NIC Startup Community (NICSC)
The National Incubation Center is proud to initiate and empower multiple tech and non-tech communities. The aim is to promote inclusivity, help member learn from each other and create a sense of belonging within our ecosystem. These communities have really helped the people of twin cities to connect and grow both professionally and personally.
Creative Mornings Islamabad
CreativeMornings is a monthly breakfast lecture series for the creative community. Headquartered in New York, it has chapters in over 170 cities. The concept is simple: breakfast and a short talk one Saturday morning a month. Every event is free of charge and open for everyone. Their events are run by approximately 1,500 volunteer organizers. The NIC has hosted multiple events since the launch of Islamabad Chapter.
Startup Grind Islamabad
Startup Grind is the largest independent startup community, actively educating, inspiring, and connecting more than 1,500,000 entrepreneurs in over 500 chapters. The cornerstone of their global community are monthly events featuring successful local founders, innovators, educators and investors who share lessons learned on the road to building great companies. The National Incubation Center has hosted many successful entrepreneurs, thought Leaders and influencers using this platform.
Devenings
Devenings is a casual monthly gathering for all local software developers irrespective of the tools, technologies and products they work on. Devenings aims to have regular local community meetups with a monthly theme and open access to developers in other cities around the world to register, create their own chapters and host a monthly event based on the monthly theme.
Islamabad.AI
This community came into being in mid of 2018 with the passion of helping each other and to democratize the use of Artificial intelligence for everyone. It is successfully connecting people who are AI enthusiasts, who want to help others or need help. This platform is the base of AI in Islamabad which is connecting experts to the learners. AI ecosystem development is the motto of Islamabad.AI
Drum Circle
Drum Circle Islamabad aims to engage local communities through music and melody by awakening your inner instrumentalist. Drums, djembes and all other percussion instruments help us break from the monotony of urbane living by bringing people together to the circle of much needed musical relief. You don’t have to be a maestro to join, all you need to bring in are some good vibes!
Learning the Martial Spirit
From embracing failure to absorbing stress and working to develop a clear focus there are several parallels between martial arts and building a company. We at the NIC are running a 3-month Martial Arts Program for Entrepreneurs. The purpose of this program is to instill the martial spirit and its core values including the discipline, focus, strength and the never giving up attitude within the entrepreneurs.
NIC BookClub Meetup
The first ‘NIC Book Club Meetup’ was held in December 2018. The startup-led initiative is an attempt to engage the book worms and provide them with a platform where they can exchange ideas about different books and authors who have inspired them along their entrepreneurial journey.
Pitch Perfect
3 things that never stop at the NIC are pitching, pitching and pitching! Our bi-monthly sessions are designed to make our founders ready for their final investor pitch. Judges from different industries and verticals are invited to share their valuable insights and give critical feedback to the founders. Each startup is given three minutes to deliver their pitch followed by a Q&A. These sessions have been pivotal in equipping our entrepreneurs to win multiple startup competitions not just in Pakistan but across the world.
Show and Tell
Show and Tell is a meetup of startups incubated at the NIC where founders get to tell the rest of the community what they are up to and receive genuine, candid and open feedback from their fellow entrepreneurs. Every startup is given 5 minutes to update everyone on their problems and achievements followed by a 5-minute Q/A. The purpose of these sessions is to create a strong community of startups and encourage the cross pollination of ideas.
Leadership Series
The National Incubation Center being an event hub has started its own speaker series. People who have been instrumental in their respective areas having created an impact are invited to share their entrepreneurial journeys with the startups. The main objective of inviting the industry veterans is to discuss the latest issues and developments in the entrepreneurial ecosystem keeping in view their personal expertise and experience. The series has helped to connect the industry veterans, mentors and domain specialists with the startup community.