Pakistani participants from L to R: Nida Luni, Saira Qureshi, Ahmad Qazi, Nida Salam, Nida Mushtaq, and Sayfan Majid, with U.S. Consulate Almaty Public Affairs Officer Tristram Perry in the middle.
So, you’re an entrepreneur with a great idea, but how do you transform your concept into a concrete plan? How do you assemble a winning team to take your plan to reality? And most importantly, how do you attract the right investors?
These are just a few of the questions that six Pakistani alumni tackled while attending the “New Silk Road – Alumni Caravan,” an entrepreneurship conference held May 16-18, 2014, at Turan University in Almaty, Kazakhstan. U.S. Consulate General Almaty organized the start-up accelerator for U.S. exchange alumni from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan. Sessions focused on principals of entrepreneurship, networking, and a business plan competition.
The Consulate designed the conference to bring together alumni entrepreneurs from South and Central Asia for the purpose of creating joint projects. During the event, alumni not only learned about ways to succeed in business from their peers, but also found cooperation opportunities to execute their ideas. Trainers from New Silk Road countries led sessions about their experiences as entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors.
“After the sessions we had the opportunity to interact with the participants to discuss potential mutual plans and we soon found that there might be some chances to work together and start our own business,” said Nida Luni, a Global UGrad alumna from Islamabad, who attended the conference.
U.S. Embassy Islamabad and Consulates General in Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi, selected the Pakistani participants from among U.S. exchange alumni who are active members of the Pakistan-U.S. Alumni Network. Preference was given to candidates who are innovators and business idea generators, with a potential to act on their ideas, based on their previous endeavors.
“Alumni Caravan proved a great opportunity in polishing my entrepreneurial skills,” said Safyan Majid, a Global UGrad alumnus from Lahore. “The business plan competition, for which I and my Pakistani team spend a whole night refining, won third position in the business plan competition.”
Presenters at the conference included Kamel Magour, Co-Founder and CEO of GEEKSTERS (Paris, France) and The House of Geeks (Agadir, Morocco); Aset Nurpeisov, General Director at Payment Technologies and Executive Director at Internet Association of Kazakhstan; Rachel Cook, the founder and CEO of Seeds; Roger Holland, founder and President of the Scot Holland, part of the CBRE Affiliate Network; and Arman Suleimenovis, founding team of Collections (Mountain View, CA).
“During the two days we had scores of trainers and entrepreneurs who shared their immense knowledge about starting up a business from scratch and how not to fail,” said Nida Mushtaq, a SUSI alumna from Islamabad. “These people had literally started from scratch on nothing but their ideas.”
The presenters not only led training sessions on dynamics of entrepreneurship, but also held one-on-one sessions with participants, answering all their queries related to business ideas, explained Ahmad Ullah Qazi, a SUSI alumnus from Peshawar.
“I was honored to represent Pakistan as part of its team to Kazakhstan,” Qazi, said. “But also to expand my vision in terms of business development and entrepreneurship.”
“During these two days I literally felt like I was being hardwired to start up my own project,” Nida Mushtaq adds. “I made hundreds of new friends, and am ten times more motivated. The conference was everything I had hoped for and more.”
