He said that the companies like Careem, Infinity, Solars, Networks, IoT Company, KeepTalking, Patari, Mangobaz, Wifi Gem, Markhoretc; managed by Pakistani citizens have significantly contributed to the Pakistani ecosystem. Pakistan has the capacity and potential to improve exports up to 150%, he added.
He further stated that with a US $4 million annual revenues during five years Plan9, Pakistan's first mega incubator, has elective worth US $70 million and in addition created 1200 jobs by through 160 startups, which were contributing towards sustainable economic growth.
XPosition9 powered by Telenor velocity followed by a note by Barkan Saeed, Chairman P@sha. He discussed the problems that Pakistani startups face and areas they should not be over-looking. Waqar Nayyar, IoT head at Telenor, Pakistan talked about the increasing limelight and opportunity sets for the Hardware companies in Pakistan.
The first panel discussion focused the future of IoT in Pakistan. The panel included Sophia Hasnain, Founder and CEO Linked Things, Faizan Ijaz, Co-Founder Wattie, Waqqar Nayyar, Head of IoT Telenor, Ali Rashid, CEO and founder Car Chabi, Usama Abid, Founder DIY Geeks and moderated by Ethisham Rao. The panel talk discussed the problems and opportunities working in the Hardware space and what investors look for.
Running parallel to the Demo, was Pakistan's first ever IoT based Hacakthon by Telenor Velocity. 20 hardware companies were selected to participate and the mentoring and pitching of the Hackathon spread over 2 days culminated at XPosition9.
The winning team received PKR125,000 from Telenor Pakistan, PKR50,000 for the runner up and PKR25,000 for the team that came in third. XPosition9 also held workshops based on Robotics and 3D printing for students aged 10-14 years and a round of the demo day to help them understand what is happening in the Pakistani startup scene. The event included performances by up and coming artists in music industry. The line-up included Niaz Hunzai, B-Square, Khayali Pilao, Amour Propre and DJ Tashfeen.