IBA-CED in collaboration with HEC organized the Road Show of Prime Minister's Innovation Award

November 7, 2022: Center for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), IBA in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) organized a roadshow/awareness drive on the "Prime Minister's National Innovation Award (PMNIA)" at IBA City Campus.

Dr. Lalarukh Ejaz, Incoming Director, IBA-CED, welcomed Mr. Javed Memon, Regional Director, HEC Sindh; HEC Islamabad team, faculty members and the event participants comprising the youth of Pakistan. Dr. Lalarukh thanked the HEC team for selecting IBA-CED as its implementing partner, she appreciated this initiative and extended full support of IBA-CED for it. She acknowledged the untiring effort of the CED team for arranging and managing this launch event on a short notice. Mr. Azad Ahmed, Manager IBA-CED, shared CED's role and commitment towards strengthening entrepreneurial ecosystem in Pakistan.

On behalf of HEC, Mr. Memon welcomed all the guests and participants and thanked the Center for putting together this successful roadshow drive of PMNIA. He shared that the PMNIA is a flagship initiative of the Prime Minister's Youth Program (PMYP) being implemented by HEC across the country. The PMNIA is providing an open opportunity for the youth from across Pakistan to propose innovative ideas for the creation/launch of new startups.

In her detailed overview regarding PMNIA, Saba Naz, Media Manager, PMNIA, shared the operational manuals/guidelines about the program including eligibility criteria, registration process, prize money, thematic areas and program offerings. She shared that through this project HEC wants to promote the entrepreneurship among youth of Pakistan by practically supporting the youth in commercializing their ideas and startups.

Overall, the awareness drive got an overwhelming response with over 500 attendees from different universities, colleges, schools, institutes, and vocational centers of Karachi and few other parts of Sindh. In addition to the young students, the faculty members from different universities also attended the event including University of Karachi, NED University, Dawood University, Indus University, DHA Suffa University, Federal Urdu University and GC University Hyderabad.

At the end of the session, Dr. Lalarukh presented mementos to the HEC officials and partners/faculty members namely, Mr. Ismail Bazaz, Mr. Ahsan from Indus University, and Mr. Hamza and Hammad from Techin Solutions.