By Rimsha Ali Shah
Rustic Sindhi handmade accessories were lined up for the judges as Um-e-Haniya, an MSc Agriculture Studies student from Sindh University chalked out her business plan of reviving the Sindhi cultural ornaments in the mainstream market. Poised and prepared, Haniya explained the feasibility, marketing and scaling of her business venture to a panel of judges at the finale of Hyderabad Entrepreneurship Camp (E-Camp) held at Isra University, Hyderabad by Paras Bhatti, an alumna of the University Exchanges 2013 program. This was made possible with the help of $5,000 USD grant from the Pakistan-U.S. Alumni Network. All alumni of various U.S. government sponsored exchange programs in Pakistan are eligible to apply for the grant to enable them to give back to their communities.
The E-Camp, held from November 9-17 2015, aimed to bring together thirty aspiring entrepreneurs and seven mentors to provide rigorous hands-on business training, financial planning, report writing and commercialization. After successfully making it through three selection rounds, where during the final round they presented their ideas before a jury, the thirty participants were selected out of a pool of 116.
Ideas Galore – Creativity without bounds
The diversity of the ideas was a testament to the creativity present even in the most far-flung areas of Pakistan. Iqra Aslam’s venture’s slogan was “World of vegetables at your door-step.” She wanted to stir a behavioral change towards a healthier lifestyle through her “Veg Basket” delivery service, serving fresh and frozen vegetables to your doorstep. Frozen vegetable delivery, customized cakes, online points-based shopping store, tetra pack sugar cane juicepack, online appointment booking system, and cultural ornaments promotion were just some of the ideas that made it to the E-Camp. Winner of the E-Camp, Ayesha Sheikh, owner of Cravings a home-based bakery said, “I did not know what would be the next step for my homebased bakery. I wanted to expand and through the E-Camp, the mentors helped me realize what my strength was: Customized Cakes. For Hyderabad, this is something completely unique and I am so thrilled to move on to the next step.”
Talking Entrepreneurship
This need was addressed by the E-Camp designed by PUAN alumna Paras Bhatti, an alumna of Ball State University, Indiana under the University Partnership 2013 program. Bhatti focused her research on entrepreneurship, innovation, and business planning while in the U.S. and through this project attempted to share the knowledge with the youth of Sindh.“I was amazed at the creativity of our participants, many of whom were coming from interior Sindh. There is no lack of talent here, only absence of the right training tools” said Ms. Humera Jabeen, one of the mentors.
These trainings, aligned with the Global Entrepreneurship Week, reaffirm the commitment of our alumni to share the learnings of their exchange programs with the community at large. The E-Camp covered such topics as: Commercialization, Business Basics, Marketing, Financial Projections, Prototyping, Report Writing and Business Model Generation.
Amna Shah, one of the participants, wanted to launch an online portal for domestic workforce and praised the trainings for helping her in refining her idea. Another participant, Shahzaib explained that he now has the know-how to balance his accounts which has helped him and his team immensely in the financial planning of their business venture.
Through the Entrepreneurship Camp, participants were also introduced to external funding sources including micro-scholarship loans for their startups. A session was held by Muhammad Azam Qureshi from State Bank and Mr. Salahuddin from Trade Development Authority to extend support to the aspiring entrepreneurs of the E-Camp. The participants were also introduced to the various cultural exchange programs offered by the U.S. State Department.
The winning ideas were all registered with the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce for continued mentorship, guidance and support. The winning ideas are as follows:
- “Cravings” (customized bakery)
- “Agri Foods” (sugar cane juice in tetra pack)
- “Book Health Consultants” (online portal for health services)
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