FAHD K. CHINOY

President, PSTD | CEO, Pakistan Cables

Fahd Kamal Chinoy is an MBA from INSEAD (France) and has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania, USA. Prior to becoming CEO, he headed various departments including Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain and Informational Technology at Pakistan Cables Limited.

Fahd Kamal Chinoy has previously served in the banking industry, having worked with TD Securities in New York and Toronto as an Associate in various departments including Loan Syndications and Corporate Banking. He is currently also a Director of Atlas Battery Limited, Focus Humanitarian Assistance Pakistan and the Amir Sultan Chinoy Foundation. He also serves on the Board of Advisors of NOWPDP and is a certified director from the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance.

SHAGUFTA HASSAN

VP, Finance & CFO, AKU

Ms. Shagufta Hassan has over 35 year’s of experience in leadership and senior management positions in both the public and private sectors. She is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan and has completed the Advanced Management Program at the University of Navarra in Spain. Ms. Hasan is currently serving as the Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Aga Khan University (AKU).

In this capacity, Ms. Hassan oversees all financial affairs of the University and its healthcare system
across six countries. Prior to her work at AKU, Ms. Hassan worked with A.F. Ferguson (Price water house Coopers) and The Institute of Business Administration. Under the leadership of Ms. Hassan, AKUH Clinical Laboratories became the first in Pakistan to be accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP), a global gold standard in lab testing.

Ms. Hassan has been recognised nationally and internationally with numerous awards: Lifetime Achievement Award, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (2021); Pioneering Woman Leader Award, World Women Leadership Congress (2020); 100 Most Impactful Healthcare Leaders Award, World Health and Wellness Congress (2019); Women Leadership Excellence citation, presented by the World Women Leadership Congress & Awards (2019); Top 100 Best Performing CEOs, CEO Club Pakistan (2017);

CARPET OF SHARDS

Is there a glass ceiling for women? The fact that this question is being asked in the year 2023 is evidence not only of the ongoing pervasiveness of the divide between genders, but also the self-perpetuating nature of the artificial barriers that have plagued the “lesser sex” not only since they began to venture into the traditionally male-dominated work environments but essentially since birth..

On this International Women’s Day, we congratulate those women who have made significant strides in breaking through the glass ceiling, as leaders and visionaries, paving the way forward for the coming generation. However, it must be acknowledged that not only is this alone not enough to completely shatter the glass ceiling of women as a whole, who routinely bump their heads against this barrier, but even when it looks positive on the outside, the aftermath of the same is the carpet of shards created by those fractures and fissures thus far, on which women now walk. Let’s hear it from Shagufta Hassan herself, how she has paved a path for herself, and inspiring women around her to do the same.

AYESHA AFZAL

General Manager HR, PSO Ltd.

Ayesha Afzal has over 02 decades of corporate experience including leading the functions of planning, budgeting & procurement, corporate governance, organizational development and Human Resource Management. Her recent experiences included reforms institutionalization, HR policies, talent mapping, employee welfare & wellness, talent mapping & career planning. She introduced women networking sessions to encourage equity. She has been actively participating in employee development programs including assessments. Her strategic experiences included long term plans & organizational strategy, structuring, performance & potential management. She is skilled in strategy, management, organizational development, reforms and progression. She is a recipient of Women Excellence Award 2007, beyond the call of duty certificates and had been the liaison delegate for the Business Council of Sustainable Development.

NAVEEN BALKHI

SSGB, ProSci, Insights; CHRO & Director, Global Talent, BSG

A global leader, based in Pakistan, Canada, & the UAE, Naveen partners with Boards & leaders, to transform business & people practices. Educated at a top US university, her leadership spans Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Banking, Manufacturing at global giants such as Engro, Exxon/Agrium, J.P.Morgan on Wall Street, Indus Hospital, local family businesses and sovereign wealth investment funds. Naveen has lived & worked in 6 countries, advised in 23 countries, & is an intl speaker, master-trainer & thought-leader.

She gives back by creating meaningful global connections; and mentoring emerging leaders.

SAIRA A. KHAN

HR Consultant; Coach and Change Agent

Saira A. Khan is an HR Consultant enabling clients to grow their business via developing and delivering HR solutions customized to the challenges they face. Whether in start-up phase or at maturity stage, Saira is skilled in reigniting your growth path, with solutions that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound, as well as add value to the bottom line and look to reduce business risks and build sustainability.

As a consultant the solutions provided are simple and practical, yet fully focused on bringing to life the Business Strategy while aligned to the ever changing business and environmental dynamics. Founded on a 20+ years career in business leadership and strengthened with an MBA, backed with Corporate Governance, Change Management and Hogan Coaching Certifications, in a variety of industries ranging from FMCG, Oil & Gas, Consultancy and Banking, in both local and blue chip multinationals.

