Meet Our Ambassadors
Mrs. Nadia Bukhari | Pharmacist
Nadia Bukhari is a British Pakistani pharmacist from the University College London (UCL). She holds many post graduate diplomas; in Pharmacy Practice and in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Nadia also holds the prestige honor of being a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. She is the youngest female to be honored with this title, showing her commitment and excellence in the profession of pharmacy.
Nadia supports and strongly believes in the power of educating girls. As a British Pakistani she wants to support and promote the welfare of Pakistani girls across the globe. She says “Being an academic, I am intrinsically passionate about education. There are roughly 12 million girls in Pakistan with no access to education; this is a statistic which needs lowering and I am committed to helping drive initiatives of the charity forward in order to achieve this.”
Humza Mullick | Director of Academic Affairs and Quality Assurance
Humza Mullick currently works as a Director of Academic Affairs and Quality Assurance in a college in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. Humza has a passion for education and has been involved in the educational field for over 17 years where he has educated from primary to tertiary level. He has attained two Masters’ Degrees in Education and one in Practice Based Educational Research and is currently undertaking his Ph.D. at Leicester University.
His approach to education is an inclusive one as he believes it involves giving voice to staff and students ensuring their views are listened to. Humza realizes that education is more than just imparting knowledge; it should be both an experience and enjoyable journey for teachers and students. This has led him to be committed to the highest standards of professional practice in order to provide the best experience for students and teachers. Humza considers himself to be a knowledgeable, experienced, pragmatic and emotionally intelligent senior leader who promotes a culture of continuous improvement, inclusion, and excellence.
One of his main goals is to shift the paradigm within Education to afford students and teachers voice and inclusion. Humza has six children, of which four are girls, so he totally understands and appreciates the importance of education for girls.
Amber Aijaz
Amber Aijaz Bolani is currently working in the capacity of Operations Manager Camelot Management Consultants based in Dubai, UAE but her journey so far wasn’t without challenges. She learned from an early age that struggle is the meaning of life and constant hard work is the only way to achieve success.
Being a woman herself and the challenges she faced in terms of pursuing her education, developed in her a sense of empathy for other girls and a desire to help them achieve their dreams. As a child Amber’s mother worked hard to provide her with good education despite the objections placed by her father. She started her own start up , a tiffin service with the income of which she funded her daughters tuition fees. By the age of 17 and being the eldest among her siblings Amber took some of the responsibility herself and got associated in two jobs, working as a teacher in day time and in a call center at night.
Amber learned to see the difficulties, face challenges and criticism forefront. The baby steps she took to pave her own destiny made it easier for her younger siblings to follow into her footsteps. We at PAGE strongly feel that after going through these tough challenges in life herself Amber is better able to reflect with the vision of PAGE and will work hard to provide better education opportunities for our girls. We welcome her on board as our Pakistan Girls Education Ambassador and look forward in working with her.
Faisal Mustafa
Faisal Mustafa is a well-established, Pakistani American IT Entrepreneur based out of Chicago, IL. He moved to the US for Academics and after completing his degree from South Dakota State University in Computer Science, started working in reputed IT/Financial Sector Organizations. The drive to create and run a business with market leading IT Services lead him to start VIRE TECH LLC in 2007. Currently in its 12th successful year as a Full Stack IT Services Company, VIRE TECH LLC has been celebrated as one of the fastest growing companies in the US. It has also been included as one of the Top 250 companies by CRN Nex Gen 250.
With a positive attitude and great customer satisfaction ratings, Faisal Mustafa branched out and started VIRE TECH’s Software Development Office in Lahore, Pakistan in 2012. Now, with 40+ permanent employees and Projects ranging from Custom Software Development to Microsoft ERP & Office Product Deployments, VIRE TECH Lahore is growing rapidly. This growth spurt continued and VIRE TECH expanded its operations to The UK as well as Australia, with on-ground presence in Canada as well. As of today, VIRE TECH is actively operating, providing quality Software Development Services to various clients across 4 continents with aspirations to spread even more.
Faisal Mustafa’s had a vision to engage talented, brooding with confidence Pakistani youth and give them a stable, fiscally dependable platform to work and grow. As a result, VIRE TECH’s operations expanded and so did the team. Faisal is of the view that Pakistani Professionals have world-class skills that need to be harnessed in a careful yet positive manner. VIRE TECH is an equal opportunity employer and Faisal Mustafa strongly believes that women play an even more crucial role in organizational well-being and growth in this era. VIRE TECH and Faisal’s collective vision is to see Pakistan as a World-Leader in IT/Software Exports and aims to work tirelessly to achieve that goal. We at PAGE welcome him on board and are hopeful that together we will work to provide better education opportunities to our girls.
Mrs. Romina Khurshid | MNA
Romina Khurshid Alam is a passionate activist and politician. As a female christian her political career was one that was laden with the double burden of belonging to two marginalized social categories. Her dedication culminated in her election as an MNA despite the odds stacked against her.
Romina is currently a member of many organizations such as the Federal Think Tank of Climate Change, Nursing Council, National Institute of Health & Women Caucus. At the international level, she is serving as Convener of Philippines and Singapore, Coordinator of Netherlands, Sweden and France Friendship Groups and Ambassador of South Asian Physicians and Surgeons Academy. Along with this she has had the opportunity to attend many international conferences like AFPPD, Reconnecting Afghanistan and EU Meeting on Central Asia. Her achievements include successfully completing the National Security Workshop of 2015 and the National Media Workshop Group 5.
