6 min read
The recent tech events and co-working spaces in Peshawar have built up a strong ecosystem for startups and entrepreneurs to flourish in their community. The Code for Pakistan, Peshawar 2.0, Base Camp Peshawar, Empower Pakistan and many more have been working hard to bring the same opportunities and facilities in Peshawar as other large cities in Pakistan.
We witnessed a lot of hidden talent that came out as a result of these events. Messiah, 1-click emergency app and winners of Code for Pakistan Civic Hackathon, went on to win Oasis500 Bootcamp and got selected for National Mobile App Competition. Moreover, these events have gained international attraction like Cisco will establish training centres in educational institutions in KPK.
Basecamp and Peshawar 2.0 are making extraordinary efforts to build up a startup community in Peshawar. As part of these efforts, Peshawar 2.0 along with KPK IT Board and World Bank has launched the second edition of Digital Youth Summit (DYS) 2015. The event is scheduled to be held at Peshawar from 7th to 9th May 2015 to bring together the next generation of innovators, social entrepreneurs, freelancers, startup community leaders and investors on one platform.
TechJuice reached out to Muhammad Uzair, co-founder of Peshawar 2.0, to discuss the details of DYS 2015. While talking about the event, Uzair said,
“This year DYS will go global with about 10-12 international speakers invited from different startup ecosystems around the world.”
He added that the main purpose is to learn from international ecosystems and implement them after making adjustments to the needs of Peshawar.
Uzair pointed out that they aim to promote a hardware maker community, Internet of Things, Big Data and Bit Coin technologies in Peshawar. Out of curiosity, I asked Uzair about the response of girls regarding the tech events; he said,
“ There is more turn out of girls in Peshawar tech events than it is in Silicon Valley. We always try to come up with events which might be more interesting for girls such as biotechnology, bioinformatics events etc.”
When I asked Uzair whether it is difficult to conduct an event in Peshawar with the recent security and terrorism issues, he provided me with an optimistic response. He explained that they haven’t faced any major problems but sometimes authentication procedures become lengthy and often work gets delayed.
Uzair provided us with an exclusive list of speakers both from Pakistan and abroad along with the discussion topics. He mentioned an important speaker of the event which is the Emergence Director of NUMA (Silicon Valley of France) – Nathanael Sorin-Richez. You can check out the full list of Speakers & Judges at the end of the article.
The World Bank representatives will moderate most of the panel discussions which are both exciting and worth attending. You can judge the level of the event with the discussion topics included which are both intuitive and useful for budding entrepreneurs.
- How startups and small companies can leverage technology & innovation for success in their respective industries?
- From ideas, to products, to markets: barriers to entrepreneurship.
- From workers go to work, to work goes to workers: the opportunities of on-line work.
- Culture meets technology: exploring the potential of creative industries (music, art, entertainment, and more)
- Raising your first million for your startup: where to begin? crowd-funding? Business angels?…and how to convince potential investors?
- What is wrong (or right) with our ORICs (Offices of Research, Innovation and Commercialization)?
- Technology can be used to improve the life of citizens and the delivery of civic and public services: from E-Government to Government 2.0
Digital Youth Summit 2015: Speakers
- Farah Hamid Khan, Secretary ST&IT & MD, KPITB
- Faisal Khan, CEO of Peshawar 2.0
- Rachid Benmessaoud, World Bank Country Director
- Shahram Khan Tarakai, KP IT Minister
- Pervez Khattak, KP Chief Minister
- Greg Horowitt, Co-author of the bestselling book “The Rainforest: the Secret to Building the Next Silicon Valley”, Co-Founder and Senior Advisor of Global CONNECT and Managing Director of T2 Venture Capital.
- Stephen Rasmussen, CEO of Karandaaz Pakistan
- Waqar Ahmad, Head of Corporate Affairs, Nestlé Pakistan
- Tahir Masood, Development Experience and Evangelism Lead, Microsoft
- Elvira Van Daele, Regional Lead for SME and Value Chain Solutions in EMENA Region, International Finance Corporation
- Faheem Mujahid, The Express Tribune; Representative of the Bank of Khyber
- Sajid Shah, CEO of Empower Pakistan
- Mahoor Jamal, successful freelancer
- Salman Saeed, successful freelancer
- Arif Malik, successful freelancer & brand ambassador at Payoneer
- Jehan Ara, President of P@SHA, Pakistani Software Houses Association
- Zia Imran, Founder, Jal Bujh
- Karim Samakie, Investment Manager, Oasis 500
- Sakar Pudaisani, Karkhana
- Nathanael Sorin-Richez, Emergence Director at NUMA
- Meet Yasser Khattak, Founder of DEN
- Shehryar Hydri, CEO of Convo
- Yousaf Ejaz, Visual artist at We R Play
- Ramshah Mahmood, Founder of Demure Couture
- Khurram, Patari “The Spotify for desi/Pakistani music”
- Aamir Shafeeq, musican, Khumarian band
- Adnan Yousaf, owner of Sattar Baksh
- Kalsoom Lakhani, Fouder and CEO of i2i (Invest 2 Innovate)
- Kash Rahman, CEO and founder of Foodem.com
- Nauman Wazir, President of Frontier Foundary
- Zafar Khan, CEO of Sofizar
- Ahmad Khan, Member of the Planning Commission
- Muhammad Ali, Joint Director IMS and Director ORIC
- Azzam ul Asar, Dean CECOS University and Director ORIC
- Adnan Faisal, GM, TIC-NUST
- Shoab Khan, Co-founder, CARE
- Haseeb Awan, Founder of BitAccess, a company that manufactures bitcoins BTMs
- Aamir Matin, CEO Trivor
- Salman Ansari, CEO Salman Ansari Technology Consultants
- Sher Ali Arbab, E-Governance Working Group in the ST&IT Department, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- Ebtihaj, Co-Founder Messiah
- Tajdar Khan, Provincial Disaster Management Authority
- Afaque Ahmed, Founder and Chairman of Karachi Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship
- Faisal Khan, FinTech and Payments Specialist
- Asad Iqbal, CEO of HiwaasYasser Khattak
- Syed Ahmad, CEO of DPL
- Amjad Arbab, Senior Advisor at Karandaaz Pakistan
- Sulaiman Benshah, Afghan Investment Authority
- Farah Hamid Khan, IT Permanent Secretary & MD of the KP IT Board
Digital Youth Summit 2015: Judges for selecting five startup ideas
- Khurram Zafar, Executive Director of LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation Fellow at Pakistan Innovation Foundation
- Marco Villa, Business Angel, Vice President and Managing Director of Italian Angels for Growth
- Karim Samakie, Investment Manager at Oasis 500
- Shubber Ali, CEO and Founder of Stealth Technology Startups
If you want a chance to take advice or pitch your idea to entrepreneurs from different backgrounds, then head over to Digital Youth Summit, 2015 website and get registered for this amazing event.
Credits: dostpakistan.pk
