Islamabad · Peshawar · Pakistan

Founders move faster with people who have done it.

We run mentoring, training and hackathon programs for early-stage founders in Pakistan — funded and co-designed with consulates, development agencies and companies. Established 2020 in Peshawar.

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A speaker addressing founders at the Peshawar Entrepreneurship Program.

Peshawar Entrepreneurship ProgramSupported by the U.S. Mission to Pakistan with PUAN

2020Founded in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

6Funded programs delivered, 2020–2025

$30K+Project value executed to date

50+Startups engaged at flagship events

Three ways to work with us

Pick the door that fits

For founders

Join a program

Take part in a hackathon, bootcamp or seminar — and get matched with an advisor who has built what you are building.

See the programs

For funders & organizations

Co-design a program

Built to your brief, delivered through existing founder networks across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, reported in the format you need.

How we partner

For mentors & experts

Join the advisor network

Give a few hours a month in your practice area. We handle the matching, the scheduling and the follow-up.

Apply as an advisor

Programs

Four tracks

Every track runs on a published calendar. Applications are short — no pitch deck required.

Mentoring

Advisor pairings matched by sector and stage, so the advice actually applies to your business.

6 sessions3 months1-to-1

Workshops & training

Practical courses on pricing, go-to-market, hiring and AI — taught by operators, not lecturers.

1–3 days20–40 participants

Hackathons

Build sprints against a live brief, ending in judged pitches and a working prototype.

48 hoursteams of 3–5judged

Seminars & lectures

Open half-day sessions on the things founders keep getting wrong. Turn up and learn.

Half dayno application

How it works

Four steps, whichever track you pick

Apply

A short form. No pitch deck, no fee, no long application window to miss.

Get matched

We place you on a track — and for mentoring, pair you with an advisor by sector and stage.

Do the work

Sessions run on a published calendar. Turn up, do the assignments, use the room.

Keep going

Alumni keep access to the network and get first sight of follow-on opportunities.

See the detail

Work

Programs we have delivered

Funded by consulates, development agencies and companies — delivered across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the federal capital.

U.S. Consulate Peshawar

ClimACT Climate Hackathon

A build sprint on climate resilience, ending in judged pitches.

48 hoursjudged pitches2023

Coverage of the WISE women's online safety seminars.

U.S. State Dept & Consulate

WISE I & II

Women’s Internet Safety and Empowerment seminars — online privacy, social media safety and reporting abuse.

Two phases2022–2024

U.S. Consulate Peshawar

EdHack Education Hackathon

Teams building against education briefs, ending in judged pitches.

48 hoursjudged pitches2022

Accelerate Prosperity

Startups Synergy Bootcamp

A residential bootcamp taking founders from business model through to a rehearsed pitch.

ResidentialMurree2024

S&P Global Pakistan

Generative AI Workshop

Hands-on generative AI training, built to help women break through professional ceilings.

Hands-on2025

S&P Global · Ignite · LMKT

Flood Hackathon

“Floods will come. Solutions must come first.” Ten climate-resilience tracks with The Enlight Lab.

10 tracks2025

See all the work

Partners

Who we build with

Book a call

Tell us what you are building.

Fifteen minutes is usually enough to work out whether a program, a partnership or an advisor pairing is the right next step.

Book a call Join as an advisor

Programs

Four tracks. One published calendar.

Applications are short and there is no fee to take part — our programs are funded by consulates, development agencies and companies, not by founders.

Mentoring

You are paired with an advisor matched to your sector and your stage — someone who has already solved the problem in front of you. Six sessions across three months, one to one, with the agenda set by you.

Sector and stage-matched pairing
6 sessions over 3 months
You approve the pairing before it starts
We handle scheduling and follow-up

3 months1-to-1application required

Workshops & training

Short, practical courses on the commercial skills founders are rarely taught — pricing, go-to-market, hiring and applied AI. Taught by operators, built around your own product rather than a case study.

Pricing and unit economics
Go-to-market and sales funnel design
Hiring and early team building
Applied and generative AI

1–3 days20–40 participants

Hackathons

Forty-eight hours against a live brief. Teams of three to five build something that runs, then pitch it to a judging panel. Our hackathons have covered climate resilience, education and flood response.