She has served as a General Secretary Youth Women Wing of PML-N as well as Chief Coordinator of the Prime Minister Youth Program; Laptop Scheme and Fee Reimbursement Program. She is also working as a Media Coordinator for Young Parliamentarians Forum (YPF) in the National Assembly.
Romina is passionate about a diverse set of issues including Climate Change, Minority Rights, Transgender Issues, Violence against Women, Early Child Marriages, Interfaith Harmony, Youth and the Kashmir issue. She has been one of the Chief Organizers of Summer Mela 2011, International Youth Day 2015 as well as Kashmir Black Day Seminar. Interestingly, she is also a qualified beautician and grooming specialist, skills that she has channeled productively towards positive social change. For instance, Romina became Honorary Ambassador of Bait-ul-Maal’s Women Vocational Training Centre on the basis of the “We” initiative that she set up. The initiative encompassed a house for clothing, saloon, and interior design and it has helped train and empower many under-privileged women. The start-up is a reflection of her dedication to women issues, her entrepreneurial spirit as well as the unlimited possibilities available to women who look beyond the horizon.
Mr. Wasim Ahmed | Entrepreneur
Wasim is a qualified pharmacist and have an entrepreneurial spirit that led him to find Ahmeys Ltd, Alemo Group and Luminescent Enterprise. The businesses specialize in Pharmacy, Technology, Executive Coaching and Real-Estate. Wasim now is focusing on helping create an environment for the world’s future entrepreneurs through investing and setting up incubation centers to support their growth.
Wasim has been interested in helping people understand their potential and lend them a hand in their journey towards success and growth. After recognizing this passion he further developed his skills to help people grow by utilizing skill sets that enable us to channel our own inherent abilities to succeed. He completed his diploma in coaching and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) in 2011 so he could further this goal of enabling people to grow and prosper. I now look forward to working with people in achieving their goals and visions of entrepreneurship and self-development.
Since then, he has helped many people get a clearer life vision and business vision that helped them steer their life as well as business in the right direction. Wasim is the patron and a trustee of the British Pakistan Foundation and works arduously to help it grow. He has a huge vision for Pakistan and aim to help 100 Pakistanis reach the million dollar mark.
Wasim strongly supports and advocates for better education for Pakistan. He believes that democracy gives everyone the right to have access to basic needs, be it, girls or boys. While food, water, and shelter are the basic human necessities and one can never emphasize their importance enough, education is another extremely substantial human need that is often ignored and not given as much importance as it deserves. A lack of education is one of the biggest reasons why the patriarchal culture keeps on growing in Pakistan and why people are deprived of their basic needs. People aren’t still aware of their rights and how they deserve to live a good life.
The future of Pakistan and of any country, as a matter of fact, does rely on its people, especially women because they play a monumental role in shaping its future generations. Considering this, it is only right to focus as much as possible on educating them.
Ms. Eshrat Nasar-Ahmed
PAGE is excited to welcome on board, Esharat Nasar-Ahmed, founder of GNA Academy, an organization centered on spiritual art. This creative powerhouse merged her love of religion and music to create different platforms to encourage the youth and children to discover paths and insights to becoming a new generation of Nasheed artists.
Esharat was born and raised in the United Kingdom, however, she moved to Pakistan in order to pursue an education in Islamic Knowledge & the History of Islam from DMG Bhera Sharif. Upon returning back to the UK, Esharat decided to spread her knowledge and passion for the spiritual arts and set up her organization- Ghausia Nasheed & Arts Academy. Esharat has also been involved in organizing a national Nasheed competition called the Sound of Souls and inaugurate the first Music of Muslim Origin Awards to showcase talent from the Muslim community and encourage the arts.
Ms. Nasar-Ahmed is highly passionate about bringing a positive change in Pakistan and supporting girl’s education to empower them and cultivate the next generation of strong mothers, educators and business women. She believes the greatest investment in a child’s future is education and we could not agree more!
Esharat holds positions as a TV and Radio Producer and Presenter, a charity fundraiser & entrepreneur, an international music activist, and a teacher specializing in Quranic and Islamic Studies. With so many accomplishments under her belt, we look forward to the progress we can make with Esharat in our fight to end illiteracy for our girls in Pakistan!
Mr. Qaiser Ali Khan | PhD Scholar
Mr. Qaiser Ali Khan is currently a PhD scholar at the Institute of Chemistry of New Materials at the University of Osnabruck, Germany. While he was enrolled in University of Kiel, Germany, he was awarded a scholarship twice, based on his outstanding achievements and social commitments.
Since 2010, he has been playing a proactive role by volunteering with different organizations to help young students coming from marginalized communities of Pakistan. His motivation towards improving education sector can be traced back to the poor educational opportunities in his hometown, Parachinar – a war prone city that suffered a huge loss. Parents lost their interest in sending their children particularly girls to schools and colleges. Majority of the schools were closed, but Qaiser was fortunate enough to find his way to school with the support of his parents and family. Financial constraints coupled with deteriorating law and order situation taught him to study and work hard. Mr. Khan graduated amongst the top five students in his Bachelors program. The Pakistan Engineering Congress (PEC) awarded him a monthly talent scholarship along with GIK Alumni Financial Assistance. After witnessing the education crises, he was worried and started teaching for free in two different schools of Parachinar. He started visiting other schools and colleges in the vicinity for counselling and guidance sessions to the students. It was due to his efforts that many of his students found their way to top universities both in Pakistan and abroad.
