InfraZamin Pakistan is an innovative, for-profit credit enhancement guarantee company, conceived and designed to issue guarantees for promoting private infrastructure projects. InfraZamin leverages the prior experience of InfraCo Asia and GuarantCo in supporting infrastructure projects in Pakistan, as well as Karandaaz’s local market knowledge and track record of investments focused on supporting financial inclusion.
InfraZamin aims to become a catalyst for greater private sector participation in long term local currency financing of infrastructure in Pakistan, thereby assisting with social and economic development objectives.
To address market failures in financing of credit worthy infrastructure projects via credit enhancement of local currency debt instruments in Pakistan.
Maheen Rahman was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of InfraZamin Pakistan in 2020 and has played a crucial part in setting up InfraZamin Pakistan’s base operations and its initial structure. Maheen has over twenty years of experience in investment banking, research and asset management.
In her previous appointment, Maheen Rahman served as the Chief Executive of Alfalah GHP Investment Management where, under her leadership, Alfalah Investments has grown to be one of the largest asset management companies in Pakistan. Prior to that, Ms Rahman was the Chief Executive of IGI Funds, during her tenure, IGI Funds turned into a profitable entity from a loss incurring fund. Her other roles include, Head of Research at BMA Capital Management, Associate at ABN AMRO Bank and investment banking analyst at Merrill Lynch. She has the experience of working across multiple geographies during her career.
Maheen has been featured on Fortune’s “40 Under 40’s women to watch” list, in 2015. She has also represented on multiple forums in Pakistan including Independent Director at GlaxoSmithKlein Pakistan, Director of Special Technology Zones Authority, Pakistan, Director Nasra Public Schools and Advisor to KatalystLabs. She is also the former Chairperson and Director of the Mutual Funds Association of Pakistan, former Director Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance and former Member of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Restructuring of Evacuee Property Trust Board.
In addition to her extensive work experience and professional achievements, Maheen holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) degree in Economics from the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and a Master of Science in Finance and Economics from Warwick Business School in the UK.
Mehvish Waliany, CFA joined InfraZamin in April 2021 as Chief Investment Officer looking after deal origination, market and product development of the credit guarantees business and overseeing guarantee operations management. In addition to this, she also has oversight of marketing and corporate communications of the company.
Ms Waliany brings with her a wealth of experience in the financial services industry spanning almost two decades. Prior to joining InfraZamin, she served as the Executive Vice President and Head of Investment Banking Group of Bank Alfalah Limited where, she managed a Project Finance and Debt Capital Markets & Syndications portfolio of c.USD 375 Million. During her time at BAFL, the direct income earnings of the bank’s investment banking desk grew more than 110% making the bank one of the significant players in the investment banking industry. She has also worked with investment and corporate banking outfits of UBL, Citibank and HSBC in various capacities. Her body of work includes spearheading 2002 IPPs project financing wave, renewable energy, roads and motorway infrastructure, water distribution, PPP collaboration. Mehvish was part of the founding team of the developer financing working group formed by SBP Governor to support Government of Pakistan’s initiative for low cost housing. She had recently been extensively involved in arranging capital market solutions for blue chip clients looking for alternative sources of funding.
Mehvish holds an MBA with Finance majors from the Institute of Business Administration and is also a CFA Charter holder.
Khusro Mumtaz is the Chief Risk Officer (CRO) of InfraZamin Pakistan overseeing IZP’s entire credit and risk management operations, including compliance risk. He is responsible for managing, identifying, evaluating and reporting all internal and external risks.
Khusro Mumtaz brings with him almost three decades of banking experience primarily in Credit Risk / Risk Management/Corporate Banking with diverse geographical experience. Prior to InfraZamin, he has served as Chief Risk Officer – JS Bank Ltd., Chief Risk Officer – NIB Bank, Pakistan (a Temasek Holdings group entity) and Chief Risk Officer – Standard Chartered Bank, Bahrain where he was responsible for the enterprise wide risk management of each of these entities. He has extensive experience in Corporate/ Commercial and SME lending, structured financing and portfolio management, policy and product development, setting underwriting standards and risk assessment criteria, and developing/automating loan origination systems and risk rating and pricing models. He started his career with American Express Bank and has also worked for Banque Saudi Fransi, MashreqBank and MCB Bank. Apart from Pakistan he has worked in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Khusro holds a master’s in Business Administration from Rice University, USA
Mr. Hamza Saboor joined InfraZamin Pakistan in May 2021 as Financial Controller. In this role, he is responsible for establishment and management of financial operations.
