Roshaneh Zafar (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

i development activist, working in the field of women's economic empowerment. She created the first specialised microfinance organisation in Pakistan, the

Kashf Foundation Kashf Foundation (Punjabi and ur, ) is a non-profit organization, founded by Roshaneh Zafar in 1996. Kashf is regarded as the first microfinance institution (MFI) of Pakistan that uses village banking methodology in microcredit to alleviate pov ...

, in 1996 which has served over 5 million women entrepreneurs across Pakistan and continues to pave the path for women's economic empowerment through its holistic financial services program.

Career

Zafar was born and raised in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest ...

, the daughter of Pakistani politician

S. M. Zafar Syed Muhammad Zafar (born 6th of December 1930) is one of the more prominent Pakistani human rights activists, a noted lawyer ( Senior Advocate Supreme Court), a politician and a former member of the Senate of Pakistan. For some time, he was a ...

and granddaughter of noted musician

Malika Pukhraj Malika Pukhraj (Punjabi, ur, ملكہ پکھراج ) (1912 – 2004) was a highly popular Ghazal and folk singer of Pakistan. She was generally known as "Malika", meaning "The Queen", publicly. She was extremely popular for her rendition o ...

. After graduating from the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, Zafar studied development economics at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

and upon returning to Pakistan she worked for the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capita ...

in the early 90s. In 1996, inspired by Bangladesh's

Grameen Bank Grameen Bank ( bn, গ্রামীণ ব্যাংক) is a microfinance organisation and community development bank founded in Bangladesh. It makes small loans (known as microcredit or "grameencredit") to the impoverished without requir ...

and its founder

Muhammad Yunus Muhammad Yunus (born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, economist and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinanc ...

, Zafar established Pakistan's first specialised microfinance organisation, the Kashf Foundation, in Lahore, with financial support from Yunus and her grandmother Malika Pukhraj, who strongly believed in empowering women. Zafar was one of the first

Ashoka Fellows Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...

in Pakistan, and was named a

Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur Schwab or Schwabe may refer to: * Schwab (surname) * Schwabe, a surname * Schwabe (crater), a small lunar crater * Schwabe (publisher), the oldest printing and publishing house in the world * Charles Schwab Corporation, American stockbroker and ...

in 2004. In 2007, Zafar was awarded the

Tamgha-e-Imtiaz Tamgha-e-Imtiaz () also spelled as Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, is a state-organised honour of Pakistan. It is given to any civilian in Pakistan based on their achievements. While it is a civilian/military award, it can be bestowed upon officers of the P ...

, one of Pakistan's highest civilian awards, by then-president

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of t ...

in recognition of her work in the field of development and women's empowerment. That same year, Zafar also won the

Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship The Skoll Foundation is a private foundation based in Palo Alto, California. The foundation makes grants and investments intended to reduce global poverty. Jeffrey Skoll created the foundation in 1999. The total assets of the foundation (includ ...

. As a result of her work in women's economic empowerment, Zafar has served on multiple global agenda councils established by the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

, including on the

gender pay gap The gender pay gap or gender wage gap is the average difference between the remuneration for men and women who are working. Women are generally found to be paid less than men. There are two distinct numbers regarding the pay gap: non-adjusted ...

and Pakistan; she also served as a member of the United Nation's advisors group on inclusive financial sectors. She was also a member of the Prime Minister's Task Force on Austerity and Civil Services reforms from 2018 to 2020 and was a member of the Pakistan Medical council to promote reforms in the health care sector. She has held a diverse portfolio of directorships including the Women's World Banking, the Pakistan Microfinance Network, Finca Bank, Kinnaird College for women to name a few. Zafar has also worked extensively in the media in order to raise awareness on gender issues. The first collaboration was with HUM TV on the drama serial Rehaii (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rehaai) which raised the issue of child marriage in 2011. This was followed by the highly acclaimed drama serial again on HUM TV on child sexual abuse awareness and prevention, Udaari (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udaari.) The current Kashf Foundation production Kuch Ankahi is being shown on ARY Digital. Spouse: Hassan Kausar (http://hassankausardesign.com) Children: Maya Zafar

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zafar, Roshaneh Yale University alumni Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people)