48-hour build sprint
Teams of 3–5, mentors on the floor
Live brief from a partner organisation
Judged pitches and prizes

48 hoursjudged pitches

Seminars & lectures

Open half-day sessions, free to attend and with no application. The lowest-friction way to meet the network and work out whether a longer track is worth your time.

Half-day, open to all
No application, no fee
Held on campuses and at partner venues
Often the entry point to a track

Half dayno application

Not sure which track fits? Start with a seminar — there is nothing to fill in and no commitment. If it is useful, apply for a workshop or mentoring afterwards.

Who it is for

Early-stage founders in Pakistan

We work mainly across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the federal capital, with a deliberate focus on founders who are usually last in line for this kind of support.

Idea to early revenue

You have a product or a prototype and are trying to find the first customers who will pay for it.

Outside the big two cities

Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi, Abbottabad and the merged districts — not just Karachi and Lahore.

Under-represented founders

Women founders, first-generation entrepreneurs and founders with disabilities are actively recruited.

Applications

A short form. No pitch deck.

Tell us what you are building and which track you want. If the fit is not right we will say so quickly, and point you at the one that is.

Book a call How it works

How it works

Apply. Get matched. Do the work. Keep going.

The same four steps apply to every track — whether you are here for one half-day seminar or three months of mentoring.

Apply

A short form asking what you are building, where you are based and which track you want. No pitch deck, no fee, no financial statements.

Get matched

We place you on the right track. For mentoring, we pair you with an advisor by sector and stage — and both of you approve the pairing before it starts.

Do the work

Sessions run on a published calendar so you can plan around them. Workshops carry assignments; hackathons run to a clock; mentoring runs to your agenda.

Keep going

Alumni keep access to the network and get first sight of follow-on programs, briefs and opportunities as they come up.

What to expect

Plain rules, published up front

Founder time is the scarcest thing in an early-stage company. We try not to waste it with unclear processes or programs that quietly change shape halfway through.

Dates published before applications open
You keep everything you build — no equity, no IP claim
Advisors approve every pairing before it begins
Missed a session? The calendar tells you what is next
A straight answer if we are not the right fit

A trainer presenting a sales and funnel design session to founders.

Questions

The things people ask first

Does it cost anything?

No. Programs are funded by consulates, development agencies and corporate partners. Founders do not pay to take part.

Do you take equity?

No. We are not an investor and we take no stake, no fee and no claim on what you build.

How early is too early?

Seminars and hackathons work at the idea stage. Mentoring is most useful once you have something in front of customers.

Do I need to be in Peshawar?

Most sessions run in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad. Some run hybrid — the calendar says which.

What happens after a program?

You stay on the alumni network and get early sight of follow-on programs and briefs.

Can my organisation fund a cohort?

Yes — that is how most of our work happens. See the Organizations page for how co-designed programs run.

Work

Six funded programs, and the rooms they happened in.

Delivered 2020–2025 with consulates, development agencies and companies, alongside training and judging for incubators across the country.

6Funded programs delivered

$30K+Project value executed

50+Startups engaged at flagship events

9Districts reached across KP

Funded programs

Delivered with our partners

Program	Funder	Format	Year
ClimACT Climate Hackathon	U.S. Consulate Peshawar	48 hours, judged	2023
WISE I & II	U.S. State Department / Consulate	Two phases	2022–2024
EdHack Education Hackathon	U.S. Consulate Peshawar	48 hours, judged	2022
Startups Synergy Bootcamp	Accelerate Prosperity	Residential, Murree	2024
Generative AI Workshop	S&P Global Pakistan	Hands-on	2025
Flood Hackathon	S&P Global, Ignite, LMKT, Google	10 tracks, judged	2025

Also delivered

Training, judging and consultancy

Commissioned work for incubators, universities, corporates and alumni networks.

