A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony on behalf of the TiE Karachi Chapter, Wadhwani Foundation and MIT Enterprise Forum of Pakistan was held recently to promote discourse between startups and funders.
The MOU was signed by Mr Veqar ul Islam, President, TiE Karachi Chapter (also CEO, Jaffer Business Systems & President, Touchpoint) and Mr Azhar Rizvi, Co-Chairman, MITEFP.
The MOU strongly validates the commitment of the three organizations to fulfill the objective of addressing the gap between demand and supply of credible funding sources for early stage investors, working towards bridging the gap between angel investors and aspiring startups, as well as promoting effective economic cooperation through undertaking training and capacity building activities.
TiE Karachi-MIT Enterprise Forum of Pakistan and Wadhwani Foundation USA will facilitate cooperative initiatives in the area of sustainable development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Pakistan to raise awareness and information sharing amongst key stakeholders. The yearlong program would include a series of discussions, workshops and conferences. At the end of this exercise the collaboration aims to create awareness of the Angel Investment opportunities in Pakistan as well as develop a credible high-level road map for developing this industry. Also, there are plans to showcase a great variety of talent, ideas and startups via an expo and invite investors to create an angel investment fund.
Mr. Azhar Rizvi, Co-chairperson of MITEFP said:
With the startup culture maturing in Pakistan and several foreign and local investments successfully being made in entrepreneurial ventures. But with the maturity of the ventures, to now take them to the next level, a formalized structure and roadmap needs to be developed to address funding gaps in the venture life cycle of the startup. We feel this is the right time to developing and nurturing an Angel Investor Industry in Pakistan.
Mr Veqar-ul Islam, President of TIE Karachi added:
TIE Karachi believes in the principles of the power of ideas to change the face of entrepreneurship and growing business through our five pillars; mentoring, networking, education, incubating and funding.  TIE Karachi has been working to promote startups through its programs. The time is now right to introduce sources of angels funding and providing a credible structure for the benefit of both investors and startups. The collaboration of these groups would catapult Pakistan’s economy.
The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) – Karachi Chapter is a global not-for-profit network dedicated to the advancement of entrepreneurship. The Chapter is dedicated to the virtuous cycle of wealth creation and giving back to the community.
MIT Enterprise Forum of Pakistan (MITEFP) is a not for profit organization, formed under the laws of Pakistan which is totally dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship and innovation in Pakistan.
MITEFP is a joint venture partner of WOF in Pakistan, Through their partnership agreement with MITEFP, WOF agrees to come in as the knowledge partner for participating in the programs that TIE-MITEFP-WOF jointly co-host.
