Episode seven of Perfect Pitch, titled Innovation for Dignity, Access and Everyday Impact, brought five Pakistani startups before a jury of leading investors and industry figures, with Nano Drop taking home the PKR 1 million prize. The show, an initiative of the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme, HEC and Hum TV Network, was hosted by Ahfar Rehman and judged by Faisal Aftab, Founder and CEO of Zayn VC and a Shark from Shark Tank Pakistan, Jehan Ara, recipient of the Tamgha e Imtiaz and Founder and CEO of Catalyst Labs, and Aamir Ejaz, President of Jazz Digital Platforms. Early in the episode, the jury shared advice with the wider founder audience: Jehan Ara urged founders to run thorough market research and to validate price points with real users rather than close family, while Aamir Ejaz stressed the importance of starting with a clear core mission and purpose before attempting to scale a digital product to millions of users. The full episode is available on YouTube.
The first pitch came from UFree, led by Aima Syed, which presented unisex, portable and leak proof urine disposal bags built with gel locking technology for bedridden patients, elderly care and travel hygiene. The gel solidifies liquid within 30 seconds and supports three to four uses per bag, and the team compared its unit cost of PKR 100 against imported equivalents priced around PKR 750, while outlining a machinery funding need of PKR 800,000 and interest from SOS Children’s Villages. HK Fragrance followed, with Mufti Noor Ahmad Khan and Mahmood Ahmad Khan pitching an affordable luxury perfume brand offering oil rich formulas that last more than ten hours, priced from PKR 1,300. The brand reported PKR 21.5 million in sales over eleven months across 8,000 customers and retail kiosks in Quetta, and faced questions from the jury on how its signature formulas stand apart in a crowded market.
The third pitch came from Nano Drop, founded by Abdul Samad and Zubair Rathore, which has developed a nanotechnology based graphene oxide membrane filtration system that purifies drinking water down to the nano scale, removing heavy metals, arsenic and bacteria without electricity. The team has already completed installations across 33 schools in Sindh and at International Islamic University Islamabad, secured a 3,000 dollar grant from UNESCO and Nestlé, and is receiving business to business orders for its filter membranes. Vanaz Handmade Crafts then presented its Balochistan based artisanal jewelry and accessories brand, founded by visually impaired creator Vashnaz with Zeenat Naz, producing handcrafted pearl and bead pieces through a tactile design process. The brand has sold more than 2,000 products for revenue of PKR 300,000 to 400,000 and is looking to scale its artisan production. The final pitch came from Fazal Yazdan of ZMA School, a cloud based school management app connecting parents, teachers and administrators for attendance, exam results, fees and AI automated reporting, which has generated PKR 7 million in revenue serving more than 300 private schools and nursing and medical colleges, and defended its position against free alternatives such as Google Classroom.
The episode also featured a success story on Bagallery, the e-commerce platform founded by Anas Arif that lists more than 800 fashion and lifestyle brands in Pakistan, along with an audience giveaway asking viewers to explain the term dilution. In the grand finale, Project Director Abdullah Soomro took the stage with the PKR 1 million cheque and announced UFree, led by Aima Syed, as runner-up, before naming Nano Drop, led by Abdul Samad and Zubair Rathore, as the winner of the episode. The result reflects the show’s focus this week on ventures tackling everyday problems around health, clean water, livelihoods and education, with the jury rewarding a low cost water purification technology that has already reached schools and universities across the country.
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