Engagement	Counterpart	Type	Year
Capital Readiness Series — Investor Pitch Mechanics	NICAT, Rawalpindi	Founder training	2026
Peshawar Entrepreneurship Program	U.S. Mission to Pakistan & PUAN	Program delivery	2026
Sales Process & Funnel Design for Founders	Corporate cohort	Workshop	2026
Master of Ceremonies, Alumni Retreat	Pakistan Global Alumni Network	Event moderation	2026
Branding, Marketing & Sales Funnel training	NICAT via NETSOL Technologies	Incubator training	2026
Memorandum of Understanding	NIC Lahore — Ignite	Institutional partnership	2025
Khadijah Women Entrepreneur Seminars	Pakistan Single Window	Seminar series	2025
Startup Sprint	NIC Peshawar	Pre-incubation	2025
WIN Incubator sessions	Mobilink Microfinance Bank	Corporate incubator	2025
Sustainable Start-Ups	Hanns Seidel Foundation Pakistan	Bootcamp, Murree	2024
RED International Business Bootcamp	Abbottabad, Peshawar, Swabi	Multi-city bootcamp	2024
Export Dialogue Pakistan	Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce & Industry	Industry dialogue	2024
Academy for Women Entrepreneurs	Lincoln Corners Pakistan	Women’s program	2024
Jury & judging panels	GIK Catalyst, BIC IM\|Sciences, Durshal	Evaluation	2024
Innovation lecture series	PAFIAST	Campus lecture	2024
DevFest Peshawar	Google Developer Group Peshawar	Community partner	2019

In the room

Photographs from the programs

Speaker addressing the Peshawar Entrepreneurship Program beside PUAN and America250 banners. — **Peshawar Entrepreneurship Program**U.S. Mission to Pakistan with PUAN · 2026

Cohort group photograph at NIC Peshawar. — **Startup Sprint**Idea-stage founders at NIC Peshawar · 2025

Signing a memorandum of understanding with NIC Lahore. — **MoU with NIC Lahore**Under Ignite and the Ministry of IT & Telecom · 2025

Panel session at the Sustainable Start-Ups workshop in Murree. — **Sustainable Start-Ups**Hanns Seidel Foundation Pakistan, Murree · 2024

Trainer presenting a marketing, sales and funnel design session. — **Sales Process & Funnel Design**Founder intensive · 2026

Speakers on stage at Export Dialogue Pakistan. — **Export Dialogue Pakistan**AI and e-commerce in export growth, with RCCI · 2024

Presentation of a commemorative shield at GIK Institute. — **GIK Catalyst**Jury and judging panel · 2024

Speaker at an Academy for Women Entrepreneurs session at Lincoln Corners. — **Academy for Women Entrepreneurs**Lincoln Corners Pakistan · 2024

Lecture to a full university auditorium. — **Innovation lecture**PAFIAST campus · 2024

Social media coverage of the WISE women's online safety training. — **WISE Phase 2**Covered by the U.S. Consulate, IVLP and PUAN · 2024

Speaker at a Lincoln Corners Pakistan lectern. — **Lincoln Reading Lounge**Lincoln Corners Pakistan · 2024

Group photograph at NIC Lahore. — **NIC Lahore**Partnership visit · 2025

Flood Hackathon poster listing ten solution tracks. — **Flood Hackathon**Ten climate-resilience tracks · 2025

Announcement graphic for a NICAT curriculum workshop. — **NICAT Curriculum Workshop**Marketing curriculum for the aerospace incubator · 2024

Group photograph with international partners in Islamabad. — **Partnership delegation**Islamabad · 2026

DevFest 2019 community partner graphic. — **DevFest Peshawar**Community partner · 2019

Advisors

Give a few hours a month. We do the rest.

Our advisor network is how founders get access to people who have already done the thing. Tell us your practice area and the hours you can give — matching, scheduling and follow-up are our job, not yours.

Apply as an advisor

Practice areas

Ten areas we match against

You are only ever paired with founders inside your own practice area — and you approve every pairing before it begins.

Branding & marketing

Positioning, brand identity, content and growth for early-stage companies.

Sales & go-to-market

Sales process, funnel design, pricing and finding the first paying customers.

Finance & taxation

Financial modelling, budgeting, company structure, tax and compliance.

