{"id":2104,"date":"2015-02-13T15:40:42","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T07:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.www.innovationiseverywhere.com\/?p=2104"},"modified":"2015-02-13T15:40:42","modified_gmt":"2015-02-13T07:40:42","slug":"pakistan-startup-accelerator-invest2innovates-founder-shares-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/pakistan-startup-accelerator-invest2innovates-founder-shares-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan startup accelerator Invest2Innovate's founder shares her story"},"content":{"rendered":"

While in Dhaka for their tech event Innovation Xtreme<\/a>, we’ve met with Kalsoom Lakhani<\/a>, the founder of Invest2Innovate<\/a>,<\/strong> a startup accelerator based in Pakistan<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"invest2innovate<\/p>\n

You’ve read our opinion on neighboring Bangladesh earlier on<\/a>: we’re extremely positive about this frontier market which has the energy, the 160m population and the growth to be a very exciting new market.<\/p>\n

For the Pakistan startup scene<\/strong>, a good indicator could be that Rocket Internet, the German incubator which \u00ab\u00a0clones\u00a0\u00bb, has no less than 6 startups<\/a> <\/strong>on the ground, e-commercing everything from cars (Carmudi<\/a>) to cab rides (EasyTaxi<\/a>) or food delivery (FoodPanda<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"invest2innovate<\/p>\n

These are for the commercial-focused startups. What Kalsoom Lakhani does with Invest2Innovate<\/strong> is a bit different, and she shared with us a few details.<\/p>\n

From the US to Pakistan and South Asia, new opportunities for the youth<\/h2>\n

Innovation is Everywhere: Can you share with us your experience so far, Kalsoom? How do you share your time between Pakistan and the US? What kind of diasporan are you? Soo\"invest2innovaten-to-return? Always on the move?<\/em><\/p>\n

Kalsoom Lakhani: I’d like to think of myself as a perpetually moving global citizen – I don’t really fit in any one box.<\/p>\n

I split time between both the U.S. and Pakistan,<\/strong> particularly since we are still in our early years.<\/p>\n

Our Global HQ for i2i is in Washington, D.C.<\/strong>, (I’m going to start hiring for our Global team this year) while our main operations is in Pakistan currently, with our Pakistan team based in Islamabad.<\/p>\n

We hope to scale i2i to Bangladesh this year,<\/strong> so I will also be adding Dhaka on to that travel itinerary. My vision is that i2i will be operating in multiple countries in 5 years, with our global HQ in the States.<\/p>\n

Innovation is Everywhere: In Dhaka, you shared what you did with I2I, which you say is an accelerator. Are you focusing solely on social enterprises? Where would a more \u201ctraditional\u201d tech startup find some guidance in Pakistan?<\/em><\/p>\n

Kalsoom Lakhani: i2i is actually not just an accelerator – we’re ecosystem builders.<\/strong> In Pakistan, our ecosystem approach has translated into a startup accelerator, an angel investor network, and a consulting arm<\/strong> that builds products\/services to support the broader enabling environment for entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

Our accelerator is focused on for-profit social ventures<\/strong> – at i2i, we believe in entrepreneurs who want to change the world. Technology ventures often play into that, but for more traditional tech startups, there are a number of options in Pakistan, including Plan9\/PlanX<\/a> – a technology incubator\/accelerator launched by the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), the incubator at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), and the soon-to-be launching Karachi-based incubator The Nest.Io by P@SHA<\/a>.<\/p>\n