6 amazing business ideas from Startup Lahore

LAHORE: Young entrepreneurs showcased several interesting new business ideas at Startup Lahore, where more than 150 entrepreneurs, over 30 angel investors, and 3,000 attendees gathered on Thursday and Friday for the biggest startup event in the country.

The event, hosted by the MIT Enterprise Forum - Pakistan and Information Technology University at the Arfa Software Technology Park, was a two-day conference bringing together investors, entrepreneurs, mentors, speakers, technology companies, accelerators and media in an initiative to boost the country's growing startup ecosystem.

1. Galla

Ever participated in a ‘committee’? The youngsters behind Gallaa are taking the concept to the next level. Think of this like an online savings group.

Gallaa defines itself as an online facilitation platform digitising the committees market. The youngsters behind the business idea say they will provide a mechanism to verify individuals who can then participate in the online savings group while building their reputation ratings at Gallaa.

The startup aims to become a savings marketplace by utilising modern technology breakthroughs in mobile payments and financial inclusion.

"Picture a shopkeeper in Karachi desiring to finance the purchase of his next shipment of products and 1300 miles away, a young professional in Lahore who is planning for his upcoming wedding. With the common goal of saving for an impending need, Gallaa will bring together the Karachi shopkeeper and the young professional in Lahore, allowing both to meet their savings goals," explains the people behind Gallaa.

Interesting, no?

2. Nutright

Umar Majeed's story started well before he even thought of developing Nutright. Two years ago, Majeed was class-2 obese, weighing over 300 pounds and battling with resulting health problems.

But, with his will power and self-belief, he controlled his diet and lost roughly 120 pounds within just a span of 10 months. It was this journey of his that inspired Majeed to develop Nutright, a weight loss program inside a personalised fitness solution app.

"Nutright is the first such mobile app from Pakistan which provides you personalised fitness solutions at your home without needing to go to a gym, nutritionist, or doctor," Majeed told Geo.tv.

"Pakistan is the world's ninth most obese country, and I have also fought obesity. I started my struggle against obesity in 2014, and after shedding 55 kilogrammes I got the idea of building a tech-based solution for Pakistanis to help them fight obesity," he said.

The app helps you track progress of your weight loss, your diet and daily water intake, as well as your meal plans, exercise routines, and other personalised fitness solutions.

The app is currently available for Android phones, but Majeed says an iOS version is also under development and will be available soon.

3. Aitomation

Imagine an army of robots doing the daily dirty work for you at the office. Only, these are software bots able to mimic human actions on the computer.

The company says it can take away all mundane, boring tasks from the employees of a company. For people as lazy as us, that's a great pitch! We’re already sold!

Aitomation says it is already working with several foreign clients located in Singapore, Malyasia, UK and the US. We believe it is among the 20 promising business ideas selected for the final round of the Startup Rumble competition.

4. HajjMented

Hajjmented uses state-of-the-art Virtual and Augmented reality to train Hajj pilgrims before they even begin their travel to Makkah and Madina for the holy pilgrimage.

The startup says it uses a combination of hardware and software to train pilgrims to help pilgrims visit Makkah/Madinah and get familiar with environment via virtual reality.

"Over 8 million Muslims go to Makkah to perform Muslim Pilgrimage each year and it is expected to increase up to 60 million by the end of 2020. For 90 percent of Muslims, it’s their first international travel, and in a majority of cases, it is their first ever travel outside their city or village. They find it very difficult to navigate in new cities.

The startup aim to use virtual reality to impart knowledge and eliminate chances of stampedes during Hajj.

The company says it has already signed contracts with 100 travel agencies in Pakistan to implement their training solutions.

5. Cric Flex

Pakistani bowlers have recently been embroiled in a lot of unfortunate incidents regarding illegal actions. Remember Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez?

Cric Flex says it is the world's first affordable smart wearable for cricketers that ca detect illegal bowling actions.

It aims to be the first such smart wearable device for cricketers who want to improve their game and make it to the mainstream.

"CricFlex automatically detects an illegal bowling action, tracks arm speeds and the amount of spin on the ball or if you are a batsmen tells the flaws in your technique and how to improve them," it says.

The team also demoed a working prototype of their product at Startup Lahore. We thought it was one of the best ideas at the event.

6. Campusfeed

Imagine a localised Facebook for your university where you could post and share anything you like or dislike about that campus. What's better is that it would be completely anonymous, allowing you to freely speak about whatever you want.

CampusFeed is a mobile application that creates specialised social networks for campuses. If you open the app in a campus, all the content that you see will be from that particular campus only.

This enables students to discuss courses, instructors or pretty much anything happening at campus.

"However, what makes the app fun, unique, and viral is, that everything you post on the app remains completely anonymous. This creates a platform for students where they can truly come and express what's really on their minds and talk about any topics that they wish to," says the company.

The company says its app has already been launched at the campuses of LUMS, BNU and LSE and is doing great. "So far CampusFeed's user engagement stats are actually better than Facebook's user engagement, this means that in campuses like LUMS CampusFeed, users use the app more than they use Facebook," it says.

CampusFeed plans to launch in campuses all across Pakistan soon, but we feel it’s such a great idea that should think of expanding even further beyond. Good luck to the team!