By Aitizaz Hassan ISLAMABAD, May 11 (INP-WealthPk): The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has trained 144 aspiring entrepreneurs who were shortlisted under its Innovator Seed Fund (ISF) program, reports WealthPK. The ISF program aims to equip the aspiring entrepreneurs with the necessary skills in order to transform their business idea into successful ventures. The program provides the needed support mechanism as well as seed funding to support early-stage startups. The three-day training was organized in collaboration with Invest2Innovate – a startup consultancy firm. The training was divided into three cohorts covering the regional representation of all shortlisted applicants. The training formally started in April. Experts from the HEC rigorously engaged with the firm and trained the entrepreneurs. The training focused on concepts such as starting a company setup, marketing, product/service, financial planning in a workshop and case study format to ensure that the applicants understood the core concepts. The HEC engaged leading business experts – including Syed Ommer from Daastan, Hira Wajahat from Stimulus, Umair Shahzad from GrocerApp and Saud Masud from Vector Partners – for training. Talking to WealthPk, spokesperson for the HEC Dr. Aayesha Ikram said the ISF will provide a package of support and seed funding to early-stage startups through the HEC-recognized Business Incubation Centers (BICs) at the universities. “144 entrepreneurs/startup applicants of ISF 2021-22 Call have been provided with business proposal writing and pitching training. The ISF program comprised three rounds and in every round, 15 applicants were awarded with seed funding grant of up to $35,000,” she said. ​Dr. Aayesha said the priority sectors for the ISF support were agriculture, food resources and Agri tech, banking, microfinance and FinTech, creative digital media, arts and culture, education and EdTech, e-commerce and smart retail, emerging technologies, health care and health tech, housing, construction and manufacturing, sustainable development, climate and energy, transportation and logistics, while other sectors with the potential of growth and impact were also encouraged. She said the startup owners who were either students, recent alumni, and/or faculty members/researchers from all public and private sector higher education institutions (HEIs) who had not received any commercial source of funding for their startup ideas previously and who had a valid Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered business concern were highly encouraged to apply for the ISF grant.