Fundraising & investment

Investor readiness, pitch mechanics, use-of-funds structuring and term sheets.

Product & design

Product definition, user research, prototyping and design decisions.

Technology & engineering

Architecture, build-versus-buy, hiring engineers and shipping a first version.

E-commerce & exports

Selling online, international marketing and reaching buyers outside Pakistan.

Team & operations

Hiring, early team structure, culture and the operating rhythm of a small company.

Legal & regulatory

Company formation, contracts, intellectual property and sector regulation.

What we ask

The commitment, stated plainly

A few hours a month

Typically two sessions of an hour. You set the ceiling and we never book past it.

You approve pairings

We propose a founder and a reason. Nothing is scheduled until you say yes.

We do the admin

Matching, calendar invitations, reminders and follow-up notes are handled by us.

Light reporting

A short note after each cycle so funders can see the sessions actually happened.

Advisors and partners at an Innovate X Global gathering in Islamabad.

Why advisors do it

The gap is access, not talent

Founders in Peshawar, Mardan and Swabi rarely lack ideas or effort. What they lack is someone one step ahead who will take their call. That is a solvable problem, and it takes a couple of hours a month to solve.

Join the advisor network

For funders & organizations

Built to your brief. Delivered through networks that already exist.

Consulates, development agencies, incubators, universities and companies fund our programs. You bring the objective and the budget; we bring the design, the founders and the reporting.

Discuss a partnership

Built-to-brief program design

We start from your objective, not from a catalogue. Track structure, curriculum, contact hours, selection criteria and judging rubrics are designed around what you are accountable for.

Concept notes and proposals to your template
Itemised budgets built inside your caps
Curriculum and Training of Trainers
Jury panels and demo-day mechanics

Existing founder networks

The hardest part of a regional program is filling it with the right people. We have spent six years building the outreach network across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that makes that routine.

Nine districts of KP reached
University and incubator outreach partners
Alumni network from six funded programs
Deliberate recruitment of under-represented founders

Reporting in your format

Attendance, outputs and follow-up, delivered as the evidence pack your own reporting line needs — with indicators agreed before the program starts, not reverse-engineered afterwards.

Activity, output and indicator matrices
Pre and post instruments
Attendance and completion records
Follow-up tracking after the program ends

For incubators & universities

Fixing a program that is not producing

We have run partnerships inside a National Incubation Centre and advised the centres that came after it. We know where these programs leak: weak intake criteria, a mentor bench that never shows up, and demo days with no follow-through.

Where we start. A short diagnostic of your intake funnel, curriculum and mentor coverage — then a written program architecture you can staff and budget against.

NIC PeshawarNIC LahoreNICAT BIC IM|SciencesDurshalGIK Catalyst PAFIASTIslamia College ORIC

Signing a memorandum of understanding with NIC Lahore under Ignite branding.

For corporates & CSR

Turning a commitment into a cohort

If your CSR commitment is currently a number on a slide, we turn it into a program with participants, a curriculum and a reportable outcome.

Hackathon operations

Theme, tracks, mentors, judging, venue, media and prototype demo — run end to end.

Women’s programs

Design and delivery of women-focused entrepreneurship and digital-skills series.

Industry dialogues

Convening, agenda design, speaker curation and moderation for flagship events.

Event moderation

Master of ceremonies and moderation for summits, retreats and demo days.

S&P GlobalPakistan Single Window Mobilink Microfinance — WIN IncubatorNETSOL Technologies Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce & IndustryLMKT Google Developer GroupsPakistan Global Alumni Network

Partnerships

Bring the objective. We will bring the design.

Give us an audience, an outcome and a budget ceiling, and we will come back with a phased program, a trainer bench and the indicators you can hold us to.

Book a call

About

Established 2020 in Peshawar.

We began as Innovate X, a small network of trainers determined to build a startup culture in a province better known abroad for conflict than for enterprise. The work outgrew the province, so in 2026 the name did too.

