National Incubation Center Sialkot has welcomed a group of women founders into its inaugural Cohort 1, with ventures spanning emerging opportunities and scalable ideas that bring fresh perspectives and stronger representation to the center’s first intake. NIC Sialkot’s programme design commits to at least 25 percent of each cohort being women-led startups, backed by dedicated mentorship tracks and tailored financing through Mobilink Bank’s WIN programme, giving this group of founders access to financial support structured specifically around the needs of women entrepreneurs rather than generic startup funding alone.
Among the founders welcomed into the cohort, Ayesha Chaudhary leads Art of Home, an accessible premium home décor brand offering original wall art and curated collections through a growing artisan platform, tapping into a market that connects local craftsmanship with a broader consumer base seeking design led décor. Saleha Zainab heads Meridian, an all-in-one publishing, design, and creative marketplace platform for authors and independent creators, addressing a gap in Pakistan’s creative economy where writers and designers often lack a single integrated platform to publish and monetize their work.
Taniya Nazir founded North Sign Sports, a Gen-Z-focused sports fashion brand blending performance wear with fashion across football, women’s, golf, and equestrian lines, a positioning that draws directly on Sialkot’s globally recognized sporting goods manufacturing base while targeting a younger, style conscious consumer segment. Rabia Ahsan leads Dosraices, a premium heritage football apparel brand offering coordinated family sets for bicultural and diaspora communities, a niche that connects Sialkot’s manufacturing strength to identity driven demand among Pakistani communities living abroad.
Rounding out the group, Qurat ul Ain runs Earl Surgical, a manufacturer and exporter of specialized precision instruments including tuning forks, micro scissors, and botox tools, extending Sialkot’s established surgical instruments manufacturing sector into more specialized, higher margin product categories. NIC Sialkot, delivered from a purpose-built facility at Kent Mall and funded by Ignite National Technology Fund under Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, framed the group’s inclusion in Cohort 1 as central to paving the way and shaping tomorrow’s economy, with continued backing from Mobilink Bank and CyberVision International.
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