US embassy awards $20,000 in seed funding to women entrepreneurs

Celina Ali

Islamabad: The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad on Tuesday announced the winners of $20,000 in seed grants to participants in the Embassy’s Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) program.

The U.S. Embassy selected the winners through a pitch competition, the final activity for the 2024 cohort of AWE participants. The five grants will help the winners grow and develop their businesses.

Congratulations to the winners:

1. Iman Khan (Peshawar) for her company, Gricks International, which produces building materials made from recycled plastic and repurposing plastic bottles as bricks to rebuild homes in flood-impacted areas and reduce plastic waste.
2. Alishba Sajid (Rawalpindi) for Cardana Utensils which creates eco-friendly biodegradable plates and utensils.
3. Sahar Munir (Quetta) for her delivery app “QuickUp,” that provides a fair and affordable delivery service for women-led businesses in Balochistan.

In addition to the top three winners, the Embassy awarded “honorable mentions” to:

1. Sana Rehman (Quetta)for her Physiotherapy Clinic in Khanozai, Balochistan, that is addressing a significant gap in healthcare in that province.
2. Zarmina Sanam (Lahore) for her educational services company, Skill2Success, which provides students from ages 5-18 with hands on learning experience focused on in robotics, coding, and Artificial Intelligence.

The AWE program provides enterprising women with the knowledge, networks, and access they need to launch and scale successful businesses. This year’s cohort of 100 aspiring and established women entrepreneurs took part in a three-month online entrepreneurship course developed by the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University; received mentoring from established Pakistani women entrepreneurs and built a network of support with other women-owned businesses.