LAHORE – A total of 261 Startups have graduated under the National Expansion Plan (NEP) of the National Incubation Centers (NICs) Program, a collaborative effort of the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) and Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT), from January 2023 to December 2023. This was told during a progress review meeting presided over by PITB Chairman Faisal Yousaf at Arfa Software Technology Park (ASTP).
The participants of the meeting were apprised that 87 startups of the NEP NICs initiative graduated from Punjab, 64 from Sindh, 20 from Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 39 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 31 from Balochistan 20 from Gilgit Baltistan.
In his remarks on the occasion, Chairman Faisal Yousaf said that the objective of the National Expansion Plan of NICs was to democratize entrepreneurship, boost business activity across the country, grow the IT industry and promote economic growth in Pakistan. “The incubation program is tailored to the needs of early-stage startups and runs on a zero-equity model,” he added.
In partnership with public universities, as many as 13 tech incubation centres have been set up across the country where startups are provided with free-of-cost workspace, mentorship, networking opportunities, monthly stipend, business support and legal guidance for six months.
