Dr Shamshad Akhtar has a broad-based development career in national and multilateral organisations spanning over 37 years. She has served as the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Under Secretary-General of the Economic and Social Commission of the Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP), Senior Special Advisor on Economics and Finance and Assistant Secretary-General UN, the UN Secretary General’s G20 Sherpa, Vice President, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at The World Bank, and Senior Special Advisor to the President of Asian Development Bank (ADB). Most recently, Dr Shamshad Akhtar served as Federal Finance Minister in the caretaker government prior to the general election of Pakistan in 2018.
In addition to advising on macroeconomics issues including growth policies, public finance, and monetary policy and management, Dr Shamshad Akhtar has advised various governments and the private sector in specific areas of governance, poverty, privatization, and public-private partnerships in sectors such as energy and agriculture. Over the years she also advised a number of countries on financial sector (both bank and non-bank) policy, legal and regulatory frameworks and conducted assessments of central banks. As Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, she was nominated Asia’s Best Central Bank Governor by the Emerging Market Groups in 2006 and Bankers Trust in 2007. She was also amongst Asian Wall Street Journal’s top ten Women Business Leaders in 2008.
As a member of Civil Service of Pakistan, Mr Shamim Ahmad Khan occupied senior positions in the Government of Pakistan such as Secretary Ministry of Commerce and Additional Secretary Ministries of Finance and Production. For more than ten years, he worked as a regulator of capital markets and the corporate sector. In this capacity, he piloted a number of reforms in capital markets and restructured the Corporate Law Authority into the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan of which he became the first Chairman. After he left the Government, he worked as an independent and non-executive director of a number of listed companies. Presently he is a director of Packages Ltd., IGI insurance Ltd and Abbott laboratories Ltd and is serving as Chairman of the board of IGI Life Ltd.
Mr Salim Raza has over 40 years of experience in the banking and financial sector. Mr Raza has held the position of the 15th Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) after having worked in international banking for 36 years. His business experience covers credit and corporate finance, real estate, and global asset management. He has also been the CEO of the Pakistan Business Council (PBC). During his tenure at SBP and his association with PBC many innovative initiatives were introduced to assist deepening of debt Capital markets, broadening financial inclusion, increasing access to credit for the agricultural and SME sectors, reforming and improving efficiency within the banking sector, and advancing the cause of economic empowerment.
Prior to that, Mr Salim Raza held various positions at Citibank NA in Pakistan and abroad and served as Country and Regional Head for Citibank across various geographies in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, the UK, Central and Eastern Europe.
In September 2018, Mr Salim Raza was appointed to the Prime Minister of Pakistan’s Economic Advisory Council as a member representing the private sector. He holds a combined BA & MA degree from Oxford University where he studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oriel College. He currently serves on the Boards of Habib Bank Limited, International Industries Limited, and Planet N Group. He is an adjunct professor at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi for Political Economy and also lectures on a variety of economic-development-related subjects at different forums.
Mr Khurram Zafar is the Founder and Country Director of 47 Ventures, an international Venture Capital firm exclusively focused on early-stage investments in high-growth-potential technology businesses in Pakistan. He is also a private sector, independent member of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Technology-Driven Knowledge Economy and an Investment Committee member of Singapore based Insitor Impact Asia Fund. Previously, as Executive Director at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), he founded the Center for Entrepreneurship, now called National Incubation Center, Lahore. Mr Khurram has been an adviser to both the Federal and Punjab governments in matters related to higher education, research, technology, agriculture, investments, innovation, and startup ecosystem. He is also a founding member of the Pakistan Innovation Foundation.
Previously Mr Khurram was Chief Information Officer at Lahore Stock Exchange where he led the technology operations for the Exchange and was recognized as the best private sector CIO in Pakistan.
Before that, in Silicon Valley, California, Mr Khurram co-founded Epiance and Insight Technologies. Epiance was a product company that automated the process of documentation generation for software systems while Insight Technologies used the IP for automation of human-executed, IT-enabled business processes for the BPO industry. Earlier in the United States, at eForce and Haddon Hill Group, Mr Khurram worked as Vice President of Technology and served Fortune 500 companies across the globe. Key clients included Visa, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, Sony, DHL and several venture capital firms including Greylock, Norwest Venture Partners, CapitalZ and Visa Ventures. He is a Prentice Hall published author on wireless networking technology.
Mr Khurram did his Bachelor in Computer Engineering from McGill University in Canada in 1997. He is a Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance approved, LUMS trained, independent director and serves on the boards of Aequitas Information Services, Healthwire, and several other portfolio companies of his Venture Capital fund.
