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At the TIE Event, the Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani directed the HEC to direct some of its funds towards entrepreneurship support and to work with the TIE Islamabad team towards that goal.
Since he wasnt clear on specifics, this could imply anything from sponsorship of future events to a SEED or Angel Investment fund. The TIE members would probably explore the possibilities together with HEC… I’m assuming over a long-winded process of evaluation (which is fine, money is involved after all?)
In addition, the prime minister said "we would like for the TIE members to be the think tank for the government" which certainly made the charter members thrilled.
Before this, Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman has mentioned some interesting initiatives they have underway to support R&D in the country, whereby funds are provided to faculty who is willing to conduct R&D using local resources. Perhaps TIE can bring in the industry link on the same type of activities to open up opportunities for innovation-centric startups to gain some funds to build and secure their Intellectual Property.
We’ll followup on this in a month or so and try to get some updates then.
June 24th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Well, TIE has been playing an active role in other Countries. Lets see, what kind of support do they get from GoP and how well do they utilize it for the benefit of the Entrepreneurs.
As far as HEC is concerned, they have this University Industry Linkages program. But as far as I know (the info is old), the program has not taken off. HEC pays up to 80% of the Project Cost, but they hadn’t approved that many projects.
June 24th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
umm…whats TIE again?
June 25th, 2008 at 12:20 am
I’ve a complete product concept & design. And I want to launch it commercially.
But I don’t have the initial capital to develop a product ( which is approx. 2million Rs. ).
The product is related to industrial mixing.
Please advise, what’s the way to go ?
June 25th, 2008 at 1:09 am
TIE Silicon Valley is involved heavily in entrepreneur education via its TIE Institute. They hold frequent class-room style events where experts present on topics of interest such as intellectual property law, latest tech trends, evolving new technologies and market opportunities, negotiating with investors, hiring/training people, setting up corporations etc. I think supporting TIE institutes in major Pak cities would be the appropriate role for HEC.
June 25th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Adil,
Adil, you can talk to the MITCEF People (www.businessplan.pk).
They mostly fund IT related businesses, but also have a mentoring program in place. They might be able to provide some support.
Also check out http://www.asf.org.pk , if your Project has anything to do with Agribusiness.
June 25th, 2008 at 10:00 am
hmmm – one of the very good news I have come across in recent times!