Ukasha Farooq

Kashif Naseem

Marketing Strategy Specialist

With over 20 years of experience Kashif is a strategic business planner with a strong base of marketing and communication planning. With a diverse experience of working on various business functions and a variety of products and services, he adds value to organizations that seeks efficiency and effectiveness in their business operations. With excellent skills in planning, management, research, development and implementation, he brings together marketing and financial management and simplify processes through simple applications of logical thinking and operations. Kashif holds a MBA in Marketing from IBA.

Wajeeha Amir

Analyst

Wajeeha Amir completed her undergraduate degree in Political Science from the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) with high distinction in 2021. Since then, she has been working as an associate at Adam Smith International, on the FCDO-funded Sustainable Energy & Economic Development programme, where she is supporting the establishment of Pakistan’s first behavioural insights unit, mainstreaming social inclusion within the programme, strengthening urban planning in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and striving to make Peshawar a more inclusive city, and lobbying for a clean air future.

Previously, she has worked on Pakistan’s Situational Analysis report for UNICEF, and as a research assistant at the Public Management and Political Science departments at LUMS. Her research interests include urban and social policy, with a special focus on women’s rights in KP, and her previous research work includes projects on property tax in Punjab, social protection in Pakistan, and the politics of Pashto cinema in Pakistan.

Ukasha Farooq

Senior Analyst

Ukasha specializes in Public Policy. He has an undergraduate education from Manchester Business School, UK, and a Master’s from Dartmouth College. His thesis focused on the relationship between Pakistan’s public institutions, specifically the civilian government, the army, non-profit institutions, and underground charities. He has since worked on non-profit consultancy with the Philanthropy Lab in Dallas, Texas, as a Communications Lead between the Pakistani government and non-profits in Lahore, Pakistan, and in educational consulting in Shanghai and Dubai.

Sahar Zafar

Strategic Communication Specialist

Sahar is a recognized leader for her extensive work with non-profits internationally. She has successfully managed strategy, communications, and campaign execution for several developmental projects across Asia, including conflict zones.
Having worked with national media in Pakistan, Sahar is also a passionate digital storyteller. She completed her Bachelor’s in TV & Film Studies in 2011 and has been working with the development, education and media sectors since then. The projects have required her to travel to some of Pakistan’s most remote areas as well as to Burma, Kabul, Jalalabad, and Laghman in Afghanistan.

In 2018, she got selected as an Atlas Corps fellow and served in California with a non-profit organization as a Digital and Creative Manager. She has also worked as a freelance photographer for different donors, extensively documenting stories of resilience, persistence, and true grit that emerge in the face of adversity. Sahar is passionate about progressive solutions and sustainability in the developing world.

Vardah Malik

Chief Executive Officer

Vardah has over 18 years of diverse professional experience in investment strategy, policy and development finance. She has worked across a wide range of public and private sector initiatives including investment climate reforms, public-private partnerships, investment and financial advisory, renewable energy and climate change and the development of related financial mechanisms. Special interests also include education, TVET and public investment management. She has spent a large part of her career working with multiple donors including World Bank and International Finance Corporation in senior positions as a finance and governance professional channelizing public and private investments for sustained economic growth in priority sectors on pro-poor reform programs across countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Eastern Caribbean, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, U.A.E., and Yemen. Vardah holds post graduate qualification in Financial Strategy from Said Business School, University of Oxford.

Qaiser Raza Sheikh

Advisor Entrepreneurship and Retail Management

Mr. Qaiser Raza Sheikh joined his 125 year old family distribution business (SMI Group) in 2006 after serving as Asst Vice President within the Citigroup Global Consumer Bank in UK, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. He is a graduate of London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) and an MBA from London Business School (LBS). During his tenure as MD of SMI, he has personally served as a Distribution Partner for PTC, Nimir Chemicals, Nestle, Metro C&C, Coca Cola, Nurpur (Fauji Foods), Tux Tissues, International Student Identity Card and Telenor in Pakistan.

He is also Adjunct faculty at the Lahore University of Management Sciences and lectures on Retail Management and serves on the board of several companies including a global Fintech (OPay), AA Pulp & Purée (one of the largest food processing plants) and 24Seven (an e-commerce start up in Pakistan).

Mehreen Mujtaba

Advisor Environmental Health

Dr. Mehreen is an expert in Environmental Health and Impacts of Climate Change on Health, with extensive experience spanning over a decade in providing advisory services to UN agencies, intergovernmental organizations, semi-government organizations, international and national NGOs, multi-lateral development banks and academia. Dr. Mujtaba remained part of Environmental Health department at Health Services Academy, Islamabad and was also affiliated with World Health Organization (EMRO region) as a consultant formulating environmental policy framework for Pakistan. Dr. Mujtaba’s areas of expertise include policy analysis and research primarily in the context of countries in the EMRO region. She has a Bachelors degree in Medicine and Surgery and completed her MPhil in Public Health from Quaid e Azam University, Pakistan.

