ERUPT, Pakistan’s business idol is taking applications for the grand competition

Pakistan has been witnessing an increasing trend towards entrepreneurship, specially in youth. Quality startups are being founded at an exponential rate and people are preferring creating jobs over finding one.

Startup conferences, meetups and hackathons are being held across the country. This startup boom is what has motivated Talaal Burny, an active entrepreneur, to put his efforts into taking the Pakistani startup scene a step ahead. ERUPT is a project made possible through collaboration between Careem, Plan9 and TechJuice to find the best entrepreneurial minds in Pakistan.

Basically a business idea contest, ERUPT aims to hunt down the best of entrepreneurs among the varsity students. Initially, it will be taking in participation from about 15 universities in Lahore. All current students of participating universities will be eligible for the contest. Right now, ERUPT is accepting applications for its ongoing pitching competition where the winner will get incubation at Plan9.

1. Initial Shortlisting

After the applications deadline, ERUPT will do initial shortlisting based on the responses.

2. Launchpad at Universities

After initial screening, top 20 teams from each university would be invited to present and speak for themselves at University level, very much like a popular American Idol show. ERUPT’s team itself would be visiting different varsities to hold various Launchpad events. The Launchpad events will span over 3 days and will be conducted at each and every participating university. The first day of the Launchpad event will be dedicated to 2-minute elevator pitches by shortlisted startups. The second day will comprise of Business Plan training while on the third day Business Plan Presentations will be conducted. Through these university level ERUPT sessions, the best team from each university will be selected.

3. The Champion’s Round

ERUPT is a startup roadshow. When the awareness raising campaigns would end, the Launchpad events will skim the participating teams and only one team from each university will make it to the third session, the Champion’s round.

The initial awareness campaigns for this competition has already been started. Sessions are being held in the universities to inform and motivate young students. Along with a cash prize, the one who’d win ERUPT will get to have the privilege of getting incubation at the Pakistan’s largest tech incubator Plan9. Careem, one of the partners, has been very supportive of the project. The MENAP-based startup also has a good record in indulging itself in productive efforts towards the Pakistani startup ecosystem, and ERUPT is also one such venture.

The scope of this hunt isn’t that limited, Talaal plans to expand the venture even further,

“Basically a startup roadshow aimed at finding the best entrepreneurial minds, ERUPT is a non-profit project that will work to better the thriving startup ecosystem of Pakistan. We will be expanding this project to across Pakistan. The very next session will include more cities and will span over a comparatively larger time-frame to ensure smooth and stringent screening.”

The idea of this competition roots down even deeper. The project will be fostering the bond between academia and industry by bringing the leads from these institutes further together. The program will work to regularize the students of IT sector and bring them at par with the expectations of constantly evolving entrepreneurial Eco-system.

ERUPT is a project made possible through collaboration between Careem, Plan9 and TechJuice. Apply here.