Annual Forum 2014

Speakers for this event

• Ambreen Malik

  Ambreen Malik

  Ambreen Malik runs Blue Saint, a social enterprise aiming to preserve, reimagine & modernize Pakistan's unique handmade crafts & bring them to contemporary homes. An ex-banker and expat Pakistani who writes a famous food blog as well, Ambreen will share the story of Blue Saint.

• Ammar Mumtaz

  Ammar Mumtaz

  Calling himself a chocoholic, Ammar's quest to make the perfect batch of brownies resulted in him transforming a small rack at local gas stations to the Islamabad famous "Burning Brownies" bakery.

• Asad Umar

  Asad Umar

  Asad Umar is a Pakistani lawmaker and former CEO of Engro Corporation, which he turned into a world-renowned business group, he will share his experiences at Engro and also why Islamabad is a great place for entrepreneurs to be in!

• Ayesha Hamid

  Ayesha Hamid

  With a focus to promote education and entrepreneurship in Pakistan, Ayesha is CEO of a major school brand in Pakistan and has been one of the best success stories of women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. She has been an inspiration for many social initiatives and also a founding and board member for OPEN Lahore. Ayesha will be part of one our panel discussions on “Women in Entrepreneurship”.

• Bilal Awan

  Bilal Awan

  An Engineer by qualification, Bilal is unique and an exemplary entrepreneur, building startups that range from waste management to restaurants.

• Dr Yasmeen Mehmooda

  Dr Yasmeen Mehmooda

  "Dr Yasmeen is one of the best and most experienced and respected gynecologists in Pakistan, having served as Head of Department in Shifa Hospital and currently managing the famous Medicsi hospital. She is also a Director on the board of Air Blue airlines. "

• Dr. Affan Syed

  Dr. Affan Syed

  With a doctorate from University of Southern California in Computer Science, Affan is a professor and a researcher par excellence. He has won many accolades for his research brilliance and achieved many “first-times” for Pakistan. Affan will share his story and why a researcher is really an entrepreneur at heart.

• Dr. Faisal Khan

  Dr. Faisal Khan

  With a PhD from Oxford in Biology, Faisal is a true entrepreneur at heart. He has delved into many entrepreneurial ventures over the last decade and is the co-founder of Peshawar 2.0, a social enterprise striving to build a startup community in Peshawar.

• Ehtisham Rao

  Ehtisham Rao

  Ehtisham is Director B2B Marketing at Mobilink and organizational transformation is his passion. He'll talk about Mobilink's initiatives of revamping it's B2B portfolio

• Fahad Tiwana

  Fahad Tiwana

  Fahad started his entrepreneurial journey at the young age of 18 and so far have created 5 companies with one of them acquired by Austrlian gadget retailer and another by American large media group. Now he is using all that experience in his latest venture Tech Valley which publishes the world’s largest engineering e-magazine called Wonderful Engineering.

• Junaid Kalim

  Junaid Kalim

  Junaid is Founder and CEO of kalim Group. He is voluntarily working as a Charter Member of OPEN Islamabad and TiE.

• Kimberlee LeBlanc

  Kimberlee LeBlanc

  Kimberlee has been part of many Education projects of USAID in Africa and Asia.

• Maliha Elahi

  Maliha Elahi

  Maliha has a rich career as a consultant, trainer and executive, having served as a head of Marketing and PR for Teradata Pakistan. Maliha has been an active mentor and has served as President of Islamabad Toastmasters Club.

• Mrs. Firoza Zaidi

  Mrs. Firoza Zaidi

  An entrepreneur for 25 years and an educationist at heart, she is the founder of EMS - Elementary Montessori System, one of the most respected educational institutions of Islamabad.

• Muniba Mazari

  Muniba Mazari

  Muniba is an artist and a writer. More importantly, she is a symbol of resilience and turning her adversity into an opportunity. Met with a life threatening accident that left her paralyzed, Muniba used her exceptional artistic skills to pursue her goals and become an inspiration for so many. She will be narrating the story of Dhere Bolo which is a storytelling project that believes in the extraordinary power of our ordinary Pakistani stories.

• Pernian Faheem

  Pernian Faheem

  Originally from Islamabad, Pernian is now based out of Boston. She is the Retail Lead in NTT DATA Digital and also runs her own e-commerce company that provides custom tailor made professional suiting for working women.

• Sadaf Tausif

  Sadaf Tausif

  Sadaf was a runner up in Spelling Bee 2014 contest and a writer of stories. One of her books recently got published in the US.

• Syed Muzamil Hasan Zaidi

  Syed Muzamil Hasan Zaidi

  With his inspiring videos that went viral to millions, Muzamil has become a celebrity in Islamabad. Muzamil will share his story of Lolz Studios whose videos with an over-aching aspect of doing good has inspired and reached millions. He is now the face for many popular brands and become an icon for young Islamabad entrepreneurs.

• Taimur Rehman

  Taimur Rehman

  Taimur Rehman is an IT entrepreneur, a Web Consultant with UNICEF and also a Student Mentor with Middlesex University, Dubai. Sheer passion, makes him revive the lost art-form of Urdu narrations and he has performed at Literature Festivals in Pakistan, UK and TEDx.

• Veqarul Islam

  Veqarul Islam

  Veqar is one of the pioneers of IT industry in Pakistan and very well respected one. He will talk about different ventures that he has been part of with a detailed personal note on how NCR’s TeraData was built in Pakistan.

• Zeenat Khan

  Zeenat Khan

  If you have lived in Islamabad at anytime during the last 25 years, you will definitely have a few memories of waiting for a table at Pappasallis with your family. Ayesha is the iron lady behind this sumptuous icon of Islamabad.

• Zeeshan Shafquat

  Zeeshan Shafquat

  Zeeshan is a multi-dimensional and hyper dynamic person known as a Blogger, Restaurateur, Social Media Strategist and Speaker at tech events. He owns Café Rooftop which is a magnet for people who love food in style.