Khizer Omer

Advisor DRM and Climate Finance

Khizer has over 25 years of work experience with public sector organizations and multi-lateral/bi-lateral funders including WB, UNDP, JICA, USEPA, CIDA, DFID, RNE, Kfw, and SDC, as well as civil society organizations AKDN, CDKN, IUCN, and private sector institutions NEC, ACE, AEVL in developing national and regional projects and programmes; funding and financing instruments development; and financial/environmental and social results impact monitoring. Khizer’s experience is focused in inter-related specialized fields of social development, climate impact management, alternate/ renewable energy, urban and rural planning, infrastructure planning and design, DRR, environmental management, and carbon finance. Khizer has extensive regional work experience in countries in North America, East Africa, Middle East, and South & South East Asia.

Khizer has a Bachelors in Urban and Regional Planning from UET Lahore, and Masters in Engineering from Carleton University.

Hussain Tawawalla

Advisor Monitoring and Evaluation

Mr. Hussain Tawawalla has a career spanning 38+ years of experience in the Development & Business sector working with the Government of Pakistan and Provincial Government departments of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh. He has significant experience working with various UN Agencies, International and National NGOs, and the industry sector, both in Pakistan and abroad. Mr. Tawawalla has expertise in the areas of Programming, Monitoring, Evaluation, Impact Assessment, Applied Research, Large-volume data & knowledge management, Project and Programme Management, Development strategy, Institutional and Organizational development.

He has participated in international research on virtual team management and is an expert Master Trainer across all levels of management and staff. He has the demonstrated ability to deploy teams in various countries, organize and deliver surveys, evaluations, and training on project management, covering topics such as Water, WASH, WATSAN, ECCD, and Child Protection in Indonesia, Jordan, Philippines, and Vietnam. Over the years, he has worked in, Netherlands, UAE, Jordan, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka.

Haider Ali Daud

Advisor Policy and Strategy

Haider Ali Daud Khan is a Chartered Accountant with over two decades of experience in consulting, management, governance, entrepreneurship, and leadership positions at national and international organizations and projects. His areas of work and expertise include both the public and private sectors. He brings with him extensive experience of public sector reforms and social sector development on one hand and helping business growth of commercial organizations on the other. Haider is a certified Director for listed companies and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Reporting certified. Being a serial entrepreneur himself, Haider has diverse experience in numerous industries, multi-sectoral stakeholder management, and demonstrated the ability to manage complex projects. His passion is changing the sports landscape of Pakistan.

Daniyal Mansur, FCCA

Director

Daniyal has extensive experience of over 15 years of financial evaluations, BPR and institutional assessments and organizational transformations. He has led teams that have been responsible for some of the largest organizational transformations in Pakistan. He has also successfully helped international investors establish operations in Pakistan as well has helping local businesses raise funding from both local and international investors. He has provided advisory services to multilateral such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank in areas such as Organizational Transformation and Digitization and Private Sector Development, to name a few. Daniyal has served in senior management roles in organizations such as Ernst & Young and Price Water Coopers in Pakistan for Advisory Services. He is a fellow member of the ACCA.

Masroor Ahmed

Senior Advisor Water and Municipal Services

Masroor Ahmad has over thirty years’ professional experience in water governance, municipal services and institutional reform and restructuring. At project level, Masroor has expertise in project design, planning, monitoring, analytical studies, implementation, and capacity building. Masroor has worked with World Bank, UNICEF, US Embassy as senior staff, for over 17 years as staff on senior management positions and with Swiss Development Corporation, Asian Development Bank, UNHCR, ADB, UNDP, WB and AFD -as consultant for over 14 years – as consultant.

He has extensive knowledge and understanding of public sector working, analytical, and strategic communications skills and has authored and contributed to various knowledge products as WB knowledge publications. Masroor has successfully introduced and integrated many innovative initiatives in sector and has working experience of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Somalia. Masroor Ahmad is a Civil Engineer with Maters degree in Water and Environment from UK.

Komal Shakeel

Executive Consultant

Komal Shakeel is an economist and a driven policy researcher with over eight years of experience. Komal has worked with key federal institutions in Pakistan including the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Planning, Development, and Reforms, Board of Investment, and CPEC Centre of Excellence, as well as provincial governments. Komal has worked with a hedge fund in the UK and assisted research projects focused on Sovereign Wealth Funds at Peking University, collaborating with ESADE (Spain). Her professional expertise within Pakistan is in the area of business regulation and regulatory reforms for entrepreneurship, investment, and economic policy. She has worked with key multilateral and bilateral development agencies such as World Bank, Asian Development Bank, JICA (Japanese International Corporation Agency), GIZ (German Cooperation Agency), and USAID. She has recently authored the first-ever Special Economic Zone Survey Report for Pakistan (2019). Komal has an academic background in Finance and Accounting as well as Social Policy, Development & Political Sciences from the London School of Economics. She has also been trained for advanced research in Quantitative Finance and Economics from Peking University, China.

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