Who we are

A Barrister and transactional lawyer as a profession, Ms. Gillani brings with herself varied experience working for a not for profit company and being a consultant at a corporate/commercial law firm. With a degree in BA Economics and Politics, from University of London, Ms. Gillani did her CPE/ Post Graduate Diploma in Law from BPP Law School London, UK and completed her Bar Vocational Course, Lincolns Inn from Inns Court School of Law London, UK. She has worked for leading organizations including Acumen Fund, and Mandviwalla Law Firm. 

Apart from being involved in the mergers and acquisitions, her Expertise ranges from; corporate governance, private equity, financial services, not for profits, start-ups to general contract work. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Advans Pakistan.

Aeyesha Gulzar is a strategy development practitioner, with over seventeen years of progressive leadership experience focusing on strategic planning, Economic Growth, Value Chain Development, Private sector engagement, Enterprise Development and has contributed to policy formulation in Pakistan and abroad. Ms Gulzar has worked and consulted for Multilaterals, development organizations, governments and global Fortune 500 companies in the US and Europe. She has conceived and initiated advocacy forums and think tanks for policy development, conducted evidence based research projects and facilitated and trained local and international teams, fostered innovative financing models to blend public, development and private capital for scalable business, economic and social outcomes.

Her expertise includes Global Alliance creation, organizational capacity development, Agribusiness, Enterprise and value chain development. Ms. Gulzar has majored in MIS (with honors) from the University of Connecticut and has read Strategic Leadership at Yale University, USA; she has also been trained in Leadership at Harvard Business School and Social Entrepreneurship from Oxford University, UK. She has also worked in the US, UK, EU, Africa, UAE, India, Iran and Pakistan on agribusiness partnerships, enterprise development and value creation strategies.

Kaleem brings two decades of diversified financial management and budgeting experience. His expertise lies in navigating financial growth through extensive financial planning and cost cutting initiatives. He served as the Chief Financial Officer of Halan Wallet Pvt. Ltd. and Head of Planning and Budgeting of Khushhali Microfinance Bank.

Kaleem is a strategic business partner to C-suite, advising them on the impacts of potential decisions. He held various managerial positions in the past, and provided leadership and strategic direction in the finance and accounts function through financial strategy, business planning & budgeting, financial and management accounting, tax planning, defining financial policies and implementing controls.

Samiha brings with her over 18 years of cross functional experience in leading Digital Transformations, OD, HR, Marketing & Communications & while creating cohesive and high performing teams. She holds a Masters’ Degree in Public Administration, and is a Certified Trainer and a Certified Board Director.

Her unique expertise of Green Field Operations and Digital Banking makes her amongst the very few experienced individuals in the country. She has a proven performance history of architecting multifaceted end to end HR transformational activities & roll outs leading to effective cultural change & enhanced company performance. This also includes managing the design, communication & execution desired for the successful implementation of multiple projects/initiatives. She also champions in creating seamless People Experience & a positive employer image for attracting & retaining high performance talent.

As Head Branch Banking, Farid manages the network of branches encompassing their operations, commercial and lending business of the bank. He is a seasoned microfinance profession who brings with him over 13 years of multi-market experience in the microfinance industry.His career spans over working in various capacities starting from Relationship Manager and growing into Branch Manager, Area Manager, and Regional Business Head in microfinance industry.

He worked his way up in different roles with Mobilink Microfinance Bank including Head Marketing & Product Development; last being Head Channel Development & Partnerships. In his stint as Head of Channel Development & Partnership he spearheaded the implementation of digital and hybrid channel usage for lending businesses.

Junaid  is an experienced IT professional; he has done MS Computer Science from Muhammad Ali Jinnah University and has more than 17 years of experience as an IT professional. His career is composed of varied spectrum of roles. He served in reputable organizations namely Telenor Micro Finance Bank, CubeXS Weatherly (PVT) Ltd, Cyber internet Services Pakistan and as Head of IT Infrastructure in Summit Bank Ltd.

Working across varied functions and having spent considerable time in branchless banking, Allied Systems and Digital banking – he is hands on with the Implementation of new applications and Business Management projects.

Zubair is currently heading the Risk function at Advans Pakistan. He is a seasoned audit professional with over 10 years local and international experience is accounts/finance, taxation and audit.He is a member of ACCA UK. He has worked with leading companies including Ernst & Young in the Assurance and Advisory business services division, and Alwardi Group in Kingdom of Bahrain leading the internal audit department.

He is a member of ACCA UK. He has worked with leading companies including Ernst & Young in the Assurance and Advisory business services division, and Alwardi Group in Kingdom of Bahrain leading the internal audit department.