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An ecosystem of support.

A curated group of founders, funders, and system-level operators bringing scale frameworks, patient capital, and the operational scars to make it real.

Faculty

Kevin Starr

Kevin Starr

CEO, Mulago Foundation

Their Story

Doctor-turned-funder who built Mulago Foundation into a catalyst for scalable solutions to poverty. Created frameworks that hundreds of social entrepreneurs use to design for massive scale. Early funder of Digital Green, One Acre Fund, Living Goods, and other billion-impact organisations.

Talk to them about

Your big questions about the design and strategy to get your solution to scale. Who's the doer? Who's the payer? The questions that separate thinking-at-scale from thinking-at-startup.

LinkedIn Mulago Foundation
Dr. Ahson Rabbani

Dr. Ahson Rabbani

CEO, ChildLife Foundation

Their Story

From multinational leadership (GE, ExxonMobil) to founding ChildLife Foundation. Manages pediatric emergency rooms across Pakistan’s public hospitals, reduced child mortality tenfold in facilities under ChildLife management, treats 2M+ children annually through telemedicine reaching 90% of Pakistan’s population.

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Building government partnerships that become permanent fixtures. Scaling emergency pediatric care across public hospitals. Proving impact with rigor—the data and methods to measure whether you’re actually reducing child mortality. Governance structures that ensure organisational integrity as you grow.

LinkedIn ChildLife Foundation
Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram

Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram

Co-Founder & CEO, Sehat Kahani

Their Story

Co-founder of Sehat Kahani. Solved the "Doctor Bride" problem by activating 8,000+ female doctors into meaningful work. Delivered 3.1M telemedicine consultations across rural Pakistan, serving 10M+ lives.

Talk to them about

Inclusive healthcare systems through telemedicine in culturally complex markets. Activating female doctors into meaningful work—solving barriers when culture and infrastructure both matter. Building trust and behaviour change. Government partnerships (PPP) as your scaling engine. The discipline of "cheap enough": how rigorous cost modeling separates scaling dreams from reality.

LinkedIn Sehat Kahani
Sarah Farooq

Sarah Farooq

Associate Director, Fellowship at Acumen

Their Story

Built and scaled 3 social enterprises addressing poverty. Scaled Amal Academy and served as COO at Taleemabad during explosive growth. Now leads Acumen’s global fellowship programme developing the next generation of founders.

Talk to them about

Scaling from startup founder to funder mindset. Franchise + partnership models that multiply impact without capital. Unit economics that prove your model works before the 100x push.

LinkedIn Acumen
Nadir Shams

Nadir Shams

Co-Founder, Friends of Pakistan Society and Fund

Their Story

Leadership experience from impact evaluation and learning systems at the MIT Poverty Action Lab / Innovations for Poverty Action to strategy at the Skoll Foundation. Co-founded Friends of Pakistan, an intermediary deploying patient capital to scalable Pakistani non-profits and social businesses, and building ecosystems for systems-level change.

Talk to them about

What diaspora and global capital actually fund and why. How narratives around Pakistan shape entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and investment flows. Ecosystem building and systems change — positioning your work for long-term structural impact.

LinkedIn Friends of Pakistan
Riaz Ahmed Kamlani

Riaz Ahmed Kamlani

Chief Operating Officer, The Citizens Foundation

Their Story

Scaled from Shell International operations to build Citizens Foundation into Pakistan’s largest community-based education organisation. Manages 2,800+ decentralized schools serving 400,000+ children, pioneered teacher training systems that improve learning outcomes in resource-constrained settings.

Talk to them about

Decentralized operations at massive scale. Building sustainable models in resource-constrained environments where communities own and manage the outcomes. Turning cost into competitive advantage.

LinkedIn The Citizens Foundation

Advisors

Dr. Asyia Kazmi

Dr. Asyia Kazmi

CEO, WISE (World Innovation Summit for Education)

Their Story

Over 30 years transforming education globally. At the Gates Foundation, improved literacy outcomes by 16% for 8 million children in Uttar Pradesh and established an EdTech and AI portfolio reaching 2.5 million learners. Led PwC's Girls' Education Challenge, a $1 billion fund supporting 1.5 million girls across 17 countries. OBE recipient for services to education. PhD in Education from UCL, Master's in Applied Mathematics from Imperial College.

Talk to them about

Education policy and innovation at scale. EdTech and AI integration that improves learning outcomes. Building government partnerships for systemic education reform. How to design and test interventions before scaling to millions. The evidence and rigor needed to prove what works.