After Mr. Khan moved to Germany to pursue higher education, he started promoting gender equality because he was well aware of poor rights for women in his country due to the lack of female rights back home. He is currently a member of Lise Meitner Society (LMS) which aims to improve equal opportunities for women in the natural sciences both inside and outside of academia. Mr. Khan has recently started working with Fem4scholar – a mentoring program to support women in academia. The programme has evolved rapidly across three cities in Germany, and aims to start in Manchester, UK in March 2019, in Winneba, Ghana in April 2019 and in Pakistan by September 2019. Mr. Khan was also awarded the title of Global Goodwill Ambassador because of his humanitarian work.
Gender equality must be practiced and Mr. Khan is determined to make this happen. He is very passionate for girls’ right to education. He is playing an active role supporting girls’ education and with the help of Pakistan Alliance for Girls Education (PAGE), he is committed to work hard to improve girls’ education in Pakistan especially in his hometown (FATA).
Ms. Hina Aslam | CIPD Associate
Hina Aslam is a CIPD Associate member and Organizational Trainer; she works as a Capacity builder, coach and career counselor. Her qualifications include MSc. in Human Resource Management and Development. She has been able to achieve great success in her field as she currently heads an HR department and has also established HR departments from scratch. She is capable of developing, organizing and maintaining teams and departments on her own using her strengths as an organizational trainer and coach.
Ms. Aslam has worked with students and the youth by providing education and career counseling. She has been guiding students on their academic choices and has also worked up on career planning- specifically helping them develop their resumes, enhancing their skill sets and guiding students and youth towards various internship placements. Hina believes that every woman needs to be empowered and should have access to the information and guidance she needs in order to make healthy life choices- education, career and family life. She believes that by educating girls, we give them the tools that allow them to think out of the box, to go beyond the barriers blocking their futures.
She wants the girls of Pakistan to attain educational and skill-based qualifications, allowing them to contribute to this rapidly advancing and growing environment. Vocational trainings are essential to elevating the status of the youth, allowing them to move with the same current as the rest of the progressing world. Hina is determined to help girls in their education and careers for their healthier lives and a bright shining Pakistan held high by its women! PAGE is glad to have her on board!
Mr. Ayub | Accountant
Ayub is an Accountant by profession and has been running a successful accountancy practice in London for 10 years. Helping and mentoring start-ups through to becoming successful multi-million-pound turnover companies is his forte.
Social work is a huge part of Ayub’s life, having started speaking on behalf of the Edhi Foundation from the age of 6 and volunteering at various charities since then. Currently, he’s an advisor to the Omnibus Charity in London as well as a trustee of Goodwill Caravan, a charity that assists refugees.
Having seen his parents fund-raise for the now self-sufficient Al Khadeeja School in Karachi gave Ayub the motivation to join a charity like PAGE. Seeing the positive effects of education, especially for girls has been a real eye-opener and he’s really keen on assisting as best as possible.
We believe that his set of skills and experience will prove to be beneficial for girls in Pakistan and his passion to see the girls in Pakistan thrive, and lead successful, independent and empowered lives, will be of great benefit to a cause like PAGE. We are eager to work with Ayub and welcome him on board! We hope that together we can help make a real difference in shaping the future of Pakistan.
Mr. Naeem Azam | Chairman, Poverty Reduction Charity
In the last few years, his focus has been on Process Improvement and has undertaken an Improvement Consultant and Process Owner roles both of which relate to Process Improvement. He has leveraged his IT background and expertise in to add benefit and value to the projects he has been involved in.
Naeem is the Chairman of a poverty reduction charity which he set up in 2014. In 2015 Naeem spent two months as a Senior Volunteer in Islamabad, Pakistan with Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) advising them in the area of innovation and how to leverage technology to enhance their operations. Recently, Naeem was appointed to the Board of Advisors for a school operating in Lahore, Pakistan which provides education to underprivileged children.
Naeem is passionate about using his experience and knowledge to make a valuable, positive and impactful contribution for good causes and it was with this in mind that Naeem decided to take up the role of Ambassador with PAGE.
Ms. Sudaf Choudhry | Consultant
Suduf is absolutely delighted to be selected as an ambassador for PAGE as she feels extremely passionate about everyone to have a right to free education especially girls who are often responsible not just for their own education but that of future generations as women. She believes “Knowledge is most certainly power.”
Miss. Mereen Aziz | Corporate Services Executive
Mereen Aziz is a British Pakistani graduate from the King’s College London (KCL), where she has gained an honors degree in Biochemistry. She is currently working as Corporate Services Executive in the procurement industry. Mereen believes success in all nations starts within the classroom, and therefore is an advocate for access to education, especially where it is lacking, in the case of many young girls around the world.
