NSTP Organizes Conference on Fostering Entrepreneurship Through Incubation

The National Science and Technology Park (NSTP) of the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) conducted a conference titled “Fostering Entrepreneurship through Incubation” to discuss ways to promote entrepreneur culture in Pakistan.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Youth Affairs, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, attended the event as chief guest. Meanwhile, Ben Mumby-Croft, Director of Imperial Enterprise Lab (IEL) at Imperial College London (ICL), and Sami Serdar, CEO of Young Business Hub, also joined the conference virtually.

Dr. Rizwan Riaz, Vice President of NSTP, started the session with his brief speech. He stated that NUST is the center of innovation in which creativity is the primary focus, not just a component.

Next, in his virtual presentation, Ben Mumby-Croft discussed the entrepreneurial culture in the UK and the ways ICL supports the entrepreneurial ecosystem there.

He noted that the ICL focuses on the intellectual property of the startup, which revolves around students and alumni, and added that ICL does not lay any claims on the businesses, instead, it supports the startups because it does not ask for any equity in exchange of funds, he said.

During the event, Sami Serdar, CEO of Young Business Hub, who has been engaged with the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF) since 2019, spoke to the audience about Turkey’s startup culture.

Serdar noted the challenges that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries confront in terms of entrepreneurship, particularly those relating to visa limitations. He emphasized that OIC countries must overcome these obstacles in order to close the gap between developed and developing countries.

In her address, SAPM on Youth Affairs, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, mentioned that the greatest component of the Prime Minister (PM) Youth Program is the issuance of business loans to the youth of this country.

She said that it is sad that postgraduates and even people with PhDs apply for low-level government jobs in Pakistan. Additionally, she further revealed that in the last nine years, the federal government provided over Rs. 75 billion in loans to 54,000 beneficiaries, who have either established or expanded their businesses.

In addition, she announced that the federal government will re-launch its loan scheme by next week, under which it will offer interest-free loans up to Rs. 500,000, while there will be a nominal markup if a loan exceeds this number.

Speaking about agro-business loans, Shaza Fatima Khawaja stated that the government must develop rural areas in order to reduce rural-urban migration. A comprehensive National Youth Employment Policy will be launched in this regard, she noted.

Furthermore, given the growing number of unemployed youth, according to the SAPM, there is a barrier between academia and private sector firms. She also expressed disappointment that university research does not reach policymakers.

The program then moved on to a panel discussion. Dr. Osman Hasan, Pro-Rector Academic (NUST), Parvez Abbasi, the Project Director of the National Incubation Center (NIC), Dr. Farrah Arif, Associate Dean at the University of Management and Technology (UMT), and Rizwana Asif, President of Islamabad Women Chamber of Commerce & Industries (IWCCI), were among the panelists.

The panelists explored the private sector’s and academia’s roles in Pakistan’s startup and entrepreneurial culture. During the discussion, Parvez Abbasi suggested that private enterprises should take the lead since they have both the resources as well as the expertise.

He contended that entrepreneurship cannot be taught but must be learned, and hence universities are not the right platform to acquire those skills. He stated that 90 percent of graduates are deemed unemployable by industries, which demonstrates that educational institutions cannot teach entrepreneurship.

In response to Abbasi’s point, Dr. Farah Arif stated that colleges should focus on the curriculum of entrepreneurship course rather than teaching it as if it was a theoretical subject. Likewise, Rizwana Asif concurred with Farah, and Dr. Osman Hasan opined that academia and the private sector should collaborate.