Observer Report Karachi
Philip Morris (Pakistan) Limited (PMPKL), finan-cially supported Social Entrepreneurship and Equity Development (SEED) for an initiative led by Entre-preneurship & Youth Development Society (EYDS) to support startups in their business ventures through the Social Technology Entrepreneurship Program (STEP).
The focus of the initiative was to identify, men-tor, and develop social startups and entrepreneurs who are using technology to deliver sustainable, tech-focused interventions for socio-economic is-sues facing the country.
Under this project, STEP helped out 40 startups in developing their plans and provided funding of USD 10,000 each to the top three finalist start-ups with continuing mentorship for the next three months.
It further connected can-didates with industry experts and provided them with support for capacity-building and for honing their ideas.
Andleeb (Uroos) Ahmed, Head of Communica-tions at Philip Morris (Pakistan) Limited, while acknowledging the efforts of all the candidates and the three winners, said, “We have been working to ensure sustainability internally as well as externally by employing responsible practices, taking up eco-friendly initiatives and encouraging and supporting others to do the same.
To form a truly sustainable society, it is essential for every group and individual to play their part and we are making every possible effort to support them.” “Technology and innovation have become an essential part of our lives.
With creativity and through the ideas presented by young people, this project aimed to pave the way for tech-driven, sus-tainable solutions for socio-economic issues while enabling the youth of the country” said Shaista Aye-sha, Vice president EYDS and CEO of Seed Ven-tures.