Mereen supports and strives to be part of the larger movement of promoting access to education for girls in all countries around the world. “Having been able to be fortunate enough to go to university, I strongly believe this should not be a privilege, but a right for every human being” – Mereen
Mr. Kashif Bangash
Kashif Bangash, has been working with UN for the past 7 years in addition to having a Master’s degree in HRM and military experience of over 20 years. Kashif not only works with UN Emergency Operations in Pakistan and abroad, he also supports a cash stipend activity under School Feeding Program in FATA covering 140 schools and over 13,061 enrolled girls. His qualifications and achievements go even beyond that as he undertakes disaster management system and conflict resolution education. In addition to that, Mr. Bangash has remained a staff member of Global Emergency Roster.
Kashif Bangash has been involved primarily in social welfare and his services have consisted of such welfare projects throughout his career. His passion and devotion towards the development sector especially in terms of education and progress is evident from his achievements above and his fervor is of great importance to a cause like PAGE’s. The skills and drive that Kashif possesses will be of great benefit to the girls of Pakistan who are deprived of education. His passion to help girls get qualified and educated can become a pillar of PAGE’s high held foundations through which we can together inspire our girls to become independent young women of Pakistan who can lift not only themselves but this country as well with great pride and honor. We are enthusiastic to work with Kashif and welcome him on board!
Ms. Lobia Begum
Experienced Senior Manager specialising in Adult Education based in the heart of communities, I am a consistent professional who thrives on supporting individuals. I have managed adult education funded delivery for 14 years and work with clear actions to improve, plan and monitor progress and impact. I have successfully managed multiple sites across the UK exceeding compliance visit guidelines and maintaining the highest levels of service.
My greatest achievement is supporting philanthropy in community education, providing outreach learning to minority groups and to rehabilitation programmes. I strive to empower women and I am on a mission to create leaders and entrepreneurs and help them achieve their goals.
My leadership skills and knowledge in education has helped women build confidence and motivated them to build their own social Enterprises. I encourage women to believe in their abilities and skills.
My aims and objectives are to continue supporting individuals and remain humble in life and in the work I am delivering. For me, leadership is not about titles, positions or influences, it’s about making a difference.
Currently, engaged in local, national and international projects supporting education and empowerment. An inspirational leader, passionate about raising the standards and achievements of individuals. Actively support local community charities and voluntary organisations as board and committee member.
Currently employed in the SME sector at board level as Managing Director, Executive Director, and partner within a variety of successful projects.
Ms. Sabeen Bilal | Entrepreneur
Sabeen is an established entrepreneur. She set up Kreative Kids Krafts 5 years ago. Kreative Kids Kraft is an online Forum to share creative ideas with parents all across Pakistan to help them engage their children in productive activities. She provides counselling to women in Pakistan on creative ways to engage their children. She started a Mom and baby club at Tiny Tots Day Care in F-6. She is also Director Operations for Mohafiz which is Pakistan’s first one stop emergency application. Her entrepreneurial spirit is also visible through her new initiative Kreative Kinder Haus to provide inclusive activity and play based child development program.
Sabeen is an active volunteer who regularly develops various initiatives to support local children. She has a particular interest in supporting young children with disabilities. She conducts creative activities for special needs children from age 2 to 22 years. She is a co-founder of Go Green Initiative that provides employment to underprivileged women through her innovative social enterprise. The aim of her social enterprise is to eradicate the use of plastic bags and provide women with sustainable income generation. Sabeen is an inspiration and also a female role model on Aim High Initiative that raises aspirations of school girls of secondary age.
Her commitment to social change is inspiring. As our Ambassador for Girls Education in Pakistan, Sabeen feels the need to do more work for Girls with Special Needs. She says that because of her experience she understands the struggles parents of children with Special Needs go through. Girls are already marginalized in our society and those with special needs are completely neglected and locked away at home. Sabeen will be an advocate for these girls and fundraise for initiatives to provide activities and much needed the support network.
Mrs. Rehana Choudhry | British Solicitor
Rehana Choudhry is a successful British Pakistani Solicitor specializing in family and children law. She holds specialist accreditations honored by the Law Society and Resolution to assist families, children and those affected by domestic violence. She assists various organizations by volunteering in advice clinics and helping the most vulnerable of clients with their legal issues.
Rehana has her own law practice in the UK with offices around London. Her practice was included in the 2015 Fortuna 50 Index as one of the UK’s fastest growing female-led businesses and she was personally commended by then Prime Minister David Cameron.
She is often invited as a career role model to local schools and youth organizations to mentor young people about the benefits of education and how hard work and determination does pay off in the end.
Rehana believes all girls should have the opportunity to access education and have the chance to become successful professionals whatever their background. She says “Education is the key to empower girls with the skills and competencies required to stay healthy, to make important decisions, to secure better-paid work and to develop within society”.
Rehana’s vision is to promote girls education and gender equality around the world by overcoming the barriers that currently exist and relying on her own experience as a benchmark.
Mr. Amir Davis | Automation Engineer
Amir is working as Automation Engineer in Intel Corporation since 2004. Even though he is living in the USA, He is the pioneer of a unique educational program, called Amir Public school, in his village in Pakistan which has a mission to educate underprivileged children and is currently providing primary education to children aged between 3 to 15 years with a strong focus on girl’s education. Currently, 334 students are enrolled in the school as part of this program.
