ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan held a meeting with Executive Chairman World Business Angel Forum (WBAF), Mr. Babarys Altuntas to explore opportunities for students and faculty under the WBAF Financial Inclusion Programme.
Chaired by Chairman HEC Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, the meeting was attended by Vice Chancellors/Pro-Vice Chancellors of leading public sector universities including MNS University of Agriculture Multan, National Textile University Faisalabad, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, National University of Modern Languages Islamabad, Institute of Management Sciences Peshawar, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, DOW University of Health Sciences Karachi, National University of Science and Technology Islamabad. CEO IGNITE Mr. Asim Hussain, Director General R and I HEC Hazrat Bilal, Director R and I HEC Ms. Noshaba Awais, and representatives of universities’ Business Incubation Centres, also attended the meeting.
The meeting was held in continuation of the recent collaboration established between HEC and WBAF, in March 2023 on the sidelines of the 5th Vice Chancellors Forum. WBAF, an international organization, aims to ease access to finance for start-ups for generating jobs in the world economy. Through the collaboration, the capabilities of entrepreneurs, start-ups, students, and faculty members of Pakistani universities will be strengthened via network-building with global investors and providing them with quality knowledge. WBAF under its, Financial Inclusion Programme, provides angel investment courses for students, accrediting entrepreneurship clubs, supporting incubation centres, access to Financial Inclusion Centre to all students and faculty, etc.
In his opening remarks, Chairman HEC stated that HEC is committed to strengthening collaboration with international partners to open new avenues and opportunities for students and faculty. He added that HEC is putting efforts to play its part for development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country facilitating startups to contribute to wealth creation and to generate more job opportunities.
Noshaba Awais shed light on the HEC-WBAF collaboration and the Financial Inclusion Programme. Apprising the university representatives of the objectives of LoI, she said that the agreed program of activities under the LoI pertains to the inclusion of Pakistani universities in the Financial Inclusion Programme being offered by WBAF and 15 universities have already given their consent for the programme. She briefed that the programme is divided into two phases, the Phase-I includes providing access to students and faculty to the Financial Inclusion Centre, while the Phase II includes angel investor course for BICs, academic support, assessment of BICs, and formation of university Business Angels Network, etc.
Babarys Altuntas underlined that WBAF is an affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), adding that it is collaborating globally to empowering the economic development of the world. He briefed in detail the Financial Inclusion Programme to the Vice Chancellors and Pro-Vice Chancellors who attended the meeting and having consented for the programme. He noted that governments around the world have understood the importance of angel investment for boosting their economies. The participating Vice Chancellors appreciated the efforts of HEC and acknowledged the need for working together to uplift the economy of Pakistan through entrepreneurship development and incubation opportunities for young and promising startups.