KARACHI: The soft launch of the HEC funded Sindh consortium of universities, for the establishment of Business Incubation Centres (BICs) with the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, was held on Wednesday.

The consortium was formed in April 2022 by the Institute of Business Management (IoBM) and led by Mehran University of Engineering & Technology (MUET). Other member universities are Sindh Madressatul Islam University (SMIU) and Dawood University of Engineering & Technology (DUET).

The objective of the consortium is to help the country achieve its goals of sustainability and livelihood and become a seat of learning for the same, not only for Sindh, but also for the entire Pakistan.

The consortium, recognised by the HEC, will offer capacity-building training programmes, mentorship, and establish industry linkages to startups selected by BICs of the four respective member universities. Furthermore, it allows the startups to share resources, information, and talent and hence, ensures that each university has both access and potential to support sustainable startups and better private and public opportunities.

IoBM is the only private sector university in Sindh to have taken the initiative of establishment with the HEC. The consortium will begin its recruitment drive soon, for its new cohort across Sindh and Pakistan. Under the auspices of HEC, the consortium is also happy to announce the Sindh Consortium Grant Challenge for student startups of the partner universities.

Potential startups from MUET, IoBM, SMIU, and DUET, which meet the grant challenge criteria are invited to apply before May 31. The selected startups will be incubated in the new Cohort Incubation Program 2022 by IoBM’s Shahjehan S Karim Incubation Center (SSKIC).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022