Freelancing in Karakoram International University Gilgit-Baltistan

Karakoram International University (KIU), Gilgit was established in 2002 by a charter of Federal Government. The university has a main campus in Gilgit and three sub-campuses in Hunza, Ghizer and Diamer districts. Currently, the university have 20 departments under three faculties offering undergraduate, graduate and PhD level programs. A total student body at the university is over 7000 with a ratio of 50/50 male and female students. KIU has also established Business Incubation Center (KIU-BIC) in 2016 to promote entrepreneurship among its students and create an alternative space and opportunities for the youth instead of relying only the employment ecosystem of the vicinity. KIU-BIC have conducted numerous business plan competitions from the date of its inception and tried to create linkages for investments and promotion of our incubates in successfully establishing their businesses. One of the success stories is that KIU-BIC sent four women entrepreneurs for an exposure visit to University of Oregon, USA. So far, KIU-BIC have supported 60 business ideas. Among them, 10 have been turned into successful business including companies like Chkar.com, Leeza Crafts, Ideas Graphics, Apricot Incorporation and Silsila Jewlers etc. KIU-BIC has conducted numerous awareness and training sessions for 5000+ students and engaged with several partners to create a sustainable entrepreneurial eco-system in GB.

Similarly, Govt. of Pakistan has initiated several programs in the past to train people on the sellable skills for the Gig economy. One such project is given to Ministry of Information Technology and Punjab IT Board with the name “National Freelance Training Program (NFTP)” under which different partner universities are empowered to give freelance training on various skills in their vicinities across Pakistan. Karakoram International University, Gilgit is one such partner of Punjab IT Board (PITB) for providing training on various skills related to freelance markets such as Graphic Designing, Technical Writing/Social Media Marketing and Web Development.

The purpose of this project is to promote self-employment through promoting freelancing in Gilgit-Baltistan. Under this project, we are aiming to train 1500 youth (male and female) on various skills such as graphic designing, technical writing, social media marketing and web development. So far, we have trained over 90 youth (both male and female) in our first batch whereas training of the second batch of 150 youth is in progress.

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