OIC, Pakistan startups shine at PATHFINDER-CITADEL 2026 global final in Islamabad
Islamabad (GNP) : Pathfinder CITADEL Jeddah Startup Challenge 2026 – Global Final successfully concluded at OIC-COMSTECH Secretariat, marking the culmination of a highly competitive, internationally aligned startup journey.
Positioned under the powerful narrative “From Davos to Jeddah and Beyond – A Global Momentum for Pakistan’s Startups,” the initiative brought together some of the most promising entrepreneurs from Pakistan and across OIC member countries, providing them with a credible pathway to global recognition.
The challenge, organized by Pathfinder CITADEL in strategic partnership with OIC-COMSTECH, witnessed an overwhelming response, with 337 applications received globally, including 54 international and 283 national startups. Following a rigorous multi-stage evaluation process, the competition narrowed down to a Top-24 startups from OIC countries and Pakistan, representing the most scalable and impact-driven ventures.
The Global Final featured high-stakes pitching sessions, where shortlisted startups presented their business models, innovation, and market potential before an esteemed panel of judges, investors, and ecosystem leaders. Ultimately, the top-performing startups will represent Pakistan at international forums like the World Economic Forum (WEF) Spring Meeting.
The event was graced by distinguished leadership from government, academia, and industry. OIC-COMSTECH reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to fostering science, technology, and innovation across OIC member states. Senior representatives from COMSTECH and key government stakeholders commended the initiative to support young entrepreneurs and provide them with a platform for global presentation.
Chief guest of the event, Senator Dr Afnan Ullah Khan, emphasized the importance of empowering youth-led innovation and strengthening Pakistan’s global startup footprint.
Senator Dr. Afnan Ullah Khan, Senate Standing Committee on IT address the ceremony that AI think it’s a very bright idea.
Innovation sits at the very heart of our nation. Because our economy now depends on it. Our defense now depends on AI, and we have witnessed what happened last year when Pakistan performed exceptionally well in operation Banyamin, and the primary reason that we were able to do it is because we developed our own technologies. We developed our own fighter jet program, developed our nuclear program. So it is extremely important that we help the next generation, the young people, to work in this area and to serve the country. And something some, some of the things that I wanted to mention also with regards to what is happening in our region right now. And an example of a very good use of technology is what is happening in for instance, Iran, we have seen that an adversary which has a lot more firepower, a lot more resources, financial resources, was subdued by by Iran, which doesn’t have that kind of resources, and they have developed drones and design cities and other technologies. So the reason why I’m mentioning it is because you don’t always have to be the richest to win.
You have to be smart at what you’re doing. You can always come you can a very innovative part of what Iraq did was this drone, Shahid 136 which is it cost about $10,000 and if you want to shoot it down, it cost millions of dollars for interceptors. And you can use that tone to hit pretty much anywhere within, within those 2000 kilometer that it can go to. So the government of Pakistan is working on different initiatives within the IT domain. We have an Ignite program which is tailored for innovation, where we encourage new companies to come in and apply, and then they can raise their own funding, and then the government will help you set up your company and will guide you. We have also an IT power being established in Lahore, where we are encouraging a lot of large companies from different parts of the world to come in. We are also encouraging our local companies to come in as well. The government also got Google into Pakistan, and through Google, we have got about hundreds of 1000s of scholarships that were given in different areas of technology.
We are encouraging other companies to come into Pakistan as well.
I think Pakistan has great potential when I look at the future. And the reason being is that if you look at the current crisis that is happening in the world right now, there’s a huge problem with regards to water.
So most of the water comes from desalination plants, but we are so lucky by the ways of Allah that we get our water from the Hindu question, from Himalayas and the Karakum, and it comes for free. We don’t even have to transport it or to filter it. So and then we have, you know, great people. We have, we have a population of over 240 million people, growing population.
We have done extensive work in defense. We have done extensive work in other areas as well. And our people are, I think, the greatest asset that Pakistan have is our people. And when, when I was reading this article in the morning, and I have to explain it, because otherwise it doesn’t make any sense.
A defining highlight of the event was the continued support and collaboration of Ikram Sehgal, Co-Chairman, Pathfinder Group, whose strategic vision and commitment have been instrumental in shaping the Challenge into a globally recognized platform. His leadership has reinforced Pathfinder Group’s role in enabling high-impact initiatives that connect Pakistan’s entrepreneurial talent with international opportunities.
The partnership with OIC-COMSTECH played a pivotal role in lending international credibility and fostering cross-border innovation linkages, ensuring that startups from Pakistan and the broader OIC region are positioned to address global challenges through scalable solutions.
Beyond the competition, the Global Final also served as a platform for meaningful engagement between startups, policymakers, and industry leaders, laying the foundation for future collaborations, pilot opportunities, and investment pathways.
