The Institute of Business Management in Karachi has welcomed Dr. Hashim S. Hussein, Head of the Investment and Technology Promotion Office of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in Bahrain, and Isa Awachi to its campus. During the visit, they met Talib Karim, President of the institute, held a collaborative dialogue, and spent time with young founders at the Shahjehan S Karim Incubation Center. The institute described the visit as an honor and thanked both guests for taking the time to engage with its startup community.
The interaction highlighted the importance of connecting emerging entrepreneurs with global opportunities, sharing knowledge, and building collaborations that can help local startups grow beyond borders. For founders at an early stage, meeting a senior figure from an international development organization offers exposure that rarely comes through regular channels, and it can open conversations about programs, funding, and markets in other countries. Time spent directly with the young founders, rather than only with university leadership, gave the guests a firsthand view of the ventures taking shape at the incubation center.
The visit was facilitated by the incubation center’s team under Raza Abbas, who serves as Head of the center and Head of the UNESCO EE-Net Pakistan Chapter. The center also thanked Prof. Dr. Muhammad Abbas, Dean of the College of Computer Science and Information Systems, and Dr. Bazla Mukhtar for their support and for encouraging students to connect with the center and its entrepreneurial ecosystem. Muhammad Adnan, Senior Officer, and Syed Abdul Rafay, Officer, were thanked as members of the team who supported the event.
The center said it believes that meaningful connections between academia, industry, and international organizations will open new doors for aspiring founders and help turn innovative ideas into impactful and sustainable ventures. The announcement did not mention any agreements or follow up programs arising from the visit, so the practical outcomes remain to be seen. Even so, hosting a head of a United Nations office within a university incubator signals the kind of international links the institute hopes to build for its students and startups, and it gives the founders who met him a contact point beyond Pakistan.
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