Shahid Hosain Kazi is a banking industry veteran. He has 22 years of banking experience in different institutions, departments, territories & jurisdictions and in various capacities, including in Leadership roles. Shahid’s experience covers key banking functions such as Corporate & Retail Banking, Strategic Planning, Risk Management & International Business.

Shahid started his banking career with Emirates Bank in 1994. Over the years, he held senior positions at Bank Alfalah and Habib Metropolitan Bank (subsidiary of Habib AG Zurich). Most recently, he served for 4 years as “Group Head – Corporate & Transaction Banking” at Habib Metropolitan Bank.

He holds an MBA in Banking & Finance from Institute of Business Administration (IBA) – Karachi.

Manzoor joined FINCA Microfinance Bank as Assistant Manager Legal and Corporate Affairs in 2009. He is a graduate of Law, and Masters in Political Science from University of the Punjab. Manzoor has 15 years of practical experience in representing a diversified clientele and pleading a variety of civil, criminal and corporate cases. He has expertise in both financial and non-financial industry sectors. His tenure at the Bank witnessed and successfully processed a major equity injection from a US Based Microfinance organization, FINCA Impact Finance. An avid Corporate Secretary and a gifted lawyer, Manzoor rendered valuable legal advice on critical projects of the Bank. He is currently a member of the Management Board, Disciplinary Action Committee and Sexual Harassment Committee of the Bank. He also provides managerial, corporate governance and legal advice on the highest decision making echelon of the Bank

Nuvin Jatala is the Head of IT. She joined in November 2007 and led the setup and implementation of the bank’s information and communication infrastructure as well as the core banking system. She was also responsible for assembling the IT team and developing the requisite policy/procedures. In addition to managing the IT operations, she is also overseeing the implementation of technology-based channels for the bank, which involve deployment and maintenance of ATM’s at all branches, and other such initiatives.

Prior to joining FINCA, she was working with City Schools Private Limited from 2004-2007. Her initial work experience comprises of software project management and re-engineering at two software service providers. Her total career span is now more than 13 years. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Systems from N.E.D University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi and Masters in Computer Science from SZABIST, Karachi.

Mr. Qaisar brings over a decade of experience working in the microfinance industry. He started his career at the grass root level, successfully performed different roles like credit officer, branch manager, area manager, regional manager and finally attained the position of head of business banking at FINCA.

Mr. Qaisar possesses multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural and multi-institutional knowledge of working closely with rural/urban segment of the society; grip on individual and group based lending model, knowledge of social sector, implementing efficiency measures, in-depth understanding of effective communication and ability to travel extensively in operational areas.

Mr. Qaisar has a degree in Master of Arts in Sociology and also has a Post Graduate Diploma in Development Support Communication from University of the Punjab Lahore.

Saqib Ahmed Khan has over 30 years of vast exposure to liability, corporate finance, Islamic and investment banking. He has also worked in multi-disciplined business functions having a track record of successfully developing individuals and teams; and demonstrated expertise in implementing the strategies for long, short and mid-term successes.

He started his career from Bankers Equity Limited (BEL) as Manager Projects. He worked with National Development Leasing Corporation (NDLC) as Head of Corporate Finance and afterwards, he joined Islamic Investment Bank Ltd as Vice President. He also served with Escorts Investment Bank as Senior Vice President. His last assignment was with Bank Alfalah as Head Liability & Cross Sell where he worked for 12 years. Saqib graduated in Business Administration from Western Illinois University before going on to do his MBA from the Loyola University, New Orleans, USA.

Q&A
Who or what inspired you to choose your life’s path?
During my college days in the late seventies, I was impressed by bankers working for foreign banks in Pakistan and abroad; like in Chase Manhattan, Citibank, Bank of America, Grindlays, Mashreq, Emirates, HSBC , BCCI etc. They were mostly MBAs from USA as there were not too many good MBA schools in Pakistan at that time except IBA, Karachi. As such, I proceeded to USA in 1981 to do my BBA and subsequently MBA to become a banker upon my return to Pakistan.

