PSW hosts women entrepreneurship mentorship session at LUMS

Pakistan Single Window (PSW) held a mentorship and capacity-building session for women entrepreneurs at the LUMS Centre for Entrepreneurship on the Lahore university campus, under its Khadijah Women Entrepreneurship Program.

The event, organised at the LCE auditorium, brought together aspiring women founders, academic leaders and industry veterans to focus on entrepreneurial growth, digital trade integration and the role of practical mentorship in scaling female-led enterprises.

Three prominent business leaders served as mentors: Aasia Saail Khan, founder and director of LAMA; Saulat Salahuddin, founder of Pronto Spaces; and Shehla Javed Akram, founder of the Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry Lahore. Dr Shehryar Shahid, associate professor of entrepreneurship and innovation at LUMS, led the specialised entrepreneurial training during the session.

Participants received guidance on navigating market complexities, building resilient brand identities, using digital platforms and expanding businesses sustainably. The session also underscored the centre's role in venture creation, illustrating how academic incubation and structured mentorship can accelerate early-stage startup growth.

The Khadijah Program, which has been recognised with the WTO Global Award for Gender Equality in Trade, forms part of PSW's effort to advance gender inclusion in trade. According to PSW, the initiative combines trade facilitation with practical mentorship to equip female founders with the technical knowledge, regulatory understanding and digital skills required to compete globally.

PSW chief executive Syed Aftab Haider said that empowering women entrepreneurs requires meaningful mentorship and real-world industry perspective in addition to technical trade tools. He said the engagement at LUMS reflected the organisation's commitment to connecting aspiring female leaders with experienced professionals and building an inclusive, technology-driven foundation for Pakistan's trade ecosystem.

LUMS Centre for Entrepreneurship director Jazib Zahir said the partnership with PSW added another dimension to the centre's efforts to integrate practical elements into its curriculum. He said entrepreneurial thinking, digital skills, product-market fit and scaling capacity were vital for the modern workplace, and exposure to business leaders encourages women entrepreneurs to develop these skills and build on their ideas.

PSW said the program continues to expand across academic institutions and industrial clusters nationwide, linking university talent with established industry figures to help ideas develop into commercially viable enterprises.