Farahnaz is the chief executive officer and founder of Insaan Group. She started her career with UNHCR in Geneva during the Burundi refugee crisis, and was involved in setting human rights standards for refugee and asylum cases in Central and Eastern Europe. She also supervised the elections in Bihac, Bosnia, after the Dayton Accords, with the OSCE. Deciding to move on to the “field” and engage in hands on development work, Farahnaz spent two years with UNOPS/UNDP, based out of Islamabad to work in Taliban Afghanistan. It is there that Farahnaz’s passion for development led her to think about ways to have sustainable policy and development impact. She played a co-founding role in a private management consulting start up in Italy, and returned to Afghanistan in 2002 where she quickly rose to head a large non-profit, ACTED. She was then asked to join GTZ, the World Bank and Afghan government in helping them monitor the implementation of the National Solidarity Program – a massive rural development program involving some 20 NGOs and 6,000 villages. Insaan was registered in 2007 and successfully funded in part by the Pierre and Pamela Omidyar Fund. Farahnaz holds a Bachelor of arts from McGill University, a Master in international relations from HEI in Switzerland and a Master in public administration from Harvard University. She is a faculty member at Zayed University in Dubai. She serves on the board of directors of Insaan Group, and as an observer and/or advisor on all social enterprises backed by Insaan.

Bashar is the Chief Enterprise Architect at TSYS Inc. (NYSE:TSS), one of the largest payment processors in the world, facilitating over 50 million payments a day. Besides setting the overall technical strategy that delivers an unparalleled service every second of every day for 700 million consumers, Bashar is responsible for the modernization of the platforms so TSYS can retain its leadership in a challenging era as payment processing becomes a commodity. Bashar joined TSYS in 2006 as part of the acquisition of Card Tech Limited (CTL). Bashar was a co-founder and the CTO of CTL, a London-based pioneer in payment processing software. Under his technical leadership, CTL became the largest global supplier of payment solutions to banks (by number of clients). By 2006, CTL had 450 employees in 6 locations and its Prime software was installed in 140 banks in 80 countries. Bashar holds a BSc in Computer Science and Economics from Northeastern University, Boston. He is a board member of Insaan Group, an expanding US-registered charity that invests in innovative social enterprises that create opportunities for the poor through education and entrepreneurship.

Amelie is General Manager for the Gulf Region at Legrand, a global specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructures, which she joined in 2002. Amelie has a true passion for developing and promoting sustainable practices. She is a board member of the Emirates Green Building Council, in charge of developing the hospitality program, and board member of Senses Residential and Day Care Center for Special Needs. Past President of the Rotary Club of Jumeirah, she has been awarded for her outstanding contributions and efforts in community and international works. Amelie holds a BA and an MBA from the American University of Sharjah, and an Executive MBA from London Business School. She also completed a module in environmental management and sustainable development at the Harvard Extension School. She serves on the board of directors of Insaan.

David Berenger is vice president of European business development at Montage International and coordinates the firm’s European expansion efforts. David has more than two decades of financial services experience, most recently serving as a product specialist at La Française International, a division of the CMNE group headquartered in Paris. Previously, David spent 10 years in the European Distribution division of Fred Alger Management, where he was responsible for the oversight of the private bank, multi-manager and advisor relationships throughout Europe. For three years, he served as the director of Selected Institutional Services GmbH in Frankfurt, a European joint venture of Fred Alger Management and Davis Advisors. His past experience also includes serving in operations and marketing roles with Seligman Advisors, Inc. in New York, where he focused on the firm’s Luxembourg-domiciled fund range. David began his financial services career as a junior broker with Prudential Securities. David has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and economics, and a master’s of business administration degree from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Pradeep Singh has over 35 years of work experience in government, non-government and private sector organizations, and in academia. Pradeep Singh is the CEO of the Mohali Campus and Deputy Dean of the Indian School of Business (ISB), an institute established in partnership with The Kellogg School of Management, The Wharton School and London Business School. He is responsible for operationalizing the recently launched four Institutes at ISB dedicated respectively to Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Healthcare, and Public Policy. The Infrastructure and Manufacturing Institutes are being established in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Healthcare Institute in collaboration with the Wharton School, and the Public Policy Institute in partnership with the Fletcher School of International Diplomacy. In his previous roles, Pradeep Singh served as the Vice Chairman & CEO of IDFC Projects Ltd. and was the founding CEO of IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation (IIDC). He oversaw the development of infrastructure projects in Public Private Partnership formats in collaboration with State and Central Governments in various sectors including Roads, Ports, Airports, Water Supply and Sewage systems, e-Governance, Industrial Parks and Tourism. He has worked in the commercialized infrastructure sector and in the field for 17 Years. From 1978 to 1995, Pradeep Singh was a member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and later also served as the Assistant Country Director at CARE India, an international NGO. He has been a visiting faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School and has been engaged in consulting for the World Bank and the ADB. Mr. Singh holds a Master in Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard University and was a Rotary International Graduate Fellow at Stanford University USA. He also holds the MBA and M.Sc (Physics) degrees from Punjab and Punjabi University respectively.