Ms Romana Abdullah is CEO of Highpoint Ventures (Pvt) Ltd and leads Hopscotch, a kidswear brand she co-founded in 2014. Today, Hopscotch has 20+ stores in 13 cities in Pakistan and an e-commerce website, www.ilovehopscotch.com. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Ms Romana was part of the Management Team of MCB Bank, one of Pakistan’s largest banks, leading their strategic planning, transformation and new initiative functions. She was also Group Head for Strategy at Soneri Bank. Earlier, Ms Romana spent significant time at The Boston Consulting Group (Management Consulting) and Merrill Lynch (Investment Banking) in New York, where she focused on strategic, financial and operational assignments for Fortune 500 financial services and consumer clients.
Ms Romana was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2016. She is also on the board of Systems Limited, a publicly listed company and a global leader in next-generation IT services and BPO solutions. She mentors young start-ups, incubators, and accelerat
Mr Musadaq Zulqarnain is the Chairman of Interloop Limited and its associated companies, Interloop Holdings (Pvt.) Limited, Interloop Dairies Limited, and IL Bangla Limited. He has served on the Board of Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development & Management Company (FIEDMC) for 6 years and also held the position of its CEO. Mr Musadaq is also a Member of the Board of Port Qasim Authority. He is the President of Interloop Welfare Trust, engaged in numerous philanthropic activities in the country. He is also associated with The Citizens Foundation (TCF), the largest not-for-profit organization providing primary and secondary education in Pakistan.
With leadership experience spanning over more than three decades, Mr Musadaq initially worked for 14 years at senior positions with a top gas transmission company (SNGPL) in Pakistan and later on transformed into a successful entrepreneur, developing and expanding one of the world’s largest Hosiery manufacturing and export business, Interloop Limited, over last 27 years.
A mechanical engineer by professional training, Mr Musadaq is a development enthusiast and philanthropist, actively engaged in nurturing the youth of Pakistan through primary, secondary, and higher education for the underprivileged. He has initiated numerous programs for women empowerment and supports talent by promoting sports for the youth and community, especially the differently-abled. He has always been at the forefront in providing free health services for poor patients and relief activities during natural disasters by contributing food, rations and constructing houses for the displaced families.
Ms Durdana Achakzai is a senior executive with over 15 years of leadership experience in global business and technology-focused roles and expertise in large-scale digital transformations. As Group Executive Director of Digital in London, she is leading Vodafone’s global digital agenda encompassing a range of strategic and operational initiatives. Previously, she was Chief Digital Officer for Telenor, where she led their transformation into a digital services provider.
Ms Durdana has led digital in the fintech space including as the Global Head of Digital Portfolio and Programme Director for Retail Banking & Wealth Management and previously as Director of Corporate Digital at HSBC. In these capacities, she focused on driving innovation and digital transformation agenda for the bank; leading a global digital portfolio primarily focused on new and innovative digital capabilities.
She has been an advisor to early-stage start-ups. Ms Durdana holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree in Engineering Sciences from GIK Institute.
Mr Shahid Ghaffar possess vast experience of working at top positions in the financial market. He has served as Chairman and Managing Director, National Investment Trust Limited 2014 – 2017. Prior to that he was Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Representation and Member Management Forum at Habib Bank Limited (HBL) during the period 2012 – 2014. He was involved in the formation and development of HBL Asset Management Limited and was its Chief Executive Officer from 2005-2012.
Mr Ghaffar has vast experience in Capital Market Regulations and Governance. He was Executive Director/ Commissioner, Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan and was instrumental towards implementation of wide ranging reforms in the capital market and capacity building of the Securities Market Division during the period 2000 – 2005. He was also Managing Director of Pakistan Stock Exchange (Former Karachi Stock Exchange) from 1998 – 2000 and was actively involved in introducing effective risk management measures, automation of trading system and enhancing capacity building of the exchange. During the period 1977-1998 he has served National Investment Trust Limited in various capacities in the Asset Management Division and was responsible for managing equity, fixed income portfolio and trading desk.
Mr Ghaffar is presently Member, Audit Oversight Board, Pakistan and Independent Director of HBL Asset Management Limited, Awwal Modaraba Management Limited, Habib Insurance Company Limited, Jubilee Life Insurance Company Limited and Archroma Pakistan Limited. He is also an External Member of VIS Rating Committee of VIS Credit Rating Company Limited.
Mr Ghaffar holds a master’s degree in business administration from Gomal University, D.I Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. He has attended serval courses on Securities Regulations including the prestigious course conducted by Securities & Exchange Commission in Washington D.C., USA.
