Daily Times

July 13 saw CIRCLE organising ‘Demo Day’ at The NEST I/O, attended by over 60 She Loves Tech startup competition applicants, including startups led by women as well as tech industry veterans Humayun Bashir (ex CEO IBM), Raza Matin (Google) and Samara Faisal (product and growth professional in TMT industries).

CIRCLE excited tech startups when it introduced She Loves Tech, a global startup competition to Pakistan in May 2017.

The ensuing rush to apply to this contest was not surprising: this is the first ever global startup competition that supports women techpreneurs and technology for women. The top 4 startup applicants will receive mentoring and financial modelling support from seasoned industry experts, while the winner will go to Beijing this September to compete at the global round against teams from China, Canada, Germany, Singapore and Indonesia. CIRCLE has partnered with Lakson Investments and Sybrid to pull off this first-of-its-kind entrepreneurial event.

Jehan Ara at the start of ‘Demo Day’ said that technology is important for women because they have twice the amount of responsibilities as men, which is why she is supporting She Loves Tech. Sharing her own story, she said, “Five years after I graduated, my mother fell ill. I was torn between my professional responsibilities and my duty to my mother. Technology helped me reach my customers while caring for my mother. It enabled me to be both a good professional and a good daughter.”

Founder CIRCLE Sadaffe Abid, former CEO of Kashf Foundation, took She Loves Tech all over the country, from Plan9 in Lahore to IBA, Nest I/O and NED in Karachi, sparking interest in this novel competition wherever she went. Tech experts such as Kalsoom Lakhani (Founder Invest2Innovate) and Jehan Ara (President P@SHA and the doer behind Nest I/O) rallied with CIRCLE in encouraging tech startups to apply to this challenging yet exciting competition. It is a mark of how fascinated Pakistan’s tech industry is by She Loves Tech that CIRCLE has received more than 80 startup applications! Furthermore, it has been using its FB platform (@circlewomen) to create awareness about start ups led by women, inspire and build a vibrant community. ‘Demo Day’ was in effect a workshop where the three industry experts mentored the startup applicants regarding pitching strategies, business plans and other entrepreneurial issues. Raza Matin described the three types of pitches, namely the elevator pitch, demo day pitch and long form pitch, and went on to discuss demo day pitches at length, including the ‘secret sauce’ of pitches. His witty humour ensured that startup owners had fun while learning!

Raza also organized an exercise in which Samara Faisal, Humayun Bashir, Sadaffe Abid and himself went around asking each startup to pitch for 30 seconds, and then provided feedback. Where the mentors gave them some personal tips for how to succeed as an entrepreneur, startup owners did not fail to impress the industry leaders either. Samara was especially pleased to hear ConnectHear’s elevator pitch, while Humayun Bashir too thought the startups showed promise.

Whoever said the future is female could not have been more right. As Sadaffe Abid mentioned in her welcome address, “I am personally very excited about the possibilities that technology presents to Pakistan’s increasingly ambitious female population.”

Then came the moment everyone had been waiting for. Sadaffe Abid finally announced the names of the Top 10 startup applicants who would go on to compete at the She Loves Tech Pakistan round in August 19.

She Loves Tech Pakistan will take place on August 19 from 3 to 5:30 pm at JS Auditorium, IBA City Campus followed by tea. To attend the event, follow CIRCLE on Facebook @circlewomen for details!

CIRCLE is a social enterprise founded on the belief that when women grow, nations progress. But today, is growth possible without harnessing the power of tech? CIRCLE thinks not. Keeping this reality in mind, CIRCLE works for the economic empowerment of women by increasing their awareness of technology. CIRCLE’s pioneer Tech Project imparts coding skills to young underserved girls and women so they can earn their own livelihoods, while She Loves Tech is another innovative initiative in its program to encourage women in tech and in entrepreneurship. It will come to Pakistan annually! So, watch this space.

Published in Daily Times, July 15^th , 2017.