National Incubation Center

About

Founding Partners

The MoITT is the national focal Ministry and enabling arm of the Government of Pakistan for planning, coordinating and directing efforts to initiate and launch IT and Telecom projects.

Ignite focuses on fourth industrial wave tech and on ecosystem development initiatives to fulfill its mission of creating a knowledge economy in Pakistan.

Jazz xlr8 is laying the foundation for a sustainable technology ecosystem, and provide resources and expertise to help young entrepreneurs fulfill their potential, and grow their communities.

Teamup is an Innovation hub focused on helping startups take their ideas to the next level. It attracts founders from a wide array of tech genres and aims to build a strong community of leaders and innovators ready to lead the tech revolution.

Where founders scale up their startups

The National Incubation Center is Pakistan’s largest technology incubation center; the first purpose built creative space in Pakistan buzzing with innovators, mentors, change-makers and passionate leaders. It’s a living example of a successful public-private partnership between the Ministry of IT & Telecom, Ignite – National Technology Fund, Jazz and Teamup. The National Incubation Center in Islamabad is led by two unicorn founders with around decades of combined experience in setting up organizations from scratch and bringing digital revolution in Pakistan.

The NIC Journey

Cohort 12 Induction
March 2022
197 out of 264
10 Cohorts Graduated
295
Incubated over 12 cohorts
827 (7.9%)
Startups interviewed
10,447
Applications received

How it all began...

Ignite designed the NIC programme for establishing National Incubation Centers which are fully funded and run by private partners. At this time, two gentlemen with a collective experience of over 7 decades in the entrepreneurial and corporate world, sat in a coffee shop in London to discuss how they can use their experience to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs in Pakistan.

The announcement of the establishment of the incubation center aligned perfectly with their vision. The duo made best of the opportunity and as they say the rest is history. These two gentlemen are none other than Zouhair Khaliq and Parvez Abbasi.

Cohort 10 Induction

March 2020

78 out of 122 (63%)

Graduated (cohort 1,2,3,4 & 5)

209 (2.9%)

Incubated over 9 cohorts

655 (9%)

Startups interviewed

655 (9%)

Startups interviewed

Our Vision

Our Mission

Our Vision

Our Vision ‘Dream, Build, Rise’ is inspired by that of our forefathers and national heroes. Allama Muhammad Iqbal dreamt of a separate homeland, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah built on that dream and turned it into a reality; Pakistan! And then the baton was handed over to us to collectively rise as a prosperous nation.

Our Mission

The objective of establishing the NIC is to build an active and well-connected community of change-makers, impact creators and disruptors; for these startups shall only be able to trigger the chain reaction towards a lasting and sustainable impact when imparted with the right skills. All these objectives are culminated into our mission which is: 

To build and influence an ecosystem by empowering individuals and institutions to generate a positive economic and social impact. 

The National Incubation Center (NIC) Program is a funded project of Ignite – Ministry of IT & Telecom.