He has more than 12 years of work experience ranging from Multinational Audit firm, Service Industry and Financial Institutions. Before joining infrazamin Pakistan, Hamza was working as Financial Controller at Gerry’s International where he was heading VISA business unit finance department and was responsible for the establishment of independent finance. He was also project lead for the ground work up-until the implementation of Tier 1 ERP Solution (Oracle Cloud Fusion) at VISA and Fedex divisions. Hamza was also Chief Financial Officer at AWT Investments Limited (formerly Primus Investments Limited), an NBFC company having licenses for mutual fund and investment advisory. He has also been associated with Pak Oman Microfinance Bank Limited in the capacity of Manager Finance. Hamza started his career from KPMG Taseer Hadi & Co. specializing in Audit and Assurance services, Business Processing Outsourced and Risk Advisory in versatile industries specially the financial sector, which included statutory and financial audits, reviews and other engagements of reputable multinational and local organizations.
Hamza is an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Pakistan (ICAP).
Asad joined InfraZamin Pakistan in December 2021 as Head of Human Resources. Prior to joining InfraZamin, Asad was leading the HR and Administration functions at REDtone Group where he was tasked with developing the HR framework for all group companies.
He has over 13 years of diverse experience in the financial, telecommunication and IT, BPO, food and beverage and logistics industries and has gained experience in the areas of talent management, organizational development, employee relations, rewards management, learning and development, HRIS and HR statutory compliance. Over the span of his career, he has led several talent and change centric initiatives by developing and implementing initiatives based on best HR practices targeting sustainable business outcomes. Asad has also been part of many start-up initiatives throughout his career where he has developed and executed the HR strategy.
He holds an MBA in Human Resource Management.
Saba Rind joined InfraZamin in February 2021, she is the General Counsel & Company Secretary. In this role she leads the legal and compliance function of the Company and also serves as Company Secretary to the Board of Directors of InfraZamin.
Saba has over 10 years of experience in the legal field. Prior to joining InfraZamin, Saba practiced as a Banking & Finance attorney in New York, at one of the five magic circle law firms, Clifford Chance, where she represented corporate borrowers in various types of financing transactions and arrangements, including acquisition financing, asset financing, debt refinancing and debt restructuring. She also advised banks on their legal and financial interests while working at one of Pakistan’s leading law firms, Vellani & Vellani. With over a decade long experience as a lawyer Saba has gained knowledge in diverse areas of law including litigation, corporate and commercial, IP and entertainment. She has also been involved in a number of entrepreneurial ventures in Pakistan.
Saba holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) degree from the University of Warwick (UK) and also qualified as a Barrister-at-Law from BPP Law School (UK). She was called to the Bar of England and Wales by The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn in 2008, she became a High Court Advocate in Pakistan in 2012 and was admitted to New York State Bar in 2013.
Ammar Ahmed Jeddy, CFA, FRM, ACCA joined InfraZamin in June 2021 as VP Investments essentially responsible for spearheading transaction execution including but not limited to due diligence, risk assessment, impact analysis, health, safety & environment assessment, appointment of transaction advisors etc.
Mr. Ammar has more than a decade of experience in the financial services industry and a track record of closing several high profile debt and equity transactions. Prior to joining InfraZamin, he served as a senior manager in Bank Alfalah’s investment banking division where he was responsible for structuring and distributing capital market, project finance and syndication transactions. Ammar was a core member of the team responsible for almost doubling Bank Alfalah’s investment banking income and was primarily responsible for initiating capital market transactions in the product pallet. Ammar has also worked with the investment banking departments of UBL and MCB and began his career with KPMG’s valuations team. He has also worked with a boutique investment house in the middle east.
Mr. Ammar has a post graduate degree from the University of London. Furthermore, Ammar is an ACCA member, a CFA charter holder and a member of the global association of risk professionals (GARP) USA.
Amna Mansoor Sohaib onboarded InfraZamin Pakistan Limited in October 2021 as Senior Credit & Risk Manager, responsible for credit risk assessments while simultaneously managing the holistic risk management function along with compliance framework.
Prior to joining InfraZamin Pakistan, she was with JS Bank Limited where she served as Head Credit Risk – International Banking, Financial Institutional Banking and the Pakistan Stock Exchange portfolios. Apart from JS, she has worked at Faysal Bank Limited in multiple roles involving both policy and credit risk assessments of various portfolios.
Amna brings with her fourteen years of diverse banking experience under both conventional and Islamic windows and is particularly skilled in the assessment of Commercial/SME, FIs and Corporate & Investment banking transactions. She was an integral part of the team that carried out the successful merger of ABN AMRO (Pakistan operations) and Faysal Bank Limited in 2010. She has also been involved in the development/implementation of loan origination systems, obligor/facility risk rating models and reviewing SBP’s draft revisions of Prudential Regulations for Corporate/Commercial Banking.
