ISLAMABAD: Three entrepreneurs from Pakistan have been shortlisted for Shell LiveWIRE ‘Top Ten Innovators’ – a global competition that highlights and rewards LiveWIRE businesses – who demonstrate excellence in innovation.
‘Top Ten Innovators’ is a worldwide competition open to the alumni of Shell LiveWIRE, a Royal Dutch Shell Social Investment Programme, operating in 15 countries, which enables young people to start their own businesses and create employment. A public vote, of the shortlisted businesses, is taking place between the 1st and 8th of September, with the results helping to determine the winners. The top ten will be announced in November during the Global Entrepreneurship Week, 13th to 19th of November.
Shell Social Performance Vice President Joanna Cochrane said, “Shell LiveWIRE is very important to Shell, because when we help local entrepreneurs to set up businesses, they create long-term sources of income for communities… they create jobs and they help to find innovative solutions to social and economic problems.”
The Pakistani entrepreneurs have the opportunity to win the top prize of $15,000, three runner-up prizes of $10,000 or seven merit awards of $5,000. The programme aims to create role models for other young entrepreneurs, and demonstrate that introducing innovation supports growth and job creation.
You can vote for the organisation you want to win on the website: http://topteninnovators.shell-livewire.com/. The nominations from Pakistan are:
Sehat Kahani, bridges healthcare inequality, connecting female doctors with low-income groups via a telehealth eco-system; SheKab, a subscription based carpooling service connecting women with safe affordable and reliable transport solutions; and Wonder Tree, using augmented reality technology to provide a cost-effective education tool for teaching children with special education needs.
For Top Ten Innovators 2015, we had LapPro Solutions from Pakistan receive the runner-up prize. Their medical innovation simulates laparoscopic surgery, providing a training resource for surgeons to learn and practice the technique at a fraction of the cost of comparable products.