“I am fascinated by the scale of innovation and diversity of fields that these entrepreneurs are working on. I’m quite blown away.”

This statement of Muddasir Sheikha, CEO Careem, very beautifully summarizes the ardent work and achievements of NIC Peshawar’s startups in 2019. The year marks a tremendous landmark in the upward spiral of NIC Peshawar as well as the startups growing with us. NIC Peshawar cut the mustard as the leading entrepreneurial facilitator in the country and got recognition in shape of numerous awards, grants and accolades in various entrepreneurship and innovation competitions.

The loudest hoorah came from the stage of Pakistan Startup Cup 2019 where two of our Startups stole the show by grabbing 1st and 3rd positions. Pakistan Startup Cup is one of the biggest innovation driven award in Pakistan. Nano IT Solutions bagged the Cup and a cash prize of PKR 1 Million by securing the First position while Aprus Technologies secured the second runner up position.

But that was just the beginning of an emblazoned year. Just a couple of months later, Aprus and Darewro once again put NIC Peshawar in spotlight by brining three P@SHA ICT Awards. The annual P@SH@ ICT Awards aims to provide recognition to software and services companies of Pakistan by providing them local and international visibility and opportunities. Aprus Technologies won two awards, one in Health and Wellbeing category and the second one in Startup Category. Darewro got the award in the Logistic Technology industry.

The Boss Ladies took the charge in the last quarter of 2019 and took the game to the whole new level. Khawateen Rozgar Services (KRS) bagged Growth Centric Award at LIFT Pakistan 2019, around the same time the female founder of Nano Hive aced Parwan-e-Khanum, a local entrepreneurship award. In the following month, another female led startup Bloggers Academy won a grant by Shaoor Foundation for Education and Awareness.

All this is the tip of the iceberg, the social and economic impact of these startups on national economy is unquantifiable. They have created around 500 direct jobs where as the number of indirect jobs is many folds higher. These startups have raised more than PKR 178 Million in investment and added more than PKR 200 Million in national economy in terms of revenue.
These innovators are just warming up right now and we can foresee an exponential growth potential for many of these startups in 2020. Likewise, the team of NIC Peshawar is also very excited to start New Year with another incoming rush of ideas in 5th cohort. Looking forward to conquer many more landmarks in this brand new year.