If you could spend the day with one person from history, who would it be and why?
I would like to spend one day with Mr. Nelson Mandela. He has inspired me because of his long and peaceful struggle against apartheid. He was kept in jail for 28 long years on Roberts island off the coast of Cape Town in South Africa by the white supremacists government but he did not budge. He wanted equal rights and opportunities for all South Africans be they white, black or of Asian origin. After becoming President of the country he did not take punitive actions against the previous white dominated government officials and advised the South African people to move forward.

If you were given the ability to change one thing in the world, what would you choose and why?
The foremost thing I would change in this world is to ensure speedy and swift justice to all without any regard to caste, color, creed, social status and religious beliefs. I feel that without justice the society would crumble in the long run and one would witness a bloody revolution like the French and Russian revolutions. Hazrat Ali said 1400 years ago and I quote, “A Society can live with Kufr but cannot survive on injustice and cruelty.”

Aqib Irshad is a seasoned HR Professional with 16 years national and international experience in private, public and banking sectors. He started his career in 1995, from ABN AMRO BANK (previously known as Prime Commercial Bank Limited) and subsequently served as Senior HR Business Partner at Royal Bank of Scotland. After his move to Canada, he served as HR Consultant at AEgis Technologies, Markham followed by Work force Analyst, Strategic HR Unit at Ontario Public Services-Ministry of Attorney General, Toronto. His last position was HR & SAP (HCM) Consultant, Toronto.

Syed Haris Ali is a seasoned banker. He has more than 13 years of experience within Risk Management across multiple credit domains e.g. Retail Lending and SME, Commercial Banking, Leasing and Modaraba. His area of expertise includes Credit Risk, Operational Risk, Portfolio Management, Credit Policy, Risk Analytics, Collections & Recoveries, Special Asset Management, Portfolio Due-diligence, Internal Audits and Credit Operations etc.

He started his banking career with Standard Chartered Bank in 2005 and over the years held senior positions within the Risk function. Most recently, he served as “Head of Credit & Risk Management, for Standard Chartered Leasing and Modaraba”. There, he successfully established Risk functions of both the subsidiaries on global Risk framework.

Haris is the Harvard University’s EMSEL fellow where he earned ‘Emerging Leaders Certification’ in ‘Leadership & Management’. He is also the ‘Omega CSA’ holder from Omega Performance, USA; a Global certification in Retail & Commercial Credit. Haris also holds an MS degree in Information Systems from University of Karachi.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Steve Jobs

Omer Farooq is a Chartered Accountant with 10 years of experience working within and outside Pakistan. He has extensive experience of designing systems of internal control, business process re-engineering and process automation. Omer’s career highlights include heading the largest financial systems transformation project in telecom sector in the region. His experience includes Project Management, compliance with IFRS’s, corporate laws and process streamlining using technology based solutions.

Omer started his career with A.F.Ferguson & Co (member firm of PWC) where he worked for various sectors including banking, textile, cement and FMCG. In his current role as Head of Audit, he looks after management and branch audits, IT audits and Anti-Fraud Management Unit.

Q&A
What activities enrich your life?
One of the best ways to enrich one’s life is to take up a hobby. Whether you’re good at it or not, just find something you enjoy and stick to it. For me, it is photography. Photography helps me challenge myself to become better at it, increases my sense of commitment and enriches my life.

If you could spend the day with one person from history, who would it be and why?
If I had that choice, I would spend the day with the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kamal. From a military strategist to a political and social reformist, Ataturk had done it all. His program of political, economic and cultural reforms lead to what ultimately became a modern, progressive and secular Turkey.

What do you like to do for fun?
Depends on my mood. My formula for stress relief is a daily dose of gym, however weekends would involve hanging out with friends, dining out or simply laying back watching a good movie with family.

“Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. Give a woman micro-credit, she, her husband, her children and her extended family will eat for a lifetime.”

Bono