ZAINAB KHAN

CEO & Lead Consultant, SeidoHR

Zainab Khan has been associated with HR for 25 years. Having been in varied leadership roles, she brings this practical experience into her current consulting work. Her expertise includes both human and organizational development.

She uses customized approaches for human development including talent and personality assessments (including Hogan® and Lumina®), executive coaching, and leadership development programs. The leadership programs that she designs and facilitates focus on aligning the inner game to allow participants to creatively overcome obstacles, while creating lasting communities to support them in their journeys. Being keenly focused on Women’s development, she is a Diversity and Inclusion facilitator, has founded and facilitated lean-in circles, is the Lead Facilitator for the Resilient Womens’ Collective and is a certified #iamremakable Google facilitator.

RUBINA JAMAL

CEO, Insolito Associates

Rubina Jamal, CEO of Insolito Associates, is known for her sense of adventure and leads outbreaks with highly challenging activities pushing participants to their limit. She believes teams come together as a community when they have experienced a variety of emotions and had the opportunity to introspect and share authentically with each other. She has led treks to the Nanga Parbat, Rakaposhi, K2 and most recently Everest base camps.

Rubina was awarded the prestigious Fatima Jinnah Award on August 14, 2021, for her contribution to the field of Women Empowerment. Her passion is working with organizations on the law covering Sexual Harassment, Women in Leadership Positions, Gender Sensitivity as well as Diversity and Inclusion. Rubina is a Management Consultant with a Masters’ degree in Psychology and an M.Sc. in Industrial Psychology from the States.

AMRA MUBASHIR

GM HR, Tapal Pvt. Ltd.

Amra is currently working as General Manager HR at Tapal Pvt Ltd. Previously, she has also enjoyed senior positions at PepsiCo, U Microfinance Bank, and British American Tobacco. Amra has experience in leading multi-cultural teams in the Asia Pacific on talent management, employee engagement, and DE&I. She is specialized in developing robust strategic D&I frameworks as per business needs for targeted interventions on diversity hiring, talent acquisition, diversity metrics, women development, and engagement resulting in increased female representation and high engagement levels.

ANAM FATIMA KHAN

Group General Counsel, HOH

Ms. Khan is a legal professional and certified board director, currently serving as Group General Counsel for House of Habib. She serves as director and HR Committee member on the Board of Dynea Pakistan Ltd. She is a PICG faculty member, conducting trainings for directors and executives on corporate governance, company secretarial compliance and ethics.

Ms. Khan is passionate advocate for legislative change and increased opportunities for women in Pakistan, and she is actively involved with Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI’s) Diversity & Inclusion Committee which is dedicated to promoting greater gender diversity and inclusion of women in the workplace.

FARIHA SALAHUDDIN

Founder, Farihas

Fariha is a highly compassionate transformation coach and personal branding expert with over two decades of global HR career in executive roles with fortune 100 companies such as GSK, Citi, Unilever, ABN AMRO, and Pepsico, spanning three continents.

With her journey starting as a customer service representative in a bank and rising to the role of Senior VP with one of the largest global food and beverage companies, Fariha has gained invaluable experience in leadership, personal brand, and courage. Her 120-day transformation coaching program is designed to shift clients’ energy and build a credible personal brand inspiring them to make meaningful changes and live the life of their dreams.

Based in Dubai, Fariha brings a unique, multicultural perspective to clients across the globe. She is a certied Professional Coach from iPEC (globally ranked #1 in life coaching), a Master Practitioner of Reiki, and a Certied Image Consultant.

She has a Master’s in Family Relations and Child Development from Pakistan and a Master’s in Human Resource Development from the US.

ALI SHIRAZI

CEO, Atlas Battery Ltd.

Mr. Ali H. Shirazi graduated with a BA from Yale University, USA in 2000 and thereafter completed his Masters in Law from Bristol University, UK in 2005. During this period he worked for the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in New York as well as American Honda in Torrance, California. He is Atlas Group Director Financial Service and President / Chief Executive of Atlas Battery Limited.

He serves on the Board of Atlas Asset Management Limited, Shirazi Investments (Pvt.) Limited, Cherat Packaging Limited, Pakistan Cables Limited, National Foods Limited and Pakistan Society for Training and Development. Previously he has also served on the Board of National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL).

SAMAR HAYAT

CEO, Tapal Tea Pvt. Ltd.

