Fifth Edition Of She Loves Tech 2021 Featured 11 Women-Led Start-Ups

CIRCLE, Has Brought She Loves Tech 2021, A Women-Centric Global Technology Start-Up Competition

The fifth edition of the She Loves Tech 2021 competition featured 11 women-led start-ups that presented their innovative tech-related business ideas. The groundbreaking start-up, CIRCLE, has brought She Loves Tech 2021 — a women-centric global technology start-up competition — back to Pakistan in a bid to empower Pakistani female entrepreneurs and provide international exposure to their businesses. Titled “She Loves Tech Pakistan National Finals”, the virtual event took place last week and was attended by some of the most renowned names in Pakistan to represent the panel of judges, with each individual belonging to different areas of expertise. The panel included Stallion Gates CEO Shafaat Hashmi, HBL Head Venture Capital Yusuf Hussain, TAG Director with expertise in strategy and business development Maleeha Mimi Bangash, content strategist and managing editor Iram Nawaz, entrepreneur and Principal at Aspiro Management Consultants Karim Beg, and App Growth Manager at Google, Saad Hamid.

CIRCLE Founder Sadaffe Abid, while addressing the online session, emphasised the significance of the role of women in Pakistan. “Pakistan needs women in every space, whether as innovators or in leadership positions,” Abid said, adding that the involvement of women in various fields of life is critical because a country cannot progress if it doesn’t involve the talents of its entire population. “This is the vision behind She Loves Tech,” she added. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Usman Dar also attended the session. In his address, he said that women are not given equal opportunity in the Pakistani system, especially in the technology sector.

“This has become one of the biggest challenges in Pakistan for us,” said Dar. He said that She Loves Tech is a platform that enables women in leadership positions to polish their skills. The government will be introducing such other programmes in Pakistan soon, he added. Sagheer Mufti, the chief operating officer of Habib Bank Limited, which is a sponsor for She Loves Tech, asserted that women have been an integral part of technology and entrepreneurship. “You really have a path to success, which some brave women like you have followed,” Mufti told the participants.  He said that more women leaders are needed to create role models for other women through programmes like She Loves Tech.

During the session, She Loves Tech Co-Founder Leanne Roberts announced that the winning project — Out-Class Learning Services — will be included in the global finals of She Loves Tech, which is due to take place later this month. She said that participants from 40 countries will be competing for a prize in the competition. Aiman Bashir of Out-Class described the dilemma at hand, saying that with one-third of Pakistan’s children out of school, it would take the country years and billions of dollars to meet the demand of education if Pakistan relies on brick-and-mortar schools alone. Bashir further reinforced the main goal saying that it is a mission to make high-quality education affordable and available, anywhere, anytime.

Breaking the previous records, participants from over 15 cities of Pakistan, including Gilgit, Quetta, Layyah, Hyderabad, Multan, and Faisalabad, have entered the She Loves Tech contest this year. The winner of the competition, Out-Class Learning Services, will be awarded a cash prize while the first runner-up will be awarded a cash prize and other marketing services by one of the judges for the event, Stallion Gates CEO Shafaat Hashmi. The runners-up of the competition are Enent by Javeria Shakil and ScaryAmmi by Ayesha Nasir. Abid and the judges congratulated all the participants and encouraged them to continue to work on their business model and refine their operations.

This news was originally published at Geo