Fellows

A development professional with more than ten years of experience of working with public and private sector stakeholders particularly in the domain of public-private partnerships, skills development, counseling & placements, technological sophistication, labour market survey, institutional capacity building, and knowledge management for socio-economic development. Currently, working with Louis Berger on USAID Punjab Youth Workforce Development Project as a Lead for Placements, Partnerships, and Institutional Capacity Building. Ansa is providing strategic, technical & policy support, and advice on formulation and execution of capacity development initiatives for empowering vulnerable and marginalized youth; strengthening partnerships with public and private sector stakeholders at all administrative government tiers with an aim of improving accessibility, equity, and relevance of youth development services for sustainable socio-economic development. Previously, worked with GiZ as PPP Advisor and facilitated the Government and public-sector institutions in bridging the disconnect with private sector for demand-driven workforce development. Prior to that, served at Technology Upgradation and Skill Development Company (TUSDEC), a subsidiary of the Ministry of Industries and Production, Government of Pakistan (GoP), for about eight years in multiple capacities, starting from a trainee metamorphosed into a Manager leading a team of four professionals. The sphere of responsibilities included orchestrating proposals and papers for the Government, multi-funding agencies, creating partnerships with bilateral/multilateral groups, corporate sector, and government bodies along with executing image building initiatives. Her educational pursuits involved an MPA from University of Punjab, Pakistan and a BBIT from Lahore College for Women University. The blend of classroom and on-job learning significantly inculcated leadership, cross-functional team work, effective communication skills, problem resolution, and resilience into her personality. She always has a balanced approach towards life, relishes her work as a development professional, and eager to mark herself as social entrepreneur contributing productively towards socio-economic melioration of local communities.

Host Organization: United Way Bay Area

Role of Host Organization: Ansa will enhance UWBA’s business partnerships work through research, data analysis and the creation of a strategic plan. She will work with the Equity Team to assess current activities of the business partnerships team as well as conduct research on best practices across the nation, including feasibility of expansion in the Bay Area and analyze our data.

Ehsan is a sustainability enthusiast with a masters in Sustainability (Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management) from the University of Nottingham, UK. He holds a Bachelors in Environmental Sciences from Pakistan and has completed an exchange semester at SUNY Plattsburgh USA with mention on the Dean’s list. Ehsan shoots for the stars and is constantly thinking about new methods to generate effective engagement opportunities for the 1.8 billion global youth, rethinking the global Agenda 2030 of ‘leaving no one behind’. He has served as a youth member on UNDP’s panel for development of National Human Development Report 2016 in Pakistan and has been involved in over six social development projects in Pakistan in different capacities during his work at NUR Foundation for 3 years. He currently works as Technical Services Manager at Punjab Public Health Agency, Pakistan. He is also the module convenor for developing minimum viable product course at Startup School, MIT Enterprise Forum, Pakistan. Ehsan has also co-founded a social enterprise called, the Green Box; it is a youth led global think tank aiming to contribute towards creating routine attitudes, values and actions for sustainable development. The world is committed to achieving 17 Sustainable Development Goals by the year 2030. Through Green Box, he wants to ensure that people acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including among others through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, global citizenship, and appreciation of culture’s contribution to sustainable development. He plans to do this all in a very unconventional manner.

Host Organization: International Youth Foundation

Role at Host Organization: Ehsan will work collaboratively with YouthActionNet team to support research and learning content development as well as the co-design of a new global initiative. He will gain a deeper understanding of the global social entrepreneurship, youth-led civil society, and youth advocacy sectors in addition to supporting a new global initiative focused on engaging the next generation of young people in demanding and delivering Sustainable Development Goals.

Born in a middle-class family in Karachi, Pakistan, Hira used to envy the life of bankers. The lavish branches chilled with ACs, shiny cars and home loans just for using computers all day. Wow! After completing the Intermediate, she got all excited to study chartered accountancy. Unfortunately, life had other plans and her family couldn’t arrange the fee. She got the talent farming scholarship, completed her business administration degree and won Gold. That’s where she found her Entrepreneurship gut. She was 18 when she started a business of organizing training on career-counseling. It failed and she entered into the corporate world (unwillingly). Writing has always been her passion, be it a personal diary, or an exam. The words flow as she takes out the pen. As her first internship, she stepped into the world of digital and started making social media strategies for them and her unique selling proposition was still her ‘words’. Tech industry embraced her talent like no other thing and she got recognized by many local and international companies because of her exceptional work. Fast forward to 5 years, she is currently a Tech Journalist writing for multiple top-tier tech publications including VentureBeat, TheNextWeb and Entrepreneur.com. She also heads blog and media for Coinschedule.com, a leading ICO listing the company in the UK. She is also the facilitator of Startup Weekend Karachi. In local sphere, Hira is famous has a tech evangelist and a public speaker involved in digital skills penetration and bringing inclusivity in the tech industry. She founded of a copywriting agency, Digital Doers and a closed community, Tech Geeks Pakistan where tech enthusiasts share their love for technology on one platform. She is also a certified Editor from IBA. Her website is www.hirasaeed.com

