With the aim to provide further support to the Pakistani startup community, an MoU was signed between JS Bank Ltd. and Ignite National Technology Fund to provide new financing facilities to Ignite’s R&D projects, startups of five National Incubation Centers (NICs), and freelancers of Digiskills.pk to facilitate their growth.
Under this agreement, Ignite and JS Bank will work together to facilitate the startups and freelancers of Pakistan. JS Bank will also facilitate all registered freelancers of Ignite’s Digiskills.pk program with Freelancer Current Account and Home Remittance Account to provide a comprehensive solution for their banking needs and to enable receipt of foreign remittances.
Dr. Muhammad Sohail Rajput, Federal Secretary for IT & Telecom, graced the event as chief guest and expressed his delight at this collaboration to support startups and freelancers of Pakistan.
He said, “Ignite is joining hands with JS Bank to support talented entrepreneurs and freelancers in order to tackle the major issue of access to capital and to further promote digital financial inclusion among freelancers. This collaboration will be instrumental in improving the overall startup and freelancing ecosystem in Pakistan.”
Asim Shahryar Husain, CEO Ignite, stated, “There has been a phenomenal growth of more than 250% in investment in Pakistani startups in 2021. However, there are still many startups that need access to capital to sustain themselves and to grow their business.”
“In line with Prime Minister’s vision for supporting the youth of Pakistan, this collaboration between Ignite and JS Bank will provide new financing opportunities to our NIC startups and Digiskills freelancers so that they can develop a sustainable business model,” he added.
Emphasizing the Bank’s commitment to the entrepreneurs of Pakistan, Noman Azhar, Chief Digital Officer JS Bank, stated, “Freelancers have a key role to play in the economic development of our country.”
“We are delighted to partner with Ignite to work towards our combined vision of facilitating freelancers’ growth in Pakistan in line with the SBP’s vision of increasing inward remittances through digital channels,” he added.
