Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday called for establishing a marketplace to provide Pakistani startups a platform for promoting their indigenously developed products through linkages with the investors as well as the global markets. The president, addressing the Angels Investors Summit & Startup Showcase, said the startups needed to effectively market their products and enhance their outreach for benefit of the local population as well as the innovators.
The president appreciated the 11 shortlisted startups for the way they were developing the intellectual properties. He lauded the “tremendous” innovative ideas of the startups who also gave presentations on their products which are gradually getting recognition in the market.
The president suggested the summit organisers to record detailed video messages of the startups so that they could better explain their products to the people as well as the potential investors. He told the gathering that in the initially, the developed countries had also been benefiting from the foreign ideas by modifying them in accordance with their local needs.
Emphasising the use of technology and artificial intelligence in the health sector, President Alvi said the telemedicine was the only solution to Pakistan’s health care problems as it would save the poor from paying the transport and other hassles besides reducing burden on the system.
He also called for utilising the AI and other technologies to address the issue of mental health as around 24% of the population suffered any form of stress. Around 60-80% of college students were also under mental stress which sometimes led to violence or suicides. He also stressed the need for addressing the taboos associated with the diseases like breast cancer, which he said was being overcome through frequent messaging and awareness drives.
Chairperson of Aspire Pakistan Hassan Syed apprised the audience of the journey of bringing the startups under the network, the establishment of the National Ideas Bank, Pak Angels and Startup Pakistan platforms.
He said around 8,000 trainings had taken place under the National Ideas Bank and 11 shortlisted startup had to go through screening process which examined their ideas and scope of their products. Founder of Pak Angels Anwar Khan, in his remarks, said the innovation was a must for a prosperous Pakistan as it could boost the country’s exports.
He called for establishing an ecosystem for the startups as currently, the startups had to struggle in the initial years to promote their ideas and market their products. In his presentation, COO of EZ Shifa Adnan Siddiqui briefed about his healthtech startup using cutting edge technology to address primary healthcare issues. The equipment measures patients’ vitals and transmit them in real time to doctors besides providing screening and tracking for hepatitis, hypertension, and diabetes. Representative of Green Electric Bike told the summit that the bike had been developed in accordance with local market needs and has the potential to become a $1.5 billion market by 2026. Noorul Amin of Kangaroo Care explained his indigenously developed infant incubator facility which he said was not so easy to find even abroad. The equipment has the ability to treat jaundice of the newborn without pricking a needle as well as detecting the child’s cry and identify the reasons to later transmit the data to nursing station. Another two startups including Baadmay New Vative explained their products dealing with consumer lending and end-to-end cold chain monitoring of sensitive products in healthcare respectively.
