Founder Institute’s initiative: Bringing Silicon Valley to Karachi

Young professionals, graduates to be trained by experienced startup CEOs. CREATIVE COMMONS

KARACHI: If you are an aspiring entrepreneur who plans to launch his own venture but lacks the knowledge essential to build up a successful technology company, you might want to show up at “Bringing Silicon Valley to Karachi, an overview of what it takes to startup in Karachi”.

The event, which promises to bring the collaborative knowledge-sharing of Silicon Valley to Karachi, is being organised by Founder Institute (FI), the world’s largest entrepreneur training and startup launch programme based in the US.

The institute, which is in the process of launching its Karachi chapter, helps aspiring founders across the globe to build technology companies. It runs an early-stage accelerator and global launch network that helps entrepreneurs create meaningful and enduring technology companies, its website says.

While entrepreneurs in many countries made the most from this programme, the nearest chapter Pakistanis could go to was in Ahmedabad, India.

However, that visit required a visa, making the process complicated and difficult. This was the reason the programme’s director, Hassan Qureshi, decided to bring this to Pakistan.

“I wanted such training for myself but none was available in Pakistan,” said Qureshi, explaining what led him to bring FI to Pakistan.

In its five years of operation, the programme has helped launch over 1,230 companies across 66 cities and six continents, making it the world’s largest startup accelerator. It was covered by prominent publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes,Business Week and TechCrunch to name a few.

“We will teach our students the same things that are taught to the founders in Silicon Valley – how to find a company, the legal aspects and revenue models for example,” FI’s co-director Sumaan Azmi told The Express Tribune while referring to their four-month, part-time programme, which they plan to commence in January 2015.

Silicon Valley is respected all over the world for creating the world’s best technology companies, according to the officials. “Over the years, we’ve learnt that the Silicon Valley mindset can be replicated in other entrepreneurial ecosystems and we can benefit greatly from the growth of technology companies locally.”

Karachi has a fast growing startup ecosystem. However, what many people don’t know about all of the resources available to them is the differences between these resources or what resources are right for them, says the website.

“The programme will revolutionise the local startup scenario by bringing in global best practices through its extensive network and support from around the world,” it says.

The FI’s local representatives are in the process of organising information events for applicants. “We would like to have 30 people enrolled to start our first batch,” Azmi said.

While there is a $450 fee for the full course, FI will offer 100% scholarships to women – subject to their eligibility to the programme, according to Azmi. Those admitted will receive expert training, feedback and support from experienced startup chief executive officers (CEO).

The local CEOs understand the mindset of home entrepreneurs, thus best suited to mentor these aspiring founders, Azmi says.

The FI has already got on board some of the industry’s leading startup CEOs. Some of these mentors include Afaque Riaz Ahmed, founder and Chairman, Board of Governors, Karachi Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship (KITE) – also the venue for the aforesaid event; Badar Khushnood, Google Country Consultant for Pakistan and Farzal Dojki, founder and CEO of Next Generation Innovation.

“We are talking to many other CEOs who are also the founders of their companies. We plan to have about 25 top CEOs on board to mentor this programme,” Hassan Qureshi, the director, said.

The target audience for this are young professionals and fresh graduates. “Our job is to create a startup eco-system and provide aspiring entrepreneurs with a platform,” Azmi said. These graduates will have to take it further because it is mandatory for them to form a company. “We [FI] are not building employees, we are building companies,” Azmi said.

Transforming Business

Traditional crafts need the government’s attention and support from financial institutions. PHOTO: EXPRESS

LONDON: The first part of this article, carried two weeks ago on September 1, discussed how different vendors, in many cases, offer their services in the same premises, but they do not join hands to build a joint business. It explained several factors that lead to this lack of organisation.

This second part will shed light on what could be done to encourage better organisation of business given the economic reality in Pakistan. At least, three key steps are required to be taken in this regard.

Capacity-building

It is absolutely important to offer better and more conducive environment for small businesses to help them grow into medium and large businesses. This can be done by developing business parks.

Instead of letting the clusters of businesses develop in a haphazard way in different parts of the cities, the government should develop business parks for different trades. For example, for tailors and stitching businesses that are normally found around fabric shops, there is a need to bring them under one organised premises to offer them support services.

