Shamim Rajani (born in the 1970s) is an entrepreneur and businesswoman from

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former ...

, Pakistan. In 2004, she began to work professionally in the

Information Technology (IT) Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system ( ...

industry of

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 ...

. In 2005, she co-founded Genetech Solutions, a software development company, based in

. Since 2010, she has been serving as the chief operating officer (COO) in the same company. In the year 2017, she launched the computer training program under the ConsulNet Corporation to educate non-tech women in

. In 2018, she launched another training program, CodeGirls, in partnership with Faiza Yousuf. The CodeGirls is the subsidiary of ConsulNet Corporation. In the same year, she also began to serve as an advisor for WomenInTechPK and became the Pakistani ambassador at CryptoChicks, a research institute based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. In 2019, she became the board member of the

Pakistan Agile Development Society Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-la ...

. In the second quarter of the year 2020, she was elected as the vice-chairperson of

P@SHA P@SHA/PASHA (Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT and ITeS) (1992–Present) is a functional trade body and registered association for the IT industry in Pakistan, primarily to promote and develop the software and services industry in P ...

. She began to serve in the office from the mid of October 2020 while working closely with

Jehan Ara Jehan Ara is a Pakistani businesswoman who was the president of P@SHA for over 20 years. She resigned at the end of April 2021 to start Katalyst Labs, a startup accelerator and women leadership program. She also headed the Nest i/o, a startup inc ...

, the president of

Early life

She was born in the 1970s into a Muslim family located in

. She was raised in a

Pakistani culture The Culture of Pakistan ( ur, ) is very unique in terms of its social values revolving around the religion of Islam. The region has formed a distinct cultural unit within the main cultural complex of South Asia, Middle East and Central Asia. Q ...

family. Her family moved to

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

due to her father's job. In the early 1990s, she moved back to

with her whole family and got married at the age of 17 years. After a few years of her marriage and a four-year child, she pursued her education in the

computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, ...

field.

Education

She received her early education in

in the 1980s. In 1997, she continued her education at a

college located in

. Later, she graduated from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in the Entrepreneur program in the year 2017. Further, she graduated in the

Blockchain A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that consists of growing lists of records, called ''blocks'', that are securely linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, ...

executive program from Draper University in San Francisco, California. She is also certified as a

Scrum Master Scrum is a framework for project management with an initial emphasis on software development, although it has been used in other fields including research, sales, marketing and High tech, advanced technologies. It is designed for teams of ten o ...

Career

In 1998, she opened a computer training institute, ConsulNet Corporation, with the help of her father's retirement money. She worked in the institute as a computer instructor to teach non-tech young girls and women about computing languages based on bootstrap. In 2004, she received her first international website development project. In 2005, she founded Genetech Solutions and worked there as a team lead. By 2010, she began to serve Genetech Solutions as the Chief Operating Officer (COO). During 2010s, she worked for

gender disparity Sex differences in humans have been studied in a variety of fields. Sex determination occurs by the presence or absence of a Y in the 23rd pair of chromosomes in the human genome. Phenotypic sex refers to an individual's sex as determined by the ...

and the empowerment of women in the

sector of

through funded programs CodeGirls on small scale. In 2017, she initiated multiple training programs through CodeGirls with Faiza Yousuf while re-establishing ConsulNet Corporation on a much larger scale by getting fund from international investors. In 2018, she became an advisory member of WomenInTechPK and used this platform to encourage women's progress in the technology industry of

. In the same year, she became the ambassador for Pakistan in the CryptoChicks, a research institute based in

. This institute organizes multiple

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main ...

s and

Hackathon A hackathon (also known as a hack day, hackfest, datathon or codefest; a portmanteau of hacking and marathon) is an event where people engage in rapid and collaborative engineering over a relatively short period of time such as 24 or 48 hours. Th ...

for

and AI technology in

from Canada. In 2019, the company won the runner-up award for best

gender diversity Gender diversity is equitable or fair representation of people of different genders. It most commonly refers to an equitable ratio of men and women, but may also include people of non-binary genders. Gender diversity on corporate boards has bee ...

. She began working at

as the vice-chairperson in the mid of October 2020. She is also a certified professional

Contribution and recognition

* In 1998, she established a computer training institute, ConsulNet Corporation. This institute offers free computing courses for non-tech women from lower to middle-class families. Its aim is to improve the

financial inclusion Financial inclusion is defined as the availability and equality of opportunities to access financial services. It refers to a process by which individuals and businesses can access appropriate, affordable, and timely financial products and service ...

of women in the

sector of

. * In 2017, she co-founded the CodeGirls under ConsulNet Corporation with sponsorship from international investors for training Pakistani women in the

IT industry Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system ( ...

across

. *In 2018, she conducted multiple programs to progress the technology sector of

. As one of the key board member of

, she facilitated the Oslo Innovation Week and the Canada

ICT Forum. * In 2018, she became the advisory member for WomenInTechPK and conducted multiple workshops to empower Pakistani women in the

. *In 2018, she represented the Pakistani community in CryptoChicks, located in

. *In 2019, she partnered with WomenInTechPK and CryptoChicks for conducting

& AI

. *In 2019, Genetech Solutions won the best

Gender diversity Gender diversity is equitable or fair representation of people of different genders. It most commonly refers to an equitable ratio of men and women, but may also include people of non-binary genders. Gender diversity on corporate boards has bee ...

Award during the tenure of her leadership as the COO of the company at the

ICT Awards 2019. *In 2020, she began to work as the vice-chairperson of

and organized multiple events to empower the

Early life

Education

Career

Contribution and recognition

References

See also