Host Organization: Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship

Role at Host Organization: Hira will work as a GSBI Women’s Economic Empowerment Fellow to implement new research, initiatives, and/or projects to help her host organizations advancement of women’s economic empowerment through GSBI programs and resources.

Muhammad has five years of experience mostly in education sector specifically Technical and Vocational education. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and a Master’s degree in Marketing from Lahore School of Economics and Bachelor’s of Law LLB from University of the Punjab. He has been appointed as a CEO of City and Guilds International in Pakistan. While working at C&G International as a Quality Assurance Manager he has successfully managed to implement the best quality and compliance practices, which has elevated the brand reputation of the organization in Pakistan, and a program of 3000 students, 15 Master trainers of Culinary Arts and Patisserie Qualification was agreed between the Technical Education & Vocational Training Authority Punjab for one year. Previously, he has worked with Information Technology University, Punjab as an Outreach and Linkages Associate and helped the technical team to develop an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system to find jobs for marginalized people and post jobs by the industries, it was backed by a research at the grass root level and a baseline survey. Also, during his job he has disbursed vouchers to Training Service Providers (TSPs) and apprentices for apprenticeship training to 1300 trainees over six months period. He has also worked at USAID Chemonics International at Procurement Department and developed robust procurement skills during 6 months period. During his work he has experienced following issues in the country; lack of skilled education, poverty, hunger, homelessness, women empowerment, youth development. Through his experiences, Abdullah has established a strong implementation and coordination skills, training and development, education management, marketing, business development, communication skills and outreach and creating linkages skills. He is passionate to work for skills development and encourage people to develop skills for themselves, businesses and eventually for the economy.

Host Organization: Bronxworks

Role at Host Organization: Muhammad will act as the CQI Coordinator and will be responsible for tracking and assuring that business transactions are properly supported and recorded for various regulatory requirements. He will will work with the CQI team to understand key performance indicators and program metrics, conduct internal program audits, and present metric reports at inter-agency and internal meetings.

Sihah is young tech entrepreneur from Pakistan, equipped with a strong command of business with a track record of proven success. She completed her graduation in Business Administration and IT Management in 2009. She was recently selected among top ten female entrepreneurs in Pakistan by “Be Your Own Boss” – online blog. She is first female graduate of Founder Institute Pakistan, also awarded as ‘Top Founder’ from Founder Institute Islamabad. She loves adventure sports, she was the president of the sports club and Chief Editor at her university. Her entrepreneurial journey began when she launched Solugix (www.solugix.com) in 2013, providing IT solutions to small and medium companies worldwide. Her first company is successfully running and funding her second startup Rise Mom (www.risemom.com). Rise Mom is established to empower working mothers, it assist working women by keeping them remotely connected with their children while they are at work. She have been participating in diverse panels as a panelist, at UNIDO, UNICEF, Higher Education Commission, U.S. Embassy, Startup Expo, National Incubation Center, Founder Institute etc, and have been the speaker to multiple local, and national events. She was selected among 5 delegates from Pakistan to represent her country in Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2018, in Hyderabad, India and her story was covered by Daccan Chronicle, most read newspaper in major states of India and siasat.com, BBC Urdu, and couple of other newspapers. Her name was mentioned by Govt of Pakistan in the video tribute to young female entrepreneur in Pakistan on women’s day 2018. More generally, Sihah aspires to promote female entrepreneurship in Pakistan and empower working mothers. She dreamed of building a company of her own from a young age and with its’ fulfillment she now aims to continue managing startups, mentoring founders and inspiring women to be independent and self-sufficient.

Host Organization: Enterprise Center

Role at Host Organization: Sihah will develop, design, and deliver cross-functional collaboration and partnership content for The Grit Life, an entrepreneurial focused internet radio station. She will assist in the execution of small business development communication strategies for internal and external outreach, working off of the organizations three pillars – business, capital and community.