Endeavor Pakistan: Our Commitment to Serving Pakistan’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Endeavor (endeavor.org), is the leading global community of, by, and for High-Impact Entrepreneurs — those who dream bigger, scale faster, and pay it forward. Driven by our belief that High-Impact Entrepreneurs transform economies,Endeavor is on a mission to build thriving entrepreneurial ecosystems in emerging and underserved markets around the world. We are committed to transparency, integrity, and fairness in all our activities.

The Endeavor selection process and framework are designed to identify high-impact entrepreneurs. Our process is run independently and is composed of multiple rounds of rigorous evaluations and interviews by panelists who volunteer their time. Starting with the local team identifying strong candidates through pipeline management and a First Opinion Review (FOR) – the candidates are moved to a multi-interview process with stakeholders across the global network to complete Second Opinion Reviews (SORs). Candidates that pass this round are taken to a Local Selection Panel (LSP) consisting of local and regional/global experts that act as panelists. The final stage of selection is an International Selection Panel (ISP) run by Endeavor Global. At the ISP, multiple stakeholders from across Endeavor’s worldwide network interview and then deliberate to vote for the next Endeavor Entrepreneurs that will join the global network.

Throughout the selection process interviewers are screened for conflicts, and only confirmed after approval from Endeavor and the entrepreneurial candidate(s) after which there must be unanimous approval from interviewers to progress the candidates (with feedback given at each stage), ensuring that only the highest-impact entrepreneur candidates are selected.

Our local teams, MDs and Board members across 42 markets are often a mix of experts that are deeply connected to nascent startup ecosystems in emerging markets and are frequently associated with the most exciting companies as investors, Board members, and/or advisors. It is that connectivity which enables Endeavor to establish a strong foundation in each market and support the local ecosystem. As such, in the interest of entrepreneurs, clear protocols have been established by Endeavor to ensure Conflict Management rather than Conflict Avoidance and lean into the concern so that entrepreneurs benefit from the network. Avoiding conflict (especially in young startup ecosystems), has a much larger cost to entrepreneurs which would dilute the value of Endeavor’s impact in the ecosystem at large, which is why we are bringing these established best practices to Pakistan.

We take pride in our global network of experienced founders, professionals and industry experts who meticulously assess each applicant’s potential, business acumen, opportunity set and timing. The process ensures that only the most promising and impactful startups are chosen, and no external/internal influences or biases are entertained. It is our steadfast commitment to maintain the utmost impartiality and objectivity throughout the process. We are confident in our team’s strong adherence to the organization’s values and principles, as well as in compliance with the best ethical standards. Endeavor Pakistan is committed to continuing its mission to empower entrepreneurs and foster innovation with unwavering integrity and transparency.