KARACHI: Innovation, ambition, and collaboration took centre stage as the IBA Centre for Entrepreneurial Development (IBA-CED) marked Global Entrepreneurship Week 2025 with a series of dynamic events celebrating Pakistan’s young innovators.
The festivities kicked off on November 7 with a reverse-pitching session led by Muhammad Ali Taufiq, VP Investments at Fatima Gobi Ventures. Flipping the traditional startup pitch model, Taufiq introduced founders to the investor mindset, emphasizing that vision, market understanding, and team conviction are as important as product ideas — showing that investors ultimately back people with insight and passion.
On November 17, IBA-CED hosted I-Bazaar 2025, transforming the campus football ground into a bustling marketplace of ideas. Over 1,500 visitors explored 87 ventures led by students and young founders, including six startups from the I-Incubate program. The event celebrated entrepreneurial ingenuity and community spirit, with one of IBA’s first-ever pet shows adding a festival-like vibrancy to the day.
The excitement continued on November 20 with the Invent for the Greater Good Challenge 2025, Pakistan’s debut of the global competition. Organised in collaboration with Beba Foundation and August Leadership, and sponsored by Unilever Pakistan, thirteen early-stage social ventures pitched before a distinguished panel of judges, competing for one of the country’s largest prize pools for early-stage social ventures. Participants also gained mentorship and access to global networks, demonstrating the power of collaboration and cross-border support.
The month-long celebrations culminated on November 21 with the I-Incubate 1st Cohort Demo Day, which featured rigorous venture evaluations, a prototype showcase, two signature panel discussions, and the graduation ceremony of the first cohort of the I-Incubate program. The panels explored strengthening Pakistan’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and translating ideas into sustainable ventures, while founders demonstrated their readiness to scale and create meaningful social impact.
Throughout Global Entrepreneurship Week 2025, IBA-CED reinforced the theme “Together We Build,” showing that mentorship, collaboration, and opportunity can empower Pakistan’s young innovators to transform ideas into solutions that drive social change, strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem, and inspire the next generation of change makers.
Dr Lalarukh Ejaz, Director of IBA-CED, summed up the spirit of the week: “With the right mentorship, resources, and global exposure, our young innovators can develop transformative solutions that reshape communities and advance Pakistan’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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