Tibbi.pk emerges as winner of She Loves Tech Pakistan 2022

LAHORE: Tibbi.pk, a health-tech startup has won the title in the "She Loves Tech Pakistan 2022" competition. The startup emerged as a winner among more than 1,000 applicants and 10 local rounds across the country.

The start-up was chosen following its mission to help the citizens of Pakistan enjoy a healthy, happy, and long life by spreading medical and medicinal awareness while also offering clinical accessibility, online doctor consultation, and online medicine home delivery at a reduced cost.

Organised by the Circle Women Association — a tech nonprofit imparting digital and financial literacy, and startup support to female-led micro-enterprises — in collaboration with Habib Bank Limited, the competition for women in technology was brought to Pakistan for the sixth consecutive year.

The competition aims to close the gender funding gap by offering opportunities for capacity building, networking, and access to funding for tech-based female-led startups.

Mandma NFTs, a web 3.0 startup was declared the runner-up for the final pitch round. Their startup creates virtual wearable accessories and NFTs for the metaverse.

The global startup competition performed regional rounds across ten cities in Pakistan showcasing women-led startups with the goal of promoting women’s empowerment and advancement.

"In a country where under 25% of women are part of the formal economy, entrepreneurship combined with technology can become a strong avenue for economic growth," Circle Women wrote in its statement.

Speaking about her vision of developing a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem for women in the country, the founder and CEO of Circle Sadaffe Abid said: “She Loves Tech Pakistan is playing a lead role in supporting women-led startups and inspiring women and girls across the country towards tech and entrepreneurship with support of our collaborator.”

Abid added that there is a lack of support for women, limited role models and low investment in women. That is why platforms like She Loves Tech and our male allies are critical and together we must collaborate to accelerate the pace of change.

"The most powerful element of She Loves Tech is that it is a women-led initiative where women are showing their own commitment, shared values, and a common mission,” she said while commenting on the initiative.

Also speaking at the occasion, veteran actor and development sector professional Simi Raheel said: "Creativity, hope, and dreams are the three words that one needs to engrave in the heart if one truly wants something. Those who do not pursue the conventional norms and wander; create."

Raheel added that all the competing startups created ideas because they thought of alternatives.

"They have made the world curious about Pakistan and what Pakistani entrepreneurs, especially females, bring to the table. I stand here today with great pride and respect for all the girls who created a space for themselves," she said while talking about the women for their talents.

Ten female-led tech startup pitch winners from the local rounds including BizB Store, SeeVitals Solutions, Alt-Ed, Stress Saviors Pvt, Event Tech, Mandma NFTs, Shopolace, Tibbi, Dollat Inc. and Mountainshop.pk participated in the final round. These startups are working in the fields of Healthtech, Edutech, Fintech and ConsumerTech etc.

The startups pitched their ideas to an incredible panel of judges, including Mian Faizan Mahmood (Managing Partner Emerald Labs), Atyab Tahir (Former CEO JazzCash), Khurram Saleem (CEO Unze Trading), Myra Qureshi (Co-founder and CEO of Conatural) and Hiba Dar (Senior Communications Manager at Coca Cola Company).

The conclusion of this event marks the celebration and commitment towards entrepreneurship, leadership, capacity building, and innovation in the Pakistani startup ecosystem, especially for the female entrepreneurs in the country.

The global startup competition finale will happen online, where global finalists from 70+ countries will compete for a prize of US$50,000 with other cash prizes worth USD 100,000, followed by the startup Global Conference in Singapore.

She Loves Tech is a renowned global startup acceleration platform providing women startups funding opportunities, mentorship, and networking support in 70+ countries. Circle Women Association has been successfully organizing the competition in Pakistan since 2017.