ISLAMABAD: Global Entrepreneurship Week is a massive campaign to celebrate and empower entrepreneurs in every country and community around the world – especially those individuals who face structural barriers or may have never considered the idea of launching their own startup. Each November 10 million people take part in tens of thousands of activities, competitions and events that inspire them to act and provide them with the knowledge, experience and connections they need to succeed. Global Entrepreneurship Week is powered by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a diverse collection of national host organizations in 180+ countries and 25,000 local partner organizations. The Global Entrepreneurship Network operates programs, like Global Entrepreneurship Week, that make it easier for anyone, anywhere to start and scale a company.
The Millennium Universal Colleges TMUC, Pakistan’s top International University in Pakistan specifically an institution of higher learning dedicated to providing innovative undergraduate, postgraduate, and professional education and pioneers of Transnational Education Provider celebrated Global Entrepreneurship Week across all its campuses in Pakistan. Through GEW, TMUC provides its students an opportunity to collaborate and engage with organizations and individuals to celebrate and spotlight entrepreneurs, expose students to the path of entrepreneurship, help them get started and facilitate access to capital and the resources they need to succeed.
The Millennium Universal College TMUC, Pakistan celebrated GEW 2022, as part of their annual campaign to celebrate and empower entrepreneurial sprit in every community through distinctive themes of Education-Ecosystems-Inclusion to spotlight impactful voices. TMUC Islamabad, as part of Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) official activities, organized GEW with the aim of engaging and inspiring youth to think and act out of the box while taking full command and expertise of the available market opportunities.
This year, as part of GEW campaign, TMUC launched its first ever Millennium GREENNOVATION Challenge, aimed at providing the aspiring youth with the platform to brainstorm and present sustainable business solutions to everyday essentials that minimizes the impact on the environment. The challenge welcomed business idea pitches fostering green innovation, promoting circular economy initiates, and providing realistic market opportunities at national level. A total of twelve teams, representing different educational institutions in the twin cities, participated in the two rounds of the challenge. Teams presented their business ideas, drawn onto their knowledge about market conditions, UNDP sustainable development goals, circular economy frameworks, and proposed policies pertaining to restricting climate change impacts. With focus on providing a revolutionizing view of entrepreneurship, leadership, innovation, and technology, the ideas were judged based on key criterion of vision, visibility, viability and vigilance to shortlist ideas that could eventually be translated into scalable innovation, providing sustainable national development.
The challenge was graced by the presence of esteemed judges, including Mr. Kashif Mehmood Khan, Managing Director Global Entrepreneurship Network, Pakistan; Ms. Naima Ansari, CEO Innovations and President Islamabad Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Mr. Adeel Aijaz Shaikh, General Manager Corporate Affairs Ignite, Mr. Raja Omer Iqbal, CEO i2d Technologies and Chairman Committee – Research & development at Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce & industry, Ms. Sadaf Asim, CEO Food Hall by Eateria & Senior Vice President Islamabad Women chamber of commerce and industries; Mr. Asad Malik, Head of Business Development, North, ACCA, and Mr. Ali Qasim Khan, Manager Incubation Center, Foundation University.
The esteemed judges appreciated the ideas fostering green innovation create positive impact on the environment, while creatively capitalizing on available market opportunities. The feedback helped the teams improve and refine their ideas, and the mentorship offered during the challenge will help them convert their ideas into successful ecological and social enterprises.
At the end of the challenge, a cash award of PKR 50,000, from Floret Commodities, along with service agreement from TheWing encompassing premium co-working space was handed over to the winning team, including Muhammad Uzair Khan, and Aashir Anwar. Runner up teams were also awarded cash prizes of PKR 25,000 and PKR 15,000 respectively, along with service agreement for co-working space.
Similarly, another key highlight of GEW was the cultural mela, organized to promote foodpreneurship amongst their students while reflecting on the themes of culture, inclusion, and diversity. Students indulged into multiple cultural festivities reflecting on social solidarity and inclusion, while promoting unity and tolerance. Foodpreneurs from different departments put together a scrumptious display of their industrious cuisine, using their culinary knowledge to create business opportunities. Another key highlight was the Fashion Show ‘Blanc Noir’ organised by students of TMUC- Art and Fashion Department (University for the Creative Art). Young fashionprenures and TMUC Graduates presented a variety of collections which they had worked hard on it including black and white collection and street style.
Sharing his thoughts on the occasion, Kashif Mehmood Khan, Managing Director Global Entrepreneurship Network, Pakistan congratulated TMUC for successfully organizing more than seventy activities across different campuses nationwide and added that this year’s Millennium Greennovation Challenge was one of its kind initiatives by TMUC and wished every success for their next year GEW activities.
