Islamabad, Sept 6 /DNA/ – U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Andrew Schofer joined the U.S.-Pakistan Women’s Council and Paklaunch in announcing the winners of a pitch competition for women-led startups at a ceremony today at National Science and Technology Park.
First Prize: Arooba Tayab of TheEPO.com for “Revolutionizing B2B eProcurement as per Global Compliances/Standard Operating Procedures.”
First Runner-Up: Aiman Khan of SLOSH AI Solutions for “Systems with Life-Changing and Optimal Solutions for Humanity.”
Second Runner-Up: Romana Rafi of Technoknowledge Pvt. Ltd. for “Coding is Today’s Language of Creativity: All Our Children Deserve a Chance to Become Creators instead of Consumers of Computer Science.”
The three winners will receive expert-level, one-on-one mentoring through Paklaunch and Amazon Web Services (AWS) and will be showcased to potential clients and investors.
Today’s ceremony marked the culmination of a months-long competitive process. More than 1,000 women-led start-ups applied for 50 available slots. Of those 50, fifteen were chosen as finalists to travel to Islamabad and pitch their ideas before a distinguished panel of judges, including Paklaunch founder Aly Fahd and 500 Global Chief Operating Officer Courtney Powell.
Deputy Chief of Mission Schofer praised the finalists in his remarks: “Today’s finalists have brought incredible innovation, courage, and creativity to this competition, with pitches that respond to real-life issues facing Pakistanis. Getting to this point has taken a lot of hard work and determination. It’s been an extremely competitive process. I hope that you are as proud of yourselves as we are of each of you.”
Since 2012, the U.S. Mission to Pakistan has funded more than 181 entrepreneurship-related projects valued at $14.7 million.
![PESHAWAR, JAN 12 /DNA/ - Owing to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's precarious law and order circumstances, the provincial assembly has written a letter to the Peshawar corps commander seeking an in-camera briefing on ongoing operations and the security situation in the province. "The [special] Committee desires to receive a detailed briefing from Headquarters XI Corps, Peshawar, particularly in the context of the ongoing operations being conducted by the federal government and LEAs in the merged districts of KP," reads the letter issued by KP Assembly Deputy Secretary Tariq Noor, while referring to the Special Committee (on Security) constituted by the house. The committee features more than 40 members, including the leader of the house, the leader of the opposition and provincial ministers, along with parliamentary leaders of respective political parties. The letter, dated January 8, also points out that the committee has received detailed briefings from key stakeholders, including the chief secretary, the additional chief secretary, the IGP, and now seeks a briefing as part of the consultative process. Letter written by KP Assemblys deputy secretary to Headquarters XI Corps. — Reporter Letter written by KP Assembly's deputy secretary to Headquarters XI Corps. — Reporter The KP Assembly's request for a briefing from a senior army commander comes as the province, as stated by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry in a recent media briefing, accounted for nearly 71% of all the terrorist incidents in 2025. The overwhelming share of KP in facing terror incidents, as per the military's spokesperson, was due to a "politically conducive environment and the flourishing political-criminal-terror-nexus" in the province. Noting that the Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in KP was resisting counterterrorism efforts at every forum — a claim denied by the PTI — Lt Gen Chaudhry highlighted that the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) carried out 75,175 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) across the country in 2025, of which 14,658 IBOs were conducted in KP. Out of the total 5,397 terrorism incidents reported nationwide in the previous year, as many as 3,811 incidents occurred in KP. The issue of terrorism and military operations has been a point of contention between the PTI's KP government and the Centre in recent times, where the former has time and again stressed a political solution and dialogue, whereas the latter has pressed on with taking action against the terrorists. This is also reflected by the KP Assembly's letter to the Headquarters XI Corps, Peshawar, which says that the Special Committee (on Security) "acknowledges the importance of security measures but considers that operation alone without broader political, social and developmental initiatives may not ensure suitable peace and stability and could risk further unrest in the province".](https://islamabadpost.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/security-forces-218x150.jpg "KP Assembly seeks Peshawar corps commander’s in-camera briefing on security situation")
