Turning a national ambition into a working pathway for founders.

As Program Manager, I worked with university leadership, focal points, faculty members, mentors, students, the UIHP Secretariat, DEIED officials, and BHTPA to translate national objectives into university-level delivery.

Each university had its own academic calendar, administrative structure, student community, and level of innovation readiness. My job was to keep implementation aligned while helping each institution navigate those differences.

I managed the implementation framework for 60 Innovation Cohorts and the selection process that fed into them—from town halls and campus campaigns to application screening, selection committees, onboarding, and mentor deployment.

The journey combined Design Thinking, Lean Canvas, customer discovery, problem-solution fit, Value Proposition Canvas, prototype and MVP development, competitive analysis, financial modelling, branding, pitching, go-to-market strategy, IP management, valuation, and commercialisation.

As a jury board member, I evaluated innovation teams on problem-solution fit, product progress, market opportunity, financial viability, team capability, scalability, execution, and the quality of their pitch.

I also helped operationalise the pre-seed funding mechanism so that grant decisions remained connected to the wider incubation and commercialisation pathway—not treated as an isolated prize.

I continued mentoring high-potential teams preparing to compete for seed funding, helping them make the difficult transition from a university innovation project to a more commercially viable startup.

That work was direct and practical: reviewing assumptions, challenging financial models, sharpening the commercialisation roadmap, and helping founders tell a stronger investment story.

I designed and implemented three National Innovation Challenge competitions, taking each one from concept to execution: competition architecture, eligibility, progression, evaluation methodology, jury design, startup preparation, stakeholder engagement, and the final showcase.

These were designed as more than competitions. They created national platforms where promising teams could meet international experts, academics, senior government officials, industry professionals, investors, and other ecosystem stakeholders.

I coordinated Training-of-Trainers sessions and contributed to the Mentor Pool Development Program, curriculum transfer, university capacity building, institutional engagement, and post-graduation support.

I also helped deliver activities beyond the cohorts—including the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Lecture Series, a certificate course, workshops, university activation programmes, ecosystem events, and the National Intellectual Property Rights and Commercialization Conference 2024.