LinkedIn WISE
Mubarik Imam

Mubarik Imam

Former Head of Growth, Analytics & Strategy, WhatsApp

Their Story

Pakistan-born, first 25 employees at WhatsApp. Built and led product, growth, integrity, analytics, and strategy teams scaling WhatsApp from 200M to 1.9B+ users over seven years. Founder of the Association for the Development of Pakistan. Granddaughter of the founder of LUMS. MIT (Electrical Engineering), Harvard Kennedy School (MPA/ID), Stanford GSB (MBA).

Talk to them about

Scaling globally without losing focus. Product discipline and strategic focus—how to say no to 99 good ideas to execute one great idea. Building platforms that reach billions. Pakistani diaspora networks and home-country connections. How founders think at billion-user scale.

LinkedIn
Aleem Walji

Aleem Walji

Founder & CEO, 5in5 Impact Alliance

Their Story

Former Chief Innovation Advisor at the World Bank Group, CEO of Aga Khan Foundation in Syria, and Head of Global Development Initiatives at Google.org. Leading 5in5 Impact Alliance to improve literacy and numeracy for 5 million children in 5 years. Focuses on identifying and scaling proven, cost-effective education solutions through government partnerships.

Talk to them about

Innovation in last-mile delivery and government scaling. How to identify and test solutions before taking them to scale. Working with governments as the primary customer for scaling education. Measuring cost-effectiveness and impact rigor. Surfacing and scaling innovations that actually move the needle on learning outcomes.

LinkedIn 5in5
Shikha Goyal

Shikha Goyal

CEO, Vitol Foundation

Their Story

Over 18 years working across development and private sectors. At CIFF (Children's Investment Fund Foundation), managed a portfolio of over $60 million improving literacy and numeracy for children in India and Sub-Saharan Africa. Invested in Educate Girls India (world's first education development impact bond), Tayari (serving 1,500+ schools in Kenya), and Early Learning Partnership with the World Bank. Venture Partner at Imaginable Futures leading strategy and investments across Africa. Kauffman Fellow and board member of Innovation Edge and SPARK Schools.

Talk to them about

Venture capital and impact investing in education. Building development impact bonds that align financial returns with social outcomes. Identifying and scaling education innovations across Africa. How to structure investments that blend commercial and development thinking. Board governance and scaling impact through venture models.

LinkedIn Vitol Foundation

Organisers

Haroon Yasin

Haroon Yasin

Founder & CEO, Taleemabad

Their Story

Dropped out at 18 to teach in Islamabad slums. Founded Taleemabad in 2015 to reach 10M+ children through multimodal ed-tech when traditional schooling couldn’t scale fast enough.

Talk to them about

From evening classes in the slums to millions of learners nationwide. Government partnerships that create defensible scale. Building the infrastructure of public education 2.0.

LinkedIn Taleemabad
Sabeena Abbasi

Sabeena Abbasi

Chief Sustainability & Impact Officer, Taleemabad

Their Story

Pioneered learning design systems at scale. Developed Pakistan’s first digital teacher training programme, created animated curriculum adding 1.5 years of learning gains. Empowered marginalised women through market access and skills training.

Talk to them about

Impact measurement that drives decisions. Inclusive learning design that doesn’t sacrifice quality. Building sustainable models through community learning networks, not top-down lectures.

LinkedIn Taleemabad
Abida Hassan

Abida Hassan

Sr. General Manager, Operations, ChildLife Foundation

Their Story

Led hospital operations across Pakistan’s most demanding healthcare settings. Manages operations scaling ChildLife’s pediatric emergency care across multiple provinces, implementing quality systems in public-sector hospitals with limited resources.

Talk to them about

Operational excellence under real constraints. Scaling across geographies while maintaining quality. Building resilient logistics and teams that sustain growth in the chaos of public-sector healthcare.

LinkedIn ChildLife Foundation
Muhammad Usman Javed

Muhammad Usman Javed

Head of Business Strategy & Fundraising, Taleemabad

Their Story

Leads strategic partnerships at Taleemabad, orchestrating ecosystem collaborations and exploring AI-powered content creation to scale teaching capacity across Pakistan.

Talk to them about

Strategic frameworks that founders actually use. Fundraising at scale (local + diaspora + international). Orchestrating partnerships that multiply your reach.

LinkedIn Taleemabad

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