Islamabad, May 2024: Telenor Velocity, Telenor Pakistan’s start-up accelerator, and Google have collaborated to create great opportunities for Pakistan’s entrepreneurs. Telenor Velocity joins as a Community Partner for the Google Cloud Startup Competition Pakistan 2024, which aims to unearth and empower the nation’s most promising tech ventures and help embolden the country’s tech landscape. Telenor Velocity hosted the Islamabad edition and first of the ‘Master Your Pitch’ series, at Telenor Pakistan’s 345 campus, which opened its doors to young innovators.
Master Your Pitch is a platform that allows entrepreneurs to pitch their startup ideas to venture capitalists, investors, and experts to receive valuable feedback before competing in the final competition. The Islamabad edition received around 130 participants, out of which 10 startups were selected to present their pitches to a panel of experts.
The panel comprised Faisal Aftab, founder and GP at Zayn VC; Ahsan Maykan, VP of Marketing and Digital at Telenor Pakistan; Rohma Labeeb, Country Director at Accelerate Prosperity; and Sayyed Ahmad Masud, Project Director at National Incubation Center Islamabad. These experts provided each startup with feedback and suggestions on their startup idea and execution.
The event also welcomed workshops and experts to share insights on building sustainable business models and sharing insights on Generative AI from Google experts. These experts included Saad Hamid, Growth Manager at Google, Cynia Ejaz, Head of Corporate Innovation at Telenor Pakistan, Ershian Anwar – Organizer of Google Developer Group (GDG) Cloud Islamabad and Ali Naqi – Organizer of the GDG Islamabad.
Startups are encouraged to apply to five tracks in the Google Cloud Startup Competition, which is powered with Tech Valley Pakistan. These focus on a specific area of innovation, including AI and generative AI, E-commerce and connectivity, Fintech, Frontier Digital Technologies, and Sustainability and environment.
Areej Khan, Chief People Officer, Telenor Pakistan, opened the event and highlighted the great opportunities presented by the competition. “Telenor, a long-standing champion of innovation, is proud to collaborate with Google on this exciting initiative. This is a great opportunity for the budding entrepreneurial minds in the country to learn, present and make good use of global best practices and gain valuable insights into market expectations. The right direction is all that the immense talent pool and the flourishing opportunities within its local startup ecosystem”.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Telenor Pakistan for the Google Cloud Startup Competition. Their dedication to nurturing innovation aligns perfectly with our goal of empowering Pakistan’s developers and startups. Together, we’re confident we can unlock the potential of our country’s tech ecosystem and drive meaningful growth,” said Farhan Qureshi, Country Director, Pakistan, Google.
A rigorous judging process will select five finalists from each track based on product strength, market differentiation, growth potential, and team capabilities. These finalists will compete in the Grand Finals in Karachi in late July 2024, pitching their ventures to a distinguished panel of judges and industry leaders. Each track winner will receive a cash prize of PKR 1 million and exclusive networking opportunities with leading venture capitalists.
The last date to apply is 31 May 2024 at this link [https://techvalley.pk/startupcompetition/]
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