Alongside this Amir has been actively involved to fight against the cruel issue of child labor that persists in our society by giving maximum relief to underprivileged children and taking away the education-related financial burden from their parents. He has also successfully motivated the local residents of his area to avail the opportunity to educate their girls.
Amir’s devotion towards society’s welfare and his progressive efforts in this regard has earned him various awards. He has been recognized by Intel Corporation and was declared Intel Global Hero across more than 100K Intel employees worldwide. Amir and Malala Yousazai were declared winners for 2012 Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust Gold Medal and Azme Alishan Pakistan Award 2012. President of Ireland Michael D Higgins also awarded Amir with Ireland Involved Award.
Belonging to a remote locality himself and after personally witnessing the gender inequity when it comes to education in our society, Amir is passionate about educating Pakistani youth and we at PAGE gladly welcome him on board and hope that together we can work together towards a common goal.
Ms. Shanze Sumreen Faiz | Entrepreneur
CEO
Gallivant Solutions, Inc.
GSI business gifts
GSI Events
Shanze’ is an effective and progressive executive business leader with a broad knowledge base acquired in senior sales, marketing, management and business development capacities in both large and small business settings in USA & Pakistan. She has over 20 years of experience gained in retail, call center operations, information technology, telecom, services and media-oriented organizations. Entrepreneurial oriented with significant start-up, re-engineering and expansion. An International Life Coach, Business Coach and Corporate Trainer providing one to one Personal life coaching, business coaching and corporate training to thousands of people in USA, UK, Europe, Middle East, Far East and Southeast Asia with portfolio of diversified 90 plus training programs other than customized training ,workshops, boot camps in multinational’s, school chains, restaurant chains, FMCG’s, banks, airlines, hospitals, media houses, textile, retail and hotel chains to increase overall company’s productivity and profits.
A keynote speaker at numerous sessions in all major institutes around the globe including Pakistan for young professionals, youth, women and children development. Sharing Knowledge by doing different shows at various Radio Stations in NJ/NY and almost 2 years with FM 96 Karachi and FM100 Lahore in Pakistan, regularly appearing on TV Channels to talk about different aspects of life coaching, motivation, self-management & enhancement and corporate life.
Shanze actively supports empowerment of young girls and women. She is passionate about educating young girls to bring real change in the society. Shanze’ wants Pakistani girls to have the confidence and opportunities just like girls around the globe have access to. Shanze says “As an educated successful women I feel it’s our responsibility to make sure our girls are educated to make their lives better.”
Ms. Nazia Hamid
Nazia Hamid has done her MBA from London Business School, with professional experience spanning over 12 years, gained in UAE, UK, South Africa and Pakistan with an insight to help individuals embrace new challenges. She is certified in wealth and Investment Management and is currently engagement at a Private Equity firm based in Dubai. Communication Audit, Management Analysis, Training, Coaching and Mentoring are her key skills. Nazia has been associated with TIE | WECREATE center as certified Master Mentor/TTT since, 2014. She is also a Youth mentor at Injaz UAE. As a hobby, Miss. Hamid writes blogs for Dubair Social Diaries.
Nazia firmly believes in supporting and enabling creative entrepreneurs to build a more substantial ecosystem which she links with opportunities of quality education as her passion and experience are majorly linked with the education sectors across UAE and Pakistan. She aspires to spark economic growth and positive cultural change by engaging, educating, and empowering young entrepreneurs, students, and associates. Her strong commitment to the cause upheld by PAGE and her desire to contribute for bringing a better system allowing girls to identify their potentials, gain education and utilize their energies for a better functioning and prospering society is of great value to PAGE. We wholeheartedly welcome Nazia on our team and hope to work together for a better Pakistan of empowered women!
Ms. Anum Jaffry | Entrepreneur
Anum is a successful entrepreneur and have been running Parcel It – a delivery service across Karachi for 2.5 years. Her service caters the home based and online business owners. She found her niche market with home based business owners who required a trusted delivery service that understood customer services.
She is also a blogger and social media influencer. She is also associated with Fire Protection Association of Pakistan as a project coordinator.
Anum is passionate about girls education in Pakistan and firmly believes that Pakistani girls can make contributions towards Pakistan’s economic growth. She says “I want to contribute to the society by sharing my skills and support the education of girls in Pakistan”. This is the way she wants to contribute back to society.
Mrs. Sara Khalil | Pharmacist
Sarah Khalil is a British Pakistani pharmacist based in London. She has been part of this profession for over nine years and with time, has worked in many different sectors and has interacted with various people.
Sarah believes strongly in the power of peer to peer mentoring and leading through example; her entrepreneurial attitude is shown through an online pharmacy business run by her husband and herself. Her online pharmacy venture, called Smart Meds offers the ease of filling prescriptions from the comfort of one’s own home. The service provides an online General Practitioner who approves medication requests, ensuring safe usage and transaction of medicines.
Mrs. Khalil also works as an emergency pharmacist in the Hertfordshire area. She believes that working there has helped her build an affinity for dealing with emergency situations, employing extreme patience and scrutinized use of all available resources. Sarah is committed to the promotion of girl’s education in Pakistan and she looks forward to lending her expertise in any way she can. Sarah believes that it is vital for her to help young girls back home in attaining knowledge and skills for a prosperous tomorrow!