Similarly, Hafeez Centre in Lahore has grown into a computer and IT hub without any proper planning or government action. There are hundreds of related businesses in and around Hafeez Centre offering goods and services related to computers, mobile phones and IT.

Although now the government of Punjab has developed Arfa Software Technology Park in Lahore to establish an organised IT hub, already existing IT businesses do not benefit from this facility. There is a need to develop more such facilities.

Financial services

There is also a dire need to develop financial services specific to micro and small businesses with an objective to help them grow. Unfortunately, while there is some limited focus on microfinance, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) remain underserved by banks and other financial institutions.

It is important that banks and financial institutions should have their presence in different business clusters to understand the nature of such businesses and come up with financial products specific to their needs.

For example, shoe-making in Charsaddah, durree manufacturing in Gakkhar Mandi and many traditional crafts need special attention of the government and support from financial institutions.

Branding

In recent times, a number of local brands have emerged especially in the telecommunications industry including the likes of Q-Mobile and G Five and the country has witnessed emergence of a few home-grown brands that have become recognised from the initial stage of almost non-existence.

These include Khaadi, Breeze and Junaid Jamshed in fashion and the likes of Bundu Khan and Salt n Pepper in the food industry.

There is a need to help small businesses to organise themselves into organised firms with distinct brands. Branding brings distinct quality controls that fetch added value for businesses. This would require government support as has been the case in some other countries, like Malaysia, where the government provides financial and technical advice for brand development.

These are only a few suggestions based on some anecdotal evidence. There is a definite need that local universities initiate research projects to understand the real nature of the firm and business organisation in Pakistan.

Crespo: Torres perfect match for AC Milan

The Spaniard has joined the Rossoneri on a loan deal from Chelsea and the ex-San Siro forward suspects greatness awaits Filippo Inzaghi's new signing

AC Milan legend Hernan Crespo thinks that Fernando Torres will be the "perfect" striker for the club.

The Rossoneri sold their star forward, Mario Balotelli, to Liverpool this summer after an inconsistent 18-month spell at San Siro which started with a bang but ended with a whimper.

Milan coach Filippo Inzaghi replaced the Italy international with Torres on a two-year loan deal from Chelsea, where he had failed in three and a half seasons to offer a regular goal threat.

Despite his troubles at Stamford Bridge, Crespo - another player who struggled after a mega-money move early in Roman Abramovich's era - suggests that the Spaniard can provide the regular goals which Balotelli failed to offer in 2013-14.

"Technically, he is a great striker," Crespo, who currently coaches Parma's youth team, told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "He guarantees presence in the penalty area, he's fast and he attacks the space.

"Considering the midfield Milan have, Torres might just be the perfect man to fit the jigsaw puzzle.

"On the other hand, if you thought that Balotelli was a 25-goals-a-season striker then you had it all wrong. He has never had that continuity. He can change a game in an instant with some skill, but he can't do that every game."

Torres is expect to make his debut against Parma on Sunday as the Serie A table-toppers look to build on their opening day 3-1 win over Lazio.

Juventus hold no Conte grudges, says Agnelli

The coach's decision to fill the Italy hotseat following his shock departure from the Scudetto holders has not attracted any ire from his former employees

Juventus president Andrea Agnelli insists he holds no grudge against Antonio Conte for ditching the club then becoming Italy coach.
Conte guided the Bianconeri to three successive Serie A championships in as many years but surprised many by resigning this summer, with board level arguments allegedly the reason for the trainer walking away.
With Cesare Prandelli having resigned as Italy boss following a disastrous World Cup group stage exit this summer, Conte was the early favourite to take the job and it was not a shock when he was put in charge in August.
However, there's no bad blood between Agnelli and the coach who brought Juventus so much success and he wished Conte the best with the Azzurri, who will be hoping to reach Euro 2016 in impressive fashion to banish World Cup 2014 memories.
"I was delighted to see Antonio Conte on the bench of the national team, he's a quality trainer," the club president told Juve's official website.
"What needed to be said on the fact that we went separate ways in July has already been said and nothing more needs to be added.
"Conte had the opportunity to lead Italy, he was sought after and it gives me great pleasure that he got it. I heard from him immediately after his nomination to wish him good luck because he deserves it.
"To Conte and to the Italian national team I cannot but wish them the best of luck, starting with Euro 2016."
Juventus, and new coach Massimiliano Allegri, opened 2014-15's Serie A season with a victory over Chievo two weeks ago.

