Daily Times

The Executive Development Institute (EDI) of the National School of Public Policy (NSPP) organized a webinar on “Pakistan’s Emerging Startups and their Regulatory Framework: Issues and Recommendations.”

The webinar was officially introduced by Dean EDI, Mr.Ahmad Nazir Warraich, who while highlighting the importance of the topic told the audience that the webinar is being held to discuss the regulatory framework of startups and the issues in this regard and the interventions needed to improve the framework.

Dr.Umar Saif and Barrister Taimur Malik were the guest speakers. Almost 150 participants attended the webinar.

Barrister Taimur Malik spoke on the regulatory framework for startups at length. He said that the Government of Pakistan is responsive to the evolving needs of the country’s startup ecosystem. Particularly, the independent regulators like the Securities and Exchanges Commission of Pakistan (SECP), which introduced a new 2020 Companies (Amendment) Ordinance with considerable input from private sector stakeholders addressed some of their concerns. But much more can be done.

Dr.Umar Saif talked about Pakistan’s largest startup incubator(Plan 9 and Plan X) as the founder of the same. He highlighted sectors such as agriculture, education, finance, etc as ripe areas to invest in as a startup.

He emphasized that there is a strong correlation of entrepreneurship with the economic growth of a country. He said that the successive governments have taken positive steps towards the development of this industry and a positive workstream is also coming out from it, however, at the same time, it must be admitted that as a country, the startup and entrepreneurial ecosystem is yet to be explored extensively and developed.

He admitted the fact that Pakistan’s startup space has shown signs of growing incrementally, with many positive indicators for the future. The session was concluded with the vote of thanks from the Dean EDI, on behalf of the RECTOR NSPP, Dr.Ijaz Munir.