Murad and Mr. Mian Mahmood-ur-Rasheed, Provincial Minister of Punjab for Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering. The startup teams and representatives of SMEs individually briefed them about their value proposition and collected appreciation by both of the dignified personalities.
Number of UMT students participated with enthusiasm to be an entrepreneur and exposed their creative potential to the audience. The startup stalls were not only able to develop a market clientele by raising curiosity and interest but also impressed the investors. The startups presented with a prototype gained a healthy response from investors and asked to be engaged for further interactions for seed funding.
Continuing the theme of IBCE and L.I.F.T Pakistan, CENTIN carried 40+ presentations for Business Idea Pitching on Nov 3-4, 2019 at the University of Lahore. The startup teams found another opportunity to formally elaborate their ideas in front of jury, mostly comprising of investors. Eventually, 10 Startup Stalls and 10 Business Idea Pitches were carried to Islamabad in the same week for further exposure, connections, investments, and branding. Director General UMT, Mr. Abid H. K. Shirwani visited the stalls at Pak China Center Islamabad and appreciated the creative crafts by the startups. The startups had an opportunity to explain their innovation and receive valuable feedback from Mr. Abid H. K. Shirwani.