Mrs. Hana Khokhar | Pharmacist
Hana is a successful Pharmacist based in London and Glasgow. A self-motivated and highly focused team player, she has worked in some of the top hospitals in London and has a broad range of experience whilst undertaking a number of roles within pharmacy and business project management. She holds a post graduate diploma in clinical pharmacy practice and a number of project management qualifications. She comes from a family of healthcare professionals and is in the process of collaborating with family members to set up a private counselling and Psychiatry service. She is also setting up a charity with her mother (a consultant gynecologist and counselor) which focuses on educating and counselling women on a range of topics which affect their everyday lives.
Hana is passionate about education and believes that access to education for young girls in Pakistan still does not exist in many parts of the country. Her vision is to promote gender equality by overcoming cultural obstacles. She wants to empower young girls to bring a positive change to society and enable them to make important decisions independently. With proven communication and organizational skills, Hana wants to share her expertise, knowledge, and experience to promote education and feels it is our responsibility to ensure that these girls have a better tomorrow!
Mr. Imran Malik
PAGE’s newest ambassador is Imran Malik! Imran was raised in a family that emphasized the key role of education breaking barriers of success. A father of three children, Imran wishes them and the girls of Pakistan currently out of school, to envision a future through studying and gaining an education. This belief has led Imran to PAGE and we look forward to initiating him within the ranks of our ambassadors for change!
Following A Levels, Imran Malik went on to study Psychology for his bachelor’s degree and also secured an MSc in Health Psychology from the United Kingdom. Soon thereafter, Imran took an interest in clinical research and began his career working in the Research & Development department of the National Health Services (NHS). His career led him to different cities of the UK such as Manchester, London, and Guildford. Imran also began lecturing at Imperial College, London and at the Southampton Medical School. At the age of 26, Imran made a significant career shift by joining the NHS National Institute of Health and United Kingdom Clinical Research Network. This led Imran to work with leading pharmaceutical companies, key in launching medical products related to oncology, diabetes, cardiology, and hepatitis.
As of recently, Imran has moved towards the pharmaceutical research sector, focusing strongly on the delivery of International Studies. With such an illustrious background and knowledge of the health sector, combined with a passion for education, we are eager to have Imran on board as an Ambassador for Pakistan Alliance for Girls’ Education!
Mrs. Sofia Mahmood
Sofia was born in Lancashire, raised and educated in Bradford specializing in (BA Hons) Applied Criminal Justice Studies and has over 15 years’ experience working across the public, private, faith, voluntary, education and health sectors. Sofia has been a catalyst in raising awareness, campaigning and developing innovative approaches and strategies around the themes of social cohesion, integration, safeguarding, young people, women and the Prevent Strategy locally and nationally. Sofia has worked as a Youth Development Practitioner for Bradford Youth Development Partnership. She has also held the role of Secretary for the Shanaz Network, a national Prevent engagement initiative aimed at women and has designed engagement program for a broad range of audiences.
Sofia is an experienced professional and specializes in Prevent, community engagement, safer communities, citizenship and identity, child sexual exploitation, engagement with young men/women, communities, families, practitioners. She has delivered tailor-made training courses for Prevent Engagement Officers for various Police Forces on how to engage with women and Muslim communities, Anti-racism strategies and policy development. Sofia has worked closely with the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), where she has developed resource tools for practitioners around preventing violent extremism, community engagement and tackling radicalizations. Recently, Sofia has engaged in several media interviews across the UK to highlight key messages on women engagement in tackling Prevent through grass root level engagement. Interviews have included the Security Minister, MP’s, senior Police Officers, representatives from BBC departments, Radio 5, BBC Asian Network as well as Directors from a range of services. Sofia has been a key speaker at local and national events empowering men and women to challenge and eradicate key issues from communities e.g. CSE, all forms of extremism and racism.
Sofia is passionate about Education, creating opportunities and making a difference. providing a platform for young women to enhance and develop their education further a specialist career. Engage, Educate and Inspire young females to know their worth and value. She is enthusiastic about alternative education as well as mainstream education young females require to be mentored by women who will support them through their journey of life and education. Sofia’s achievements and aspirations are of great value to the initiatives held by PAGE, we welcome her on board and hope to achieve our goals together!
Miss. Noreen Kaleem | Political Activist
Noreen Kaleem is a British Pakistani first year university student, currently pursuing a degree in economics from Brunel University. She is a diligent and determined young individual who aspires to deliver change and change the lives of those less fortunate.
In the UK, Noreen is part of the Labour Party and is an enthusiastic political activist who is actively involved within her constituency and borough. Noreen has participated in many social activities such as, volunteering, canvassing alongside her local councillors and has supported organisations such as; Make Poverty History. She has also immensely supported charity work, and has fundraised for charities such as, Penny Appel, Macmillan Cancer Support, Islamic Relief and many more.
Originating from the city of Sialkot in Pakistan, Noreen is motivated to help more girls in Pakistan achieve high class world education and their aspirations. She is keen to work with the Ambassadors and trustees to deliver change and break the gender inequality that exists in the education system in Pakistan.
We are certain that having a bright and hardworking young individual like Noreen will prove to be beneficial for girls in Pakistan, and to our organisation. We are eager to work with Noreen and welcome her on board!
