NED Alum & Angel Network Organization (NAANO)

NED Academy organized launching event of NED Alum & Angel Network Organization (NAANO) on May 4, 2018 between 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM at the Video Conferencing Hall, NED University Main Campus.

NAANO has been initiated with the mission to connect NED Students & Incubators to Advisors & Mentors, Angel Investors from Gulf and Silicon Valley for early-stage startup funding.

The launch event commenced with a brief overview by DG, NED Academy (Prof. Rizwan Farooqui) about the NAANO Initiative and its significance/ benefits for the student community, specifically w.r.t. nurturing of entrepreneurial ideas and with getting angel funding/ VC support. Prof. Farooqui expressed the significance of this initiative as an integration effort to bring the Industry, Mentors, VCs, Angel Investors, Advisors, Alumni, Faculty, Students and University Administration on a single platform to incubate entrepreneurial ventures. He further noted that the initiative is timely since NED University has recently been awarded a Node for the National Incubation Centre. Prof. Farooqui’s address was followed by a detailed talk by Mr. Muneer M. Merchant (NED University Alumnus Batch 95-96 and Board Member NAANO) wherein he described the vision and mission of NAANO as well as provided a holistic overview to the audience on the Industrial Revolution 4.0 with the perspective of BIG DATA, IOT, Al, AR, Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics as it relates to Engineering Application in today's world.

Almost 150 students from various engineering & allied disciplines and a few faculty members of NED University attended the event. Towards the end of the session, participants were given the opportunity to ask questions/ interact with Mr. Merchant. A large number of students showed great deal of enthusiasm and the initiative was well appreciated by them. In his closing remarks, DG NED Academy emphasized that it would be pertinent for all interested to apply for Cohort 1 via visiting the NAANO website and get connected with the network in order to discuss as well as streamline their entrepreneurial ideas. He further emphasized that the platform, in addition to being an angel funding and mentorship initiative, can also be very well used to connect with the experts instrumental in bringing in new initiatives and innovation in various disciplines around the globe so as to directionalize oneself with the emerging trends and initiatives. The event ended with a Vote of Thanks to Mr. Merchant.