Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) emphasizes the promotion of innovative solutions through information technology. In order to focus on the startup culture that has been developing in Pakistan, PITB founded Plan9 in 2012.
What is Plan9?
Plan9 is Punjab Information Technology Board’s (PITB) tech incubator. The main motive of the incubator is to encourage individuals to create entrepreneurial setups in Pakistan. Plan9 is considered to be one of the pioneers of incubation in Pakistan. Since its foundation in August 2012, Plan9 has been beneficial and has provided the necessary headstarts to a large number of people.
Plan9 – What do they offer?
Being Pakistan’s leading tech incubator, Plan9 has a lot on its plate to cater simultaneously. Lets’s have a look:
- Plan9 Hunters Program – Internship programs for students that allows them to work with the Plan9 Management and incubated startups.
- Expo Day – An open-house for startups from all across Pakistan to improve communication and provide networking options for startups.
- Network Partner Program (NPP) – A program to establish technology-based incubators across Pakistan.
- The Launchpad – Plan9’s flagship startup competition.
The Launchpad
Plan9’s The Launchpad is a flagship tech incubation competition. The motive of the event is to encourage and promote the concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems in Pakistan.
Through this event, Plan9 scouts the worthy startup ideas and offers them the kind of domain knowledge, workshops, mentorship, and business planning they need.
The Launchpad is a 4-day event hosting a total of 130 startups who compete for the final prize.
Expo Day – The first day consists of Startup Exhibition where different individuals showcase their ideas.
Training Day – The second day at The Launchpad consists of a number of workshops and speaker sessions that prove to be helpful for the participating startups.
Elevator Pitch – Pitches are one of the most tricky things in the world of startups. No matter how technically and logically potent your idea might be, you must also have the art of marketing it correctly. The third day is about pitching your startup ideas. Each of the 130 startups gets a 2-minute time slot to pitch their innovative idea and try to convince if their idea is worth the praise. Out of the 130 startups, only 25 make it to the final round.
Final Round – After a careful screening process of analyzing the ideas, the 25 startups receive 7 minutes to present their ideas and sit through a 3-minute Q/A session.
Every year, the Launchpad hosts more than 1000 attendees for its premier entrepreneurship event. In terms of competition, in an initial application submission process, there are over 800 plus applicants which are narrowed down to 130. Out of those 130 finalists, only 15 startups manage to end up being the winners for their respective categories.
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