Ceremony held to honour Pakistan’s young entrepreneurs

The British Deputy High Commission on Friday evening hosted a dinner in honour of youngsters having innovative schemes for entrepreneurship. The youngsters who attended the event were winners of the Entrepreneurship Challenge Pakistan.

The young people had come from all the provinces of the country with their clearly defined plans for the uplift of the people and the country. They seemed to have highly ambitious plans for entrepreneurship.

There were delegations from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Punjab, Sindh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. It was so encouraging to see that all these young people spoke impeccable English. The children from Balochistan outlined a plan for women’s emancipation and employment.

Those from Gilgit-Baltistan outlined their plans to start off a scheme for popularising tourism in their area and for making Shigar in Baltistan a lucrative tourist attraction and exploiting its tourism potential. They stressed the provision of mountain bikes for tourists and presented very ambitious plans for mustering the finances for their plans.

The delegation from Sindh presented a plan for giving impetus to education, especially for the underprivileged and the marginalised. When one of the judges asked the group that from where they would get the finances for their plans, a female member of the delegation said in her perky innocence: “Obviously, we’ll be coming over to you guys”. This sent roars of laughter through the guests.

The delegation from Punjab had some very appropriate and timely plans. They said it would be their earnest endeavour to mitigate the electricity dilemma in the country and outlined their plans to set up alternative energy projects.

The judges voted the Balochistan delegation the best and the first prize winners. Belinda Lewis, the UK Deputy High Commissioner, lauded the ingenuity of these youngsters and said that the youth of the country could make a major difference to the plight of the country and lauded their ideas and efforts. Later on, there was a sumptuous dinner.

The function coincided with the visit to Karachi of the British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Thomas Drew.