Takhleeq, startup incubator of UCP, hosts Belinda Esterhammer, Community Leader TechStars

Takhleeq, the premier business incubation center of University of Central Punjab (UCP) recently hosted Belinda Esterhammer, a TechStars Community Leaders for Hong Kong for a four-day activity from October 21st to 25th.

Takhleeq is not only developing educational partnerships but also exploring research collaborations and bringing in international market knowledge, with an aim to not only actively represent the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Pakistan on a global platform but also host international technology and entrepreneurship leaders to draw learnings from their experience.

Esterhammer was invited by Takhleeq to train and mentor its incubated startups on marketing knowledge.

Esterhammer who leads NextGen Network as the CEO and has founded a marketing and consulting agency – Springboard was invited by Takhleeq to train and mentor its incubated startups on marketing knowledge. In the first day of activities, Esterhammer delivered workshops to Takhleeq startups on brand positioning, personal branding, digital marketing, and pricing. Later, she was given insights about the startup ecosystem in Lahore and Pakistan by the incubator team.

On the second day, Esterhammer engaged in comprehensive one-on-one sessions with all the Takhleeq startups, providing them with her expert opinion. Later, she visited National Incubation Center (NIC) Lahore, in a visit arranged by the team of Takhleeq. She commented, 

“I am positively surprised (learning) about the economic development of Pakistan. I loved the ambition of students and entrepreneurs at Takhleeq.”

More workshops were lined on the third day, where Esterhammer covered key digital marketing topics tailored to the need of every startup. The workshop encompassed how to use SEO, PPC, SMO, web customization and other forms of digital marketing to increase engagement for a startup. At the end of the day, she engaged with the startup community of Lahore at a dinner. She shared,

“I enjoyed the hospitality, food and learned so much about the rich culture.”

On her last day of the visit, she was taken for a city tour and appeared in a radio interview on UCP’s In-House Radio Station FM 92.6 – UCP Ki Dunya. She also conducted a session in Government College (GC) Lahore and engaged with Badar Khushnood and his team at Bramerz. Before her departure, Esterhammer shared about the experience of her trip. Before her departure, Esterhammer shared about the experience of her trip

“Such a great experience at Takhleeq and on par with western incubators. I want to go back and be an ambassador for Pakistan and promote what a great country it is with a lot of opportunities and changes to come within the next few years.”

Takhleeq was launched as the startup incubation space at UCP in September 2018. Being a combination of a state of the art makerspace and a workspace, the startup incubator is fostering the culture of entrepreneurship and innovation at the UCP campus and outside. The incubator hosted and facilitated the trip of Belinda Esterhammer to bring international expertise and insight into their program offerings. Takhleeq aims to host more global leaders in the future and engage them with the local startup community in conversations about the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Pakistan.

Fostering the culture of entrepreneurship and innovation. The state-of-the-art academic facilities offered at the campus are focused to impart a combination of art and technology education that hones competent talent for the local industry.