Mr. Kashif Minhas | Management Consultant
Kashif Minhas is a Management Consultant by profession, and has over 20 years of experience in managing complex projects related to business and technological change for multi-national organizations. His experience spans across UK, Europe, US and Middle East.
Besides being a successful management consultant Kashif has been working devotedly for social welfare since for the past 7 years and is the a founding member and treasurer of the Better Community Business Network (BCBN) which aims to harness the power of the business community to aid and make a real difference to a wide range of critical and difficult causes across London and the UK.
He has also been working with The Read Foundation for the past 2 years and has devoted his services to support the education of underprivileged and orphaned children in Kashmir and raise funds for their schools.
His passion and devotion towards the development sector especially in terms of education and progress is evident from his achievements above. Education that has always inspired him and he strongly believes that the educational issues and deficiencies in Pakistan are the root cause of many of the problems that we see in the country. Improvements in this space, especially in the area of girls’ education, can help Pakistan grow, thrive and prosper.
We believe that his set of skills and experience will prove to be beneficial for girls in Pakistan and his passion to see the girls in Pakistan thrive, and lead successful, independent and empowered lives, will be of great benefit to a cause like PAGE. We are eager to work with Kashif and Welcome him on board! We hope that together we can help make a real difference in shaping the future of Pakistan.
Dr. Fouzia Haneef Khan | Doctor
Dr. Fouzia Haneef Khan is a British Pakistani graduate scientist from UCL School of Pharmacy. She received her BSc (1st Class Hons.) from UCL. After which she was awarded a scholarship to do Ph.D. in Neuro-Pharmacology from UCL.
After a career break, Ms.Fouzia ventured into academia to help teach the MPharm and MSc graduate students at the UCL School of Pharmacy. She interacts with different nationalities from around the globe. As well as teaching, She is involved in non-profit charities whereby she fund-raises annually for different causes from around the world.
Unfortunately, Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of children–more than 5 million -who don’t have access to education. More than 3 million of those out of school are girls. Ms.Fouzia strongly believes that knowledge is power. Being blessed and after achieving so much in life she now wants to share her knowledge, expertise, and skills to help others find the same success. She is of a strong opinion that by empowering girls through education will help in developing a progressive society. She dreams of a Pakistan where children can have access to free, safe and quality education. We at PAGE welcome her on board and hope that together we can work to achieve that dream.
Ms. Saima Sajad
Dr. Saima Rana | Educational Consultant
Dr Saima Rana is state educated and has spent her professional life working to improve state education in UK. Dr Rana is Principal of Westminster Academy, serving one of the most deprived areas in the country where 44% of children are in poverty. 46% of Westminster Academy students have ‘ever’ been eligible for free school meals, 51% of students are pupil premium and 76% of students speak English as an additional language. 20% of students have SEND. With a background in school improvement in inner-city schools, and a PhD in Education, Dr Rana has worked in inner-city London schools with high deprivation indicators throughout her career to combine traditional school improvement techniques with a commitment to collaboration between the local community and businesses in order to accelerate regeneration and standards. Dr Rana has worked as a senior educational consultant for Cambridge Education Islington as a leading schools improvement consultant with particular focus on Teaching and Learning, Raising Standards, ICT, Assessment for Learning, Curriculum, Change Management and Building Schools for Future. Dr Rana specialises in Secondary School Educational Policy, ICT, Globalisation, the Knowledge and Digital Economy. She was an ICT Mark Assessor and examiner for NAACE and was on the working party developing the original Becta/Ofsted ICT Mark and Assessment for Learning reform group. She has presented academic papers on Policy, ICT, Globalisation and Secondary Education at the Institute of Education, London, Trinity College, Dublin, The Knowledge Lab, London as well as at International conferences in Europe, the USA and China. Dr Rana is also a member of the following boards: The Duke of York Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award (iDEA), International Baccalaureate Schools and Colleges Association (ISBCA), Paddington Development Trust (PDT), Mosaic Community Trust (MCT), University College School (UCS), the Institute for Ethical AI in Education (IEAIED) and the BCS School Curriculum and Assessment Committee. Dr Rana is also Founder and Trustee of Nagar Fort School (NFS) in Pakistan.
Ms. Sara Rathore
Sara Rathore is a British Pakistani. She graduated from the University of Leeds in Modern Arabic and was inspired by her feminist Algerian lecturer Dr Zahia Salhi to read for a Postgraduate Masters in Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Manchester. Sara is a career civil servant and believes that her passion and drive to excel combined with the equal opportunities within the Home Office enabled her to explore non traditional roles in law enforcement for BAME women. Until 2016 she was one of few BAME & Muslim arrest trained PIP II (Professionalising Investigation Programme) officers with Customs and Immigration powers. She believes this has reinforced her values as a Muslim, to be accountable, transparent and fair.
Sara is currently the National Engagement Lead for the Pakistani Community within Immigration Enforcement, and Chair of the Home Office Islamic Network. She is also a solo parent to her two teenage sons aged 18 and 13; acting as a role model to raise them as young conscious and ethical Muslim men. She loves to backpack from Europe to Jerusalem and across the amazing borders of Mozambique; every journey teaches her something about life. Sara is an advocate for supporting women globally to live free without fear and shame, supporting the fundamental need for women’s access to education. She believes Women should be in control over their bodies, and her life ambition is to eradicate gender shaming Muslim women on the basis of faith, abolishing period tax and a woman only day in the Haram area.
