HEC

Encouraging entrepreneurship is one of the key objectives of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan. The HEC has launched the Higher Education Development in Pakistan (HEDP) project to help in accelerating the economic engines of the country. Innovator Seed Fund (ISF) is an initiative under HEDP that aims at engaging entrepreneurs and upcoming aspirants who want to convert their business ideas into action.

ISF will provide a package of support and seed funding to early-stage startups through HEC-recognized Business Incubation Centers (BICs) at universities. The grant winners will receive up to $35,000 in seed funding in addition to support through BICs in the form of entrepreneurial training, legal training and support, financial education, business development service provision, and investment readiness training. In addition, successful start-ups will be connected to a range of funding sources that can help them meet their capital needs during the scale-up phase post program.

15 promising early-stage start-ups will be funded and provided the training and incubation services required to transform them into investable ventures through ISF, every year. As part of the strategic aims of the project, a significant proportion of the grants will be awarded to startups with female founders.

How can you participate as an entrepreneur, mentor, business developer, service provider or investor? Please check out the recordings of ISF Pre-launch Webinars or navigate through the ISF webpages here to learn more.