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Forget it!' - Mourinho rules out Ronaldo move

The forward has been linked with a move back to the Premier League but the Portuguese has poured cold water on suggestions he could join Chelsea

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has ruled out a move for Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. 

The Portuguese forward has been linked with a move back to the Premier League with one of Chelsea and Manchester United credited as his most likely destination. 

However, Mourinho batted away any suggestion of the Blues moving for 29-year-old, telling assembled journalists to "forget it" when quizzed on the topic. 

Mourinho overhauled a squad that finished third last season, bringing in the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa to replace the high-profile departures of David Luiz and Romelu Lukaku.

And the 51-year-old praised the club's work in the summer transfer window: "In terms of income and the players we bought, my club did a magnificent job.

"I analysed the transfer situation early on, and after that my club did an amazing job getting the right players."

Ramsey passed fit for Man City clash

The Arsenal midfielder has been given the all-clear after an ankle knock, but Arsene Wenger must decide whether or not to risk the Welshman with Dortmund on the horizon

By Wayne Veysey

Aaron Ramsey has been passed fit for Arsenal's Premier League showdown against Manchester City, Goalunderstands.

The midfielder is set to be named in the Gunners' matchday squad for the Saturday lunchtime encounter at Emirates Stadium after getting the all-clear on the ankle injury he picked up during Wales' midweek win over Andorra.

Arsene Wenger said on Thursday that Ramsey had only "a little chance" to be available for the match against the Premier League champions.

But the 23-year-old took part in training on Friday and passed a fitness test, and is available for Arsenal's toughest assignment of the season so far.

Wenger will now decide whether to name Ramsey in his starting XI or hold him back for the Champions League trip to Borussia Dortmund next Tuesday.

Fit-again trio Mesut Ozil, Mikel Arteta and Kieran Gibbs are all also available for selection, while €20 million new signing Danny Welbeck is expected to lead the line for Wenger's team.

Ramsey sprained his ankle on an artifical pitch that caused Wales a few problems in their opening European Championship qualifier last Tuesday.

Bipasha finds another dimension to her acting career

The actor speaks about the rigours of shooting a film in 3D and how it might be a game changer. PHOTO: PUBLICITY

Terming the filming process of her forthcoming film, Creature 3D as a “very tough experience” Bollywood actor Bipasha Basu is hoping that Indian audiences will appreciate the work of indigenous technicians and will eventually give rise to a fresh genre within Indian Cinema. The film also stars the Pakistani TV actor Imran Abbas .

The movie which is slated to release September 12, is a creature-based horror-thriller directed by Vikram Bhatt. Vikram Bhatt who is known to incorporate technological innovations in his films has used state of the art Computer Generated Images (CGI) to give the film a more realistic feel.

The film tells the story of Ahaana, a character portrayed by Bipasha Basu, who battles a creature, based on Hindu mythology, and depicts her transformation from a “vulnerable and lonely” girl into an independent and courageous woman.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Bipasha elaborated upon the plot of the film and stating that the film has a very similar plot to other creature films. “Creature features usually have a basic plot: run, save yourself, and try to kill the beast!” commented the Bengali actor.

“It is India’s first creature-feature. For an actor is all about reacting to a situation and who is in front of you. But for the first time there was no one in front of us so we had to imagine everything,” commented the actor who has previously starred in horror films such as Raazand Raaz 3.

She further added that the, “Shooting part was extremely difficult for the actors and the technicians. I hope we being Indians support the film because of the efforts put in by Indian technicians. The creativity is indigenous and the team is Indian, no foreigners.”

Speaking on how different the process of filmmaking was from the usual she recalled that, “They were shooting with 3D cameras which were completely different from the normal process and post that there was 11 months of post-production where the creature was actually made.”

“Every scale, every speck of saliva of the creature was imagined and created by Indian technicians… no foreigners,” Bipasha explained.

The Bollywood actor had harnessed a desire to do such a film ever since she had seen the Jennifer Lopez-starrer Anaconda. “When I saw Anaconda onscreen and saw Jennifer Lopez battling the giant creature, I wanted to do something like that one day and I am lucky that I got to do it in Creature 3D,” recalled the actor.

She also spoke of how the visual effects and CGI of the film were on par with that of the western films.

“The story line is India-centric but just the creature is very much like the ones seen in the West,” she said.