Our story

From Innovate X to Innovate X Global

The mark has always been an X — innovation, intersection, the crossing of paths. Six years on, the work spans Peshawar, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Abbottabad, Swabi and Murree, with funders in Washington, Islamabad, Berlin and Geneva. The X now sits on a globe.

Our vision is global innovation. Our focus is your future. Global focus, innovation at the core, a bold future, growth driven.

The Innovate X Global team with partners at NIC Lahore.

Leadership

Who you will actually work with

Co-founder & Innovation Lead

Bilal Farooq Khan

Twelve years in training and development, specialising in marketing and communication across corporates, NGOs and entrepreneurship support organisations. Formerly Head of Marketing Communication and Partnerships at the National Incubation Centre, Peshawar. Founder and Creative Director of 37th Productions, whose clients have included government departments, UN projects, World Bank initiatives, Telenor and Shell.

IVLP alumnus, U.S. Department of State — recipient of the IVLP Impact Award
Three-time recipient of Pakistan–U.S. Alumni Network small grants
Member, Project Steering Committee for the Pakistan Startup Fund advisory committee
Member, ORIC Steering Committee, Islamia College University Peshawar
Mentor, Founder Institute Pakistan · Business Coach and Jury Member, NIC Peshawar

Partner

Shafeeq Gigyani

A social innovation leader and program manager with more than a decade at the intersection of entrepreneurship, governance, youth development and technology. Program Manager at the National Incubation Centre, Peshawar. Founder and Chief Executive of The Enlight Lab, a registered social innovation laboratory working across nine districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

IVLP alumnus, U.S. Department of State
Official Facilitator, Techstars Startup Weekend Peshawar — including GEW 2025 with 50+ startups
Recognised by the World Economic Forum community as a social innovation practitioner
Master of Public Administration, University of Peshawar
Leads civic literacy, digital heritage and community programs through The Enlight Lab

Delivery team

The people behind a cohort

Four of the team are U.S. government exchange alumni, which is how much of our funded work begins.

Urooj Nisar

Program management and monitoring. Assistant Professor of Economics at the College of Commerce & Management Sciences for Women, Peshawar, and COO of The Enlight Lab. Built a Digital Inclusion Index for districts across Pakistan.

IVLP 2019

Muhammad Uzair

Curriculum and marketing. Managing Director of Blimp Digital Marketing & PR, leading campaigns for UNDP, the World Bank, ICRC and USEFP. Former visiting faculty in New Media at the University of Peshawar.

IVLP 2022

Hammad Baig

Project management and monitoring & evaluation. Nine years with national and international development organisations. Master’s in Project Management with certifications in evidence-based program design.

Global UGRAD 2011

Mentor bench

Specialists we bring in

Faisal Khan

Startup legal, taxation, finance and accounting. Director at Maglev Consulting, nine years in corporate and tax advisory. Trainer at SMEDA, the Chamber of Commerce, IM|Sciences and WomenX.

Pir Amad Ali Shah

Business development, fundraising and startup growth. Six years in incubation with more than 400 startups mentored, five years as an Assistant Professor.

Gul Bano Batool

Marketing and international markets. Trainer on women’s entrepreneurship programming covering product marketing, packaging and building an international client base.

Network

Partners, funders and collaborators

Book a call

Fifteen minutes is usually enough.

Whether you are a founder looking for a track, an organisation with a brief, or an expert offering a few hours a month — start here.

Email

innovateXPakistan@gmail.com

Applications, briefs and partnership enquiries.

Telephone

+92 349 833 3338

Pakistan Standard Time, UTC+5.

Where we are

Islamabad, Pakistan

Programs delivered across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and the federal capital.

Get in touch

Three ways in

I am a founder

Tell us what you are building, where you are based and which track interests you. No pitch deck needed.

Apply to a program

I represent an organization

Share the objective, the audience and roughly what you have to spend. Three sentences is usually enough to tell whether there is a fit.

Discuss a program

I want to advise

Tell us your practice area and the hours you can give each month. We handle matching, scheduling and follow-up.

Apply as an advisor

What helps us reply usefully: who the participants are and roughly how many, the outcome you are accountable for, your timeline, and whether the work sits inside an existing grant or budget line.