Samar Hayat is the Chief Executive Officer of Tapal Tea (Pvt.) Ltd. and is leading Pakistan’s largest Tea company for consecutive years of extraordinary growth despite Pakistan’s tough macro environment. Prior to joining Tapal, Mr. Samar has spent 20 years with Procter & Gamble based in Saudi, Switzerland & Dubai leading giant global brands such as Pampers, Gillette, Head & Shoulders & Pantene for the Middle East, Africa, India, Pakistan region.

FURQAN AHMED SYED

CEO, PepsiCo Pakistan & Afghanistan Business Unit

Furqan Ahmed Syed is the CEO of PepsiCo Pakistan and Afghanistan Business Unit. Pakistan is one of PepsiCo’s top ten markets with a retail sales turnover of approximately $1.7 Bn, including both the franchise-owned bottling operations and company-owned snacks operations. PepsiCo is one of the largest FMCG companies in Pakistan and a market leader in Foods and Beverages. Syed has over 20 years of experience in the Food and Beverage industry. He joined PepsiCo in 2000, and has since served in a variety of leadership roles. Prior to becoming Head of the Pakistan and Afghanistan markets, Mr.Syed served as the President of Pepsi Cola Philippines and also served as the Head of PepsiCo Foods Pakistan. He has been the recipient of several awards including The CEO Excellence award from the IABC and the Salt and Light Leadership Award for his stewardship of Performance with Purpose initiatives. Mr. Syed is one of the founding members of the Male Champions of Change Pakistan and is a big proponent of gender equality and empowerment. Mr. Syed holds an MBA degree from the Lahore University of Management Sciences, where he is now a Member of the Board of Trustees.

OMER AHMED

CEO, Artistic Milliners

Omer Ahmed is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Artistic Milliners. He is also the Director at Artistic Energy. Omer co-founded Star Fades International – SFI, a retail apparel and fashion company based in California, whose mission is to pioneer the future of the denim supply chain with a focus on tech, sustainability, transparency. Prior to his CEO position at Artistic Milliners, he held a number of different senior management positions in sales and marketing, research and development and global strategy. He led his company to “Best in Class Mill Award” from Levi Strauss & Co. in 2018 and “Most Innovative Mill Award” by Gap Inc. in 2016 and developed the world’s first gold certified Cradle to Cradle denim fabric in collaboration with G-Star Raw.

SAMI WAHID

MD, Mondelēz Pakistan

As a specialist in the snack and beverage industry, Sami provides over 17 years of expertise in the domains of Marketing, Sales and Strategy. His work comprises a holistic take on the strategic direction and commercial operations of the overall business. He has had a lengthy history with Mondelēz International, starting back in 2015. Sami’s extensive Mondelez career has spanned multiple markets including Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan (MENAP) regions where he has led critical assignments that helped generate a positive momentum and balanced growth for the organization.

DR. IMRAN YOUSUF

Psychologist, Master Instructor Clinical Hypnotherapy, USA. Licensed Master Trainer NLP, USA

Dr. Imran Yousuf is a Mental Health Psychologist and a Licensed Master Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, USA. He is currently the MD of Multinational, Jofa Group (Movenpick) and the developer of Abraq ® Healing System as well as Founder of TRANSFORMATION® International Society (TIS). Dr. Imran is a distinguished social campaigner and helps individuals by free consultation and therapeutic services, and seminars. In recognition of Dr. Imran’s outstanding performance in the field of public service and education, the President of Pakistan has conferred on him Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence). He is also the proud recipient of various National Awards from Netherlands, Philippines, Canada and USA. Furthermore Imran has also been serving as an Honorary Consul General for Philippines in Karachi, Pakistan since 2016.

VARDA ALTAF

Senior Area Sales Manager, Sheroes PepsiCo

Ms. Altaf has been part of PepsiCo for over three years. She is currently taking charge of Local Modern Trade business in Lahore. Ms. Altaf is responsible for a major restructuring in Modern Trade businesses, having paved the way for future fit digital distributions.

Ms. Altaf is a Diversity Equity & Inclusion champion in sales. She was previously associated with Nestle for three years within the Sales function.

PARI BADI-UL- JAMAL

Territory Sales Manager, Sheroes PepsiCo

Pari, who has been working with PepsiCo for almost two years as a Territory Sales Manager in Sialkot, has been a driving force in elevating the business to new heights. She played a key role in launching a distribution network that is exclusively run by women, while pursuing aggressive growth strategies for the region.

