Staff Reporter
The Government College University (GCU) Lahore has established the Business Incubation Centre (BIC) with a cost of Rs 16.42 million to promote self-employment
among youth.
GCU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah inaugurated the centre on Wednesday which would provide basic infrastructure and allied facilities for researchers and young entrepreneurs who are interested in developing early-stage
business ventures.
Speaking on the occasion, Professor Dr Ikram ul Haq said that out of the total cost, Rs 10.91 million were being funded by the Higher Education Commission over the period of two years. However, he said that this was initial funding while the business incubator’s basic goal was to produce successful firms that would leave the programme financially viable and freestanding.
Talking to the media, Vice Chancellor Prof Shah said the business incubator was an independent set-up which would support new and start-up ideas by the students in their initial development stage by providing an array of targeted resources and services. He added that these services would be developed or arranged by the business incubator and offered by it directly or through its network of contacts.
The VC hoped that BIC would soon start contributing to economic growth by employment generation and creation of small and medium start-up companies.
GCU Registrar Saboor Ahmed Khan, Director Incubation Centre Muhammad Usman and other senior faculty members of the university also attended the inauguration ceremony.
