HerSpace, a startup incubated at National Incubation Center Hyderabad, has been selected for the Nobel Women’s Initiative Sister-to-Sister Program 2026, bringing together 25 women from 23 countries to explore the theme of peace in the age of AI and building feminist futures. Roshni Anwar, founder and executive director of HerSpace, brings a track record that extends well beyond the startup itself, having previously been recognized by the United Nations Environment Programme as a Climate and Gender Champion, and currently serving on Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s National Youth Council as well as the Youth and Gender Technical Working Group for Pakistan’s Nationally Determined Contributions 3.0, giving her direct experience connecting grassroots community work with national policy processes.
HerSpace operates as a youth- and women-led grassroots organization advancing climate action, gender equality, and youth empowerment through community-led initiatives, participatory research, advocacy, and policy engagement, a model that treats technology and gender work as inseparable from broader development and policy goals rather than confining its impact to a single narrow vertical. The organization’s specific work on making artificial intelligence accessible to women, advancing gender-responsive AI, and addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence places it at the intersection of two areas that have received growing attention globally but have historically been under-resourced within Pakistan’s own startup ecosystem.
The Sister-to-Sister Program itself is run by the Nobel Women’s Initiative, an international advocacy organization founded in 2006 by female Nobel Peace Prize laureates to support women’s groups worldwide campaigning for justice, peace, and equality. Selection into a program convening participants from 23 countries gives HerSpace direct access to global peers working on comparable gender and technology issues across vastly different political, cultural, and regulatory contexts, an exchange that can surface strategies and frameworks not readily available through Pakistan’s domestic ecosystem alone.
HerSpace described the selection as a significant global platform to exchange ideas, challenge assumptions, and contribute to conversations shaping more inclusive futures, framing the opportunity as a forum for genuine intellectual exchange rather than a purely ceremonial recognition. The milestone adds to NIC Hyderabad’s growing record of startups gaining international visibility, and the center extended its congratulations to the HerSpace team, continuing its support alongside Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, Ignite National Technology Fund, PTCL, LMKT, and Tech Destination Pakistan.
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