National Incubation Center Lahore has announced that 25 percent of its incubated startups are now women led, marking a notable share of the incubator’s overall portfolio. The figure reflects a steady rise in the number of women founders who have moved through NIC Lahore’s programmes, building their ventures alongside male counterparts in a startup ecosystem that has historically skewed toward men in leadership roles.
Behind that 25 percent figure, the incubator points to individual stories of resilience, late nights and determination, describing the achievement as the result of visionary women turning small sparks of courage into functioning businesses. Framing the milestone this way places emphasis on the personal journey each founder has taken to reach this point, rather than treating the statistic as an abstract number disconnected from the effort behind it.
A rising share of women led startups within an incubator’s portfolio often signals a broader shift in who feels able to access entrepreneurship support in the first place, from mentorship and funding conversations to the everyday networking that shapes a startup’s early growth. For NIC Lahore, reaching a quarter of its cohort being women led suggests the incubator’s programmes, outreach and support structures are increasingly reaching women founders who might once have found such pathways less accessible.
NIC Lahore continues to operate with support from the Ministry of IT and Telecom, Pakistan Software Export Board, Ignite National Technology Fund and NETSOL Technologies, alongside HBL, Beaconhouse National University, the University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, Plug and Play Tech Center and Daftarkhwan. As the incubator continues to expand its cohort, the growing presence of women founders points to a startup ecosystem in Lahore that is gradually becoming more representative of the wider population it aims to serve.
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