IBA CEDIR has hosted the I-Incubate Cohort 2 Demo Day, marking the end of a 14-month incubation programme in which 16 startups developed and showcased market-ready minimum viable products, or MVPs. The demo day is the final stage of the programme, where founders move from months of building and testing to presenting their ventures in front of a panel of experts. IBA CEDIR described the event as a milestone in entrepreneurship, since it brings together the work that the participating teams have done from the early idea stage to a product that is ready to be put in front of customers.
The founders presented their ventures before an expert panel made up of Dr. Mohammad Asad Ilyas, Faisal Jalal, Nida Tanzeel, Usama Rehman, Muhammad Ali Taufiq, Asad Abdulla and Nisar A. Mughal. A panel of this kind gives early-stage teams a chance to test their pitch, hear direct feedback on their business model and get a sense of how their products will be judged by people who evaluate startups regularly. The announcement did not say how the panel scored the startups, whether any winners or prizes were announced, or which of the 16 startups took part in the final presentations, so the outcome of the evaluation is not covered in the source.
The programme was supported by 14 trainers and 20 mentors, along with HEC Pakistan as the programme partner. According to IBA CEDIR, this guidance helped the entrepreneurs turn their ideas into viable ventures. A 14-month programme with that level of trainer and mentor involvement gives founders time to validate their ideas, build their products and refine their plans, instead of rushing through a short accelerator format. The announcement did not give details on the sectors the 16 startups work in, how much funding they have raised or what support they will receive after the demo day, so the next steps for the cohort are not yet clear.
The demo day reflects the role that university-based incubation centers are playing in Pakistan’s startup landscape, where institutions such as IBA Karachi are running structured programmes that take founders from the concept stage to a working product. With the completion of Cohort 2, IBA CEDIR has now seen a second group of startups through its I-Incubate programme, which suggests that the centre is building a continuing pipeline of early-stage ventures.
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