Women who love tech

The winner of the Pakistan Round of the She Loves Tech Global Startup Competition, which highlights Pakistan’s most promising tech start-ups that have been founded or co-founded by women, will be announced later today at the JS Auditorium, at IBA Karachi’s City Campus. The finalists include the founders and co-founders of Aurat Raaj, doctHERs, EDVON, Kafayak, meraPaisa, Qayaam, Sehat Kahani, She’Kab, trashIt and Journal Post.

The competition is being held simultaneously in seven other countries in addition to Pakistan – Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel and Singapore – and the winners of the competition in all eight countries will compete at the Global Final, which will be held in September in Beijing, China on September 6.

The brainchild of Lean In China and Tech Rock, She Loves Tech aims to “provide a platform for international tech companies, investors, entrepreneurs, start-ups and consumers together, to promote technology for women, and women in technology.”

“It was quite a large undertaking to organise an event of this scale, but our team has been working night and day for the last few months to make it a reality."

Sadaffe Abid, Co-Founder, Circle

The Pakistan edition of She Loves Tech has been organised by Circle, an organisation that aims to empower women and increase their economic participation through innovative entrepreneurship, advocacy campaigns and research, in collaboration with the NED Entrepreneurship Society.

“It was quite a large undertaking to organise an event of this scale, but our team has been working night and day for the last few months to make it a reality,” says Sadaffe Abid, Co-Founder, Circle.

According to Abid, more than 80 entries were received from women who have founded or co-founded tech start-ups and of these, 10 were chosen as finalists. Today, the winner of the Pakistan Round will be selected by a panel of five judges which includes Yusuf Jan, Co-founder and President of TRAFiX LLC, Dr Zakiuddin Ahmed, President, OPEN Karachi, Ayesha Khan, Portfolio Associate Director, Acumen (India), Faheem Arif, Head of Marketing and Research at Sybrid and Humayun Bashir, Former IBM CEO and a start-up advisor.

Abid points out that “most of the applicants are from Pakistan’s larger cities (Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore), and only three entries were received from Faisalabad, Peshawar and Quetta. This means women tech entrepreneurs are still limited to the big cities of Pakistan.” She hopes that the competition will inspire women from the smaller cities to participate in the future.

For every dollar a woman earns, she spends 90 cents on her family’s welfare – their education and health. Thus, when women succeed, everyone succeeds.

For Abid, competitions like She Loves Tech are important because they “show women and girls in Pakistan that they have the skills necessary to succeed.” She adds that women entrepreneurs can play an important role in Pakistan’s economic development if they are encouraged.

“Women suffer from a lack of confidence, and they need mentorship from individuals and organisations which can help them believe in their potential.”

She cites research which claims that companies led by women perform 63% better than those headed by men, and adds that women therefore boost the bottom-line of the companies they work in, and produce outstanding results as they bring innovative ideas and perspectives to the table.

Abid further points out that: “For every dollar a woman earns, she spends 90 cents on her family’s welfare – their education and health. Thus, when women succeed, everyone succeeds.”