Mr Waqas ul Hasan joins Karandaaz as Chief Executive Officer. He is credited with designing the Enterprise and Asset Growth Programme of the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), arranging co-financing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and then setting up Karandaaz Pakistan for implementation of the programme. Mr Hasan has previously served as member on key Karandaaz Committees (Investment, Digital Finance) and as Observer on the Boards of Karandaaz, Pakistan Microfinance Investment Company (PMIC) and Parwaaz Financial Services Limited (PFSL).
Mr Hasan has rich experience of designing and implementing a wide range of development finance programmes on infrastructure finance, public private partnerships, climate finance, MSME finance, credit guarantees and digital finance. He has also advised on financial sector projects in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Jordan and the UK. Mr Hasan has special interest in investment climate related regulatory reforms, seeding innovations, entrepreneurship and establishing key institutions to foster a rich development and impact finance landscape in the country. Mr Hasan has previously worked at senior staff and advisory positions in the public sector and at FCDO and the Asian Development Bank. He holds a Masters in Finance from the London Business School and a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore. He is also certified as Director by the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance.
Syed Ali Mahmood is Program Officer, Financial Services for Poor at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and is responsible for driving the agenda for financial inclusion in Pakistan. Previously he has worked for China Mobile / Zong, United Bank Limited, Telenor and Warid. He has diversified experience of working across front end and backend value chains for both GSM and Mobile Financial Services sectors.
He holds an MBA and MA Marketing with specialization in Service Sector Marketing and Branding from London. Mr Ali Mahmood was also inducted into Honors list at Aitchison College for academics.
Mr Navid Goraya brings with himself over 25 years of global experience in asset management, investment strategy, product development and corporate finance. Before joining Karandaaz as the CIO, he was leading a Strategic Advisory Firm, White Oak Advisors Inc, in New York where he was involved in serving private equity funds, family offices, banks and insurance companies in support of global investments in the US, Middle East, South East Asia and South Asia. Earlier, at HSBC USA, Mr Navid advised approx US$6 billion in specialized funds of HSBC and led a global wealth team covering North America, the GCC, and South East Asia. He has also led specialized Investment Banking teams at the Royal Bank of Scotland and Qatar National Bank. At IICG Bahrain, he led a Capital Markets Group managing proprietary funds and endowment portfolios. In Pakistan, Mr Navid has led an award-winning research team at a leading brokerage house in the Karachi Stock Exchange.
Mr Navid has an MBA from IBA (University of Karachi) and has also attended the High-Performance Leadership Programs at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, and London Business School. He also serves on the advisory boards of firms in life sciences and financial services in New York.
Mr Azmat Nawaz is member of the Investment Committee at Karandaaz. He has over 25 years’ experience in operations management. Mr Nawaz led creation, growth and turn-around of +50 companies across the globe. His Industry sector know-how includes healthcare, education, energy, petrochemicals, construction, real estate, food, packaging, IT, banking and insurance sector among others. Throughout his career, Mr Azmat Nawaz has been a decisive leader, who at the operating company level has developed, motivated, strengthened, redirected and rationalized businesses, teams and investments via Board and management roles. Mr Nawaz holds an MBA degree from London Business School, UK
After graduating from the London School of Economics and qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, Mr Yameen Kerai continued his career in public accounting in London and in Saudi Arabia before moving to Toronto to perform senior Finance roles at Canada Life Assurance Company. Subsequently he moved to Pakistan as CFO of ABN AMRO NV overseeing the transition of the franchise into a leading consumer, corporate and investment bank. He was then appointed Regional CFO-Asia Pacific based in Singapore overseeing Finance functions of ABN AMRO in 11 countries. Mr Yameen Kerai moved back to Pakistan as CFO of the then newly established NIB Bank majority funded by Temasek, a Singapore sovereign fund. During his tenure, NIB executed a transformational business strategy for SME and Consumer segments in Pakistan, acquired PICIC a bank 6 times its size, and arranged funding through equity and capital market actions. As nominee Board Director representing NIB, Mr Yameen was involved in driving strategy for ex PICIC Asset Management Company, National Investment Trust Limited and ex PICIC Insurance. Yameen retired as President and CEO of NIB Bank in 2017 after its merger with MCB Bank.
Mr Fahad Suleri has over 12 years of experience in managing large scale development programmes. He is currently the Senior Programme Manager at the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO, formerly DFID). He is also the Programme Responsible Officer for the FCDO’s Enterprise and Asset Growth Programme. Prior to joining FCDO, Mr Suleri was associated with leading microfinance institutions in Pakistan. His core expertise is in portfolio management, product development, loan restructuring, risk management and impact assessments.
Mr Suleri holds a master’s degree in Development Finance and Management from Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. He has also completed his executive education course in Financial Inclusion from Harvard Kennedy School. In addition to Karandaaz, Mr Suleri also sits on the Board of the Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) as an FCDO observer.
