Speakers

The Speakers that we have lined up for our first ever TEDxKarachi being hosted on 4th June 2010 at the Southend Club are




Chris Anderson


Chris Anderson

Chris Anderson is the curator of the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference, an influential annual conference. Previously he founded Future Publishing.

Anderson is British but was born in Pakistan in 1957.[1] His parents were medical missionaries and he spent most of his early life in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan before going to public school in England. In 1978 he graduated from Oxford University, with a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. He is married to Jacqueline Novogratz.

A brief career in journalism followed, including working for a pirate radio station in the Seychelles. In 1985 he launched a publishing company devoted initially to hobbyist computer magazines. Future Publishing (based in Somerton and then Bath, UK) rapidly grew, expanding into other areas such as cycling, music, video games, technology and design. In 1994 Anderson moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and continued to launch magazines including Business 2.0, and websites such as the games web portal IGN.com. Future grew to more than 130 magazines and more than 1,500 employees.

In 2001 Anderson left Future and, through his non-profit foundation, acquired the TED (conference). Under his stewardship, the mission of TED shifted to “ideas worth spreading”. More than 600 TED talks have been released free online and have attracted a growing global audience. He also oversaw introduction of the TED Prize, the TED Fellows Program, the TED open translation program, and the TEDx program, allowing hundreds of independently organized TED-like events to be held around the world.

What Pakistan Needs Now is…

  • Inspiration
  • Imagination
  • Interconnection

Jacqueline Novogratz


Jacqueline Novogratz

Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder and CEO of Acumen Fund, a non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. Acumen Fund invests patient capital to identify, strengthen and scale business models that effectively serve the poor and champions this approach as an effective complement to traditional aid. Acumen Fund currently manages nearly $40 million in investments in South Asia and East Africa, all focused on delivering affordable healthcare, water, housing and energy to the poor in New York, Pakistan, India and Kenya. Prior to Acumen Fund, Jacqueline founded and directed The Philanthropy Workshop and The Next Generation Leadership programs at the Rockefeller Foundation. She also founded Duterimbere, a micro-finance institution in Rwanda. She began her career in international banking with Chase Manhattan Bank. She is currently on the advisory boards of Stanford Graduate School of Business, MIT’s Legatum Center, and Innovations Journal published by MIT Press. Jacqueline serves on the Aspen Institute Board of Trustees and as a member of two World Economic Forum Global Agenda Councils, on Social Entrepreneurship and on Water. She was recently named to Foreign Policy’s list of Top 100 Global Thinkers and Daily Beast’s 25 Smartest People of the Decade. Jacqueline is a frequent speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative and TED. She has an MBA from Stanford and a BA in Economics/International Relations from the University of Virginia. Her recent best-selling memoir, The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World, released in paperback on February 16, chronicles her quest to understand poverty and challenges readers to grant dignity to the poor and to rethink their engagement with the world.

What Pakistan Needs Now is…

  • Hope
  • Patient Capital
  • Innovation




Roshaneh Zafar


Roshaneh Zafar

Ms. Roshaneh Zafar is the Founder and Managing Director of Kashf Foundation, Chair of Kashf Holdings and Founder of the Kashf Microfinance Bank Limited. The Foundation is the third largest MFI in Pakistan and since inception has cumulatively disbursed loans to over one million female clients. Ms. Zafar has been recognized on many forum for her contribution to female economic empowerment and has been the recipient of the Tamgha i Imtiaz (2005), one of Pakistan’s highest civilian awards, the One Woman Initiative Award (2009) from the US State Department, and the Leadership Award for Economic Empowerment (2010) by Vital Voices. Ms. Zafar holds a Bachelors degree from the Wharton Business School and a Masters degree from Yale University.

What Pakistan Needs Now is to…

  • Empower
  • Women
  • Now




Asad Umar:


Asad Umar

Asad Umar is the CEO of Engro Corp. A graduate of IBA Karachi, he has worked in the corporate sector for the last 26 years. He takes a keen interest in national and international affairs and has written articles for the leading newspapers of the country, appeared in TV talk shows and participated in civil society causes. He has worked in a voluntary capacity for many provincial and federal government initiatives and has served on the boards of a number of leading public sector organizations and educational institutions. He strongly believes in the oneness of humanity and a shared destiny of all the citizens of the world.

What Pakistan Needs Now is..

  • Leadership
  • Justice
  • Tolerance




Monis Rahman


Monis Rahman

Mr. Monis Rahman is Chairman and CEO of Naseeb Networks, a leading provider of recruitment, social networking, classifieds and related services in Pakistan. Under his leadership, Naseeb Networks launched ROZEE.PK, Pakistan’s most powerful recruiting platform which is used today by over 30,000 employers, 1.5 Million professionals and 87 HEC accredited universities.

Mr. Rahman completed his undergraduate degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and did graduate coursework at Stanford University. He has been featured by numerous magazines and newspapers including The New York Times, CNN, InfoWorld, Red Herring, Infoweek, The Chicago Tribune, CIO Pakistan and others.

He currently serves as the President and Member Board of Governors of TiE Lahore, the Lahore chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs, the world’s largest non-for-profit organization of entrepreneurs. He has also served on the Central Executive Committee of the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA). He is the recipient of International Data Group CIO Pakistan Pioneer in Innovation 2008 Award. Mr. Rahman is frequently invited to speak on entrepreneurship and Internet marketing at some of the country’s top business schools and conferences.

What Pakistan Needs Now…

  • Fearless Entrepreneurship
  • Innovation the scales
  • Infectious belief




Asad Rezzvi


Asad Rezzvi

Asad Rezzvi is the CEO of E Cube Global, an international firm that does training and development with organizations world wide. He is an authority in the field of Peak Performance Psychology with a degree from the University o California at Berkeley. He’s trained with Anthony Robbins, the worlds top authority in personal & corporate change work. Asad is regularly invited to speak at conferences world wide such as the regional Conflict Negotiating Conference held in conjunction with the Mayor of Los Angeles’s office, conducted at University of California Los Angeles. The Robbins-Madanes Center for Strategic Intervention in San Diego has produced and released a documentary film featuring Asad, shot live on the day of 9/11,which was shown on CNN Larry King Live. Asad is also the author of a memoir, named My Jihad, a personal account soon to be published by a major New York publishing house. When not working, Asad engages in competitive martial arts.

What Pakistan Needs Now is…

  • Credibility
  • Leadership
  • Impact




Joshinder Chaggar


Joshinder Chaggar

Indian born, my childhood was spent in Lagos Nigeria, and in 1990 our family migrated to Australia. I started learning dance at the age of 5, Bharatnatyam. I continued with my dance training in high school in Geelong, and later continued by Bharatnatyam training in Melbourne, & went to Deakin University to study Contemporary dance.

I moved to Karachi in 2007, and have been involved in a lot of dance/performance work here. Highlights are my performance in the Zeb & Haniya music video, Aitebar, choreographing TV commercials, such as Jazz, Tarang, Telenor, Style award shows, teaching at NAPA & at ActOne, and recently Creating & choreographing the 1st ever Contemporary dance drama production in Karachi ‘Conversations’ at the Arts Council Theatre.

What Pakistan Needs Now is…

  • Literacy
  • Electricity
  • Women’s Liberation