AYESHA MOIN

Deputy Manager Commercial, Engro Powergen Thar Limited

Ayesha Moin is an engineer, currently working as the Deputy Manager Commercial at Engro Powergen Thar Limited. Prior to this she was working at Lotte Chemical Pakistan Limited and Pakistan Refinery Limited. She has studied at the NED University of Engineering and Technology and completed her MBA from the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi. Ayesha had taken a break of 5 years due to family reasons. When she started actively applying for jobs she got no positive response from organizations due to the 5-year gap on her resume. Ayesha then enrolled into Engro’s Break Kay Baad program where she gained the much needed experience to get back on track and ultimately qualified for a permanent position at Engro Power Thar Limited as well. In this rising story, Ayesha Moin is here to talk about how she coped with the challenges of taking a break, and how she stayed resilient and thrived in the end.

MAHEEN AKRAM

Motorbike Mechanic

Maheen Akram is the first FA-pass female motorbike mechanic of Pakistan.Since early childhood, Maheen has always enjoyed riding motorbikes, but this interest soon developed into a necessity after her father died. She started doing pick-and-drop services for kids in her community but when her brother took away the family bike, she was forced to look elsewhere. Finally, she found Ustaad Nazeer and convinced him to teach her to become a bike mechanic. She is now able to fully support herself and her mother.

ZAIB-UN-NISA

Midwife; Founder, Bushra Maternity Home

Zaib-Un-Nisa is a licensed midwife who runs her own DHANAK clinic in Nasir Colony. She had always dreamt of becoming a midwife and catering to the health needs of her community. After getting married, her family faced financial difficulties due to which she decided to become a practicing midwife. She collaborated with DKT as part of their Dhanak Health Care Centre (DHCC) network to open a small, one-room clinic in Nasir Colony. She underwent a multitude of training sessions with DKT. Her dedication and hard work began to pay-off and she was able to expand her clinic from a single room to three rooms. Her clinic is now a thriving business, generating enough income for Zaib-Un-Nisa to support her family and send her children to good schools. She is now a successful businesswoman and healthcare provider, serving as an inspiration to many.

SHIREEN NAQVI

Senior Associate, Carnelian; Trainer and Consultant

Shireen works with management and non-management in the corporate sector; Bureaucrats and Parliamentarians in the Public sector; foreign delegates, expats of donor organizations and NGOs/CBOs in the Social Sector; Vice Chancellors, university/college faculty, heads of schools and teachers and with officers of the Pakistan Navy and Air Force.

She is a senior consultant at Carnelian; Founder and Advisor at School of Leadership; Trustee of the School of Leadership Foundation and Founder of Amwaj. She is on the Board of the Hashoo School of Hospitality and RLCC and on the advisory Board of Taskeen. She is closely associated with GDIB (Global Diversity and Inclusion Benchmarks) and with BGRS, training expats on cultural attunement.

SHABNAM MOHAMMAD

Director IFC World Bank, DIB, Special Advisor to Chairman Tell Group

Shabnam is a senior finance professional with 24+ years of banking, finance, Islamic finance, private equity, corporate advisory, and structuring experience in Europe, the GCC, the Far East, North Africa, and North America. A qualified Chartered Management Accountant with an Executive MBA and a Joint Honors Bachelor’s in Mathematics & Physics from UCL (a globally top 10 ranked university). Formerly CEO at Tell Group, a multinational private equity firm, and prior to that an investment banker at Deutsche Bank, she is currently co-founding a number of Apps, is a Nominee Director of IFC World Bank, a Director on the board of Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan, and is holding several other high profile advisory positions.

SARAH HASSAN

Senior HR Director, PepsiCo Pakistan

Meet Sarah Hassan – a professional with a passion for people and a track record of driving meaningful change. With over 15 years of cross-functional experience, Sarah has established herself as a respected leader in the industry and is currently leading the HR portfolio at PepsiCo Pakistan. Before PepsiCo, Sarah worked as Director People & Culture at Philip Morris International she led the transformation agenda across South Asia. Her experience of over 13 years at PMI includes key roles in finance, business planning, supply chain, distribution and procurement. Outside of work, Sarah is an avid baker, photographer and yoga enthusiast. She believes in the power of mindfulness and self-care and incorporates these practices into her daily routine.

XENAB F. ANSARI

Reformist, Speaker and Founder of Empower Yourself | Facilitator – PSTD

Xenab founded a Think Tank that focuses on developing training tools and spreading awareness about Mastery of Fear, Self Preservation and Dominance in 6 fundamental areas of a person’s life: Psychological, Verbal, Physical, Digital, Financial, and Legal.

Having worked primarily as an Entrepreneur throughout her career, Xenab has started up an export fashion brand (Xenab’s Atelier), joined as a junior partner to relaunch and establish a well-known fashion brand (House of Zunn), provided companies in Karachi and Lahore with training and wellness services (DXD) and founded a platform (Empower Yourself) which collects research and data on six common forms of abuse and manipulation, and aims to find solutions to help people manage situations where they are being fearful, manipulated, abused or in danger.