Mr. Kiron D Shah is the Founder-Director and the Managing Director of Velankani Information Systems Limited since 1999. He has around 30 years of rich and varied corporate experience, both in the USA and India. After completing his Master in Business Administration from the Rutgers University, USA, he worked for Wall Street as an investment banker. He then set up a Software Consultancy Services firm in the US. Between 1993 and 1999, Mr. Shah was Managing Director of Heubach Colour manufacturing facility in Gujarat, India. Since 1999, he has been involved with the India operations of the Velankani group and has been actively involved in setting up the infrastructure for the Velankani Technology Park and the Business hotel currently operating under the name of ‘Crowne Plaza Bengaluru’ in Electronics City, Bangalore.

James grew up in the Midwestern part of the United States. He obtained degrees in business administration and system sciences from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. After briefly working in the private sector, he began pursuing a graduate degree in international business management from the University of South Carolina. In the course of his studies, primarily while living in Northeastern China, he became increasingly interested in the economic systems of developing economies as well as the role creative entrepreneurs play in their societies. Soon after obtaining his Master’s degree, James began work as an advisor to poverty alleviation programs in Western Africa. His first task was to improve the efficiency and long term viability of a group of vocational training schools in Ghana. Later he worked on a range of agricultural improvement programs. Eventually, his background in finance and business led to work in the burgeoning field of micro-finance, where he was focused on improving the organizational structure and financial stability of a local micro-finance program. James then moved to the former Soviet Central Asia. He was instrumental in re-organizing a disparate group of non-profit micro-lending programs in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan into cohesive organizations. His initiatives in Tajikistan to improve the efficiency, organization and management of local micro-lending projects were instrumental in the creation of the sustainable lending organization now known as OXUS Tajikistan. James later worked in Afghanistan, where he was responsible for the initial startup phases of OXUS Afghanistan. James has been fortunate to work in various regions for a sufficient duration of time to see the real long terms impacts of a vast range of poverty alleviation and economic development initiatives. He has seen the long term impacts of properly funded and structured institutions versus those of improperly funded, poorly structured institutions. He is aware of the benefits that a well-managed and implemented program can have on a community, as well as the complete lack of benefits a poorly implemented program can have. James was involved with the initial development of Insaan Group, and he has been with Insaan since its creation. He is passionate about supporting well managed and well organized institutions (both for-profit and not-for-profit) that have a sustainable social impact on the societies in which they operate.

Basmah was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. She is currently completing a Bachelor of arts with a major in international affairs at Zayed University. As part of her course work, she served as an intern at the Saudi Arabia Embassy in Paris in the summer of 2016. Basmah holds a diploma of photography from New York Film Academy, in New York and a degree in English Literature from Umm Al Qura University, in Saudi Arabia.  Her favorite activities are basketball, cycling, drawing, swimming and traveling.