During her recent official trip to Pakistan, she realized how important it was for her, being the daughter of migrant parents, to give something back to the daughters of the land her amazing father left many years ago. She is hoping to bring some real value to Page and looks forward to the challenges of supporting young women in Pakistan.
Ms. Kanwal Shauzab | Social Scientist
Kanwal is a successful social scientist and researcher, Kanwal works with South Asian Federation of Exchanges ( SAFE) as Chief Coordinator for their initiative, “Women On Boards.” In collaboration with Hanss Siedel foundation, she has carried out in-depth research on the discrimination faced by Christian women in Pakistan. She has also conducted various workshops as Master trainer to give political trainings and awareness to women politicians at all levels. She now aims to pursue a Ph.D. Kanwal also partially completed Interior Designing from Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture. She also completed a Montessori course which enabled her to teach children in different schools of Karachi and Islamabad.
She went on to pursue an MPhil in Governance and Public Policy from NDU, framing her thesis on caste-based discrimination against women in Urban Islamabad. Later, she joined a prestigious program at the National Institutes of Pakistan Studies at Quaid e Azam University. Her curiosity to expand her knowledge and her experiences remained unquenched, and she received the DAAD scholarship to study the practice and theory of democracy in Germany.
Kanwal is a great example of determination and courage. She has overcome challenges in her life to complete her education, be actively involved in politics and to pursue her career as Social Scientist. She is vocal about women’s issue and strongly believes that education enable girls to meet challenges of life. Especially the ones they have to meet due to cultural barriers.
Ms. Maryam Shoeb | Entrepreneur
Maryam Shoeb is an Entrepreneur and an Educationist, currently pursuing a Masters degree in Project Management and holding a Bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering. She has worked as an IT consultant, support engineer, and manager in different organizations like SECP, Lyesis Technologies, and Beaconhouse School System.
As an entrepreneur, she runs a boutique by the name of “Maryamz Haute Couture” which has dressed the anchors of ATV and Masala television channels for their shows. Maryam is also as a professional photographer and runs a successful business by the name of “ClickFlick Photography”.
Maryam strongly believes in educating girls to make them standout in the society and do something for themselves, their family, the community and the country. As an independent young entrepreneur, she believes that if women are educated, this causes a ripple effect of benefits for the society from the positive transformations it evolves into. An educated woman leaves a long-lasting impact that bears fruits for everyone around her.
Maryam dreams to see women taking control and steering the wheels of their lives with great zeal and courage, believing that only quality education can allow for this. We’re eager to have her on board!
Dr. Syeda Sadaf Taqvi
After completing her MBBS from the pioneer batch of Shifa College of Medicine in December of 2003, she moved to UK for higher education and training. Sadaf completed an extended two-year foundation program, equivalent to house job from Isle of Man and Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust. Following that she trained for almost 6 years in the field of medicine with core training in Acute Medicine. Sadaf is trained in Basic and Advance Life Support (ILS and ALS) plus Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Pediatric Life Support (ACLS and PLS). After completing her training, she relocated back to Pakistan with the intention of giving back to the country and is currently in touch with a team of experts who offer resuscitation trainings to get ILS training available and mandatory across all schools of the region for both staff and secondary year students.
Growing up in a family of 5 girls, Sadaf believes her parents have done them a kindness by always emphasizing on education. As this education, has enabled her to independently work for her and her country. Today, as an individual belonging to the educated elite, she considers it her responsibility towards the society at large to promote girls’ education so that all the girls are capable of lifting the weights and pressures of career and personal life without depending upon others. She believes girls should be self-sufficient in all sphere of life and the only way to achieve that kind of success and progress is by ensuring quality education for the girls of Pakistan. We are proud of her commitment towards girls’ education and feel lucky to have her on board!
Ms. Nadia Leona Yunis | Mindologist
Nadia is a ‘Mindologist’ – the worlds first Muslim female to specialise specifically in Mindset Transformation. Providing personal development and mindset transformation training for corporations and organisations as well as private individual and group mentoring and coaching for excellence performing achievers.
Queen of Inspiration & Motivation™ and expert SEO – Soul Empowerment Officer™ at Nadia Yunis Consultancy – helps her clients create instant and positive mindset transformational changes so they can live a life full of purpose.
Nadia is a multi-passionate entrepreneur, researcher, writer, author, speaker, mentor, coach, consultant and international personal development trainer. She has 23 years of theoretical and practical experience in spiritual and personal development and is on a lifelong quest to learn, grow, transform into a valuable asset for humanity.
Nadia has a background in Law. She has read for an LLB (Hons) Law and Criminal Justice Degree, Post-Grad Diploma in Law, BA (Hons) Islamic Studies Degree and a Masters Degree in LLM International Human Rights. She will soon be starting her journey for her Ph.D. too.
Nadia strongly feels the need to advocate for Girls Education. As a British Pakistani, she understands that girls in Pakistan struggle to complete their education. She herself is the only one in her family to come this far in Education. Her own friends in the UK weren’t allowed to complete their education. Nadia says “We need a shift in mindset and we need to highlight the importance of girls education across the globe.”