Aaron is a senior associate with Eagle Investments Ltd. in Dubai, where he is responsible for advising on and executing principal investment, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and restructuring transactions for the group and its portfolio companies across the U.S., China, South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa. Aaron is also responsible for origination, evaluation, execution and monitoring for a globally diversified $100 million portfolio of private equity investments within the financial sector. Prior to that, Aaron was an associate with Spouting Rock Capital Advisors (direct investment and advisory firm) and a founding member (associate) of Spouting Rock Consulting (investment consulting firm). Aaron is a member of Business Council for Peace, advising Afghan entrepreneurs on business planning, financial modelling and operational finance. Aaron holds a B.A. in international relations from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is a chartered financial analyst (CFA).

Ajay Hattangdi is the Chief Operating Officer for InnoVen Capital Group where has overall executive responsibility for driving the Group’s international expansion, and Chief Executive Officer responsible for leading the Group’s business in India. Ajay is widely recognized as the pioneer of the venture lending segment of the corporate finance industry in India. He has worked with venture capitalists and entrepreneurs to introduce the concept of venture lending for over a decade since founding Citigroup India’s venture debt business in 2005. At that time, Ajay had the added responsibility of being the head of strategy for the Citigroup’s corporate & investment bank in the country. Ajay worked with Citigroup India for over 12 years before leaving to establish SVB India Finance, Silicon Valley Bank’s non-banking finance company focused on venture debt in 2008. SVB India Finance was re-branded InnoVen Capital India following a buyout of the business in 2015. Ajay is on the advisory board of Mumbai Angels which is among the largest angel groups in India and a founding steering committee member of the Association of Indian Angel Groups, a collective of accredited angel investor groups in India. He is a regular speaker on the angel and venture capital circuit. In 1998, Ajay co-founded PRAJA Foundation, a voluntary Mumbai-based non-profit committed to re-establishing accountability and transparency in public governance. Ajay has a Bachelor’s in Commerce from Sydenham College, a Master’s degree in Banking & Finance from Mumbai University, as well as an MBA from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Thomas is a financial management and organizational expert with over 25 years of international experience in the not-for-profit, financial services and hospitality industries. Thomas was director of special projects at the Open Society Institute (OSI) / Soros Foundation, a private operating and grant-making foundation based in New York City for more than 12 years. He was involved in many re-structuring projects within the organization, which is essentially a network of over 32 independent foundations with operating and grant-giving projects in over 60 countries. He has led a knowledge management initiative at OSI to improve knowledge sharing and collaboration capacity within their network of organizations. He has an M.B.A. from Lehigh University, Pennsylvania, and a B.S. in finance from Pennsylvania State University.

Karim is a freelance consultant in conflict sensitive development with over 25 years of experience working with governments, UN agencies and NGOs across Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East. He is currently involved in a variety of projects, including: advisor on official development assistance policy, program formulation and design, and monitoring and evaluation of development projects for the UN and bi-lateral donors. He is also senior stabilization advisor with the UK Department for International Development. Karim is co-designer and main lecturer for a post-graduate module on state building and conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and a visiting lecturer at the Norwegian Department of International Environment and Development Studies, as well as several universities in the United States. He authors contributions for policy papers, books, periodicals and journals. He has an MSc. in development economics and international development from the University of East Anglia.

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David Goff is the co-founder of UAE-based Analog Production, a media production house specialized in photography and video advertising; and ReelHelp, its non-profit arm dedicated to the celebration of human dignity. David has been a professional photographer for over 25 years. He has been awarded a fellowship with the British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP), which is only attainable for photographers with distinguished and exceptional ability and creativity in photography. He is highly passionate about photography, art, design/fashion and humanitarian causes and always looks to produce top quality work in challenging environments. He has received over 100 professional awards from the BIPP, the Master Photographer Association (MPA) and the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photography (SWPP). David specializes in fashion, architecture/interiors, advertising, portraits and reportage. David and its dedicated team have been supporting Insaan since 2015.

Jed is a videographer and film editor for Analog Production, a global media production house, as well as for its humanitarian arm, Reel Help. Issued from a family of artists, Jed is creative and passionate about his work. Together with his team at Analog, Jed has been supporting Insaan as a film editor for the last few years. Jed derives great joy in doing his part to convey narratives about life for the world’s poorest.