Amna holds an MBA Degree from Institute of Business Administration, Karachi with majors in Finance and MIS.
Usaid Farooqui, during the course of his experience in activation and creative strategy space, has supported an array of clients notably those belonging to the corporate and financial sectors. His prior experience with agencies entailed identification of business requirements, functional design, process design and suggesting the best-fit marketing and communications strategy through implementation of technology, research, and creative marketing solutions for his MNC and local corporate clients. His experience comprises being a marketing consultant at Selfridges, UK.
Usaid’s current role at InfraZamin is to establish appropriate communication protocols, policies, procedures, the production and dissemination of PR and social media campaigns, building a vibrant network of media contacts, creating a pipeline of events planning, capacity building workshops, process design and management for InfraZamin.
During his MBA at Coventry University, UK, he completed his leadership certification from ISSET(International Space School Educational trust) in collaboration with NASA & Space X headed by George Abbey former director of the Johnson Space Center. Usaid has also obtained specialization in Marketing Management from Harvard University, MA, USA, and was invited to be part of a startup called eMedEvents at Harvard Innovation Labs as an apprentice working with the CEO Priya Korrapati as a Marketing Analyst.
Aamra Islam joined InfraZamin in May 2021 as Manager Administration. In this role, she is looking after the administrative functions of the organization.
Ms Islam has ten years of experience in executive secretarial and administration. Prior to joining InfraZamin Pakistan she has served in various reputable organizations in her capacity as executive secretary and administration assistant namely Alfalah GHP Investment, R&I Electrical Appliances (Kenwood & Homage), Siemens Pakistan and Server4Sale.
During her time with Kenwood, she was recognized for her contribution in aspecial assignment as Civil engineering work Coordinator for the newly developed factory at Port Qasim, in addition to her regular responsibility as Secretary to CEO.
Ms Islam Holds an MBA degree in Human Resources from PAF KIET.
Syed Tahir Imam Joined InfraZamin in March 2021 as Senior Executive officer Finance assisting in the establishment of finance operations.
Prior to joining InfraZamin, he served as Senior Consultant Audit & Assurance at Salman & Raheel Chartered Accountants where he carried out various audit assignments including performing effective risk and control assessment, present audit findings and coming up with ways to increase compliance and efficiency, and conducting accurate auditing at the end of the year. He has also been part of teams recommending and maintaining a system of policies and procedures that to ensure adequate level of control over finance department activities of their client. He has around 5 years of experience skilled in financial audit and financial reporting.
Tahir Imam is an ACCA Finalist.
Allard joined InfraCo Asia in mid-2013 and has overall accountability for the company’s infrastructure developments and investments in 12 Asian countries. Allard has been based in Asia for over 25 years and has strategic executive leadership experience in the infrastructure sector in emerging and frontier markets. He has successfully led and acquired infrastructure, energy and environmental companies.
Allard’s previous roles include CEO of Jindal Aquasource and Jindal Ecopolis in New Delhi, India; President Asia Pacific at Covanta Energy Corporation (the world’s largest energy from waste company) based in Shanghai, China; Regional Director Infrastructure Development and Country Director China, for the Leighton Group in Asia; Regional Director, Greater China at Thames Water International in Hong Kong SAR; and Country Manager of Vermeer–Ballast Nedam, while based in Vietnam. Allard has served on the Board (as NED) of the International Project Finance Association – IPFA (headquartered in London) since 2017.
He holds a BSc (Eng) in engineering management and an MBA in international business.
Boo Hock has helmed various portfolios in the financial sector, in a career that spans almost 30 years in rating corporate, project, securitization and structured finance bonds, as well as project finance consultancy and private equity.
Prior to advising on the establishment of InfraZamin Pakistan, Boo Hock was Deputy CEO of Danajamin – Malaysia’s first financial guarantor, for which he led the conceptualisation and establishment. Boo Hock also started up the Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility (CGIF) – the guarantee trust fund of the Asian Development Bank . As Vice-President, he built CGIF’s profile, team and zero-claim guarantee portfolio of USD1.6 billion equivalent across the ASEAN region. At CGIF, Boo Hock led the development of new guarantee structures and achieved numerous milestones for Southeast Asian local currency bond markets, including the signing of ASEAN’s first local currency bond reinsurance treaty.
He holds a BSc from Mount Union College and an MBA from Ohio University.
Navid Goraya brings with himself over 25 years of global experience in investment banking. Before joining Karandaaz as the CIO, he was leading a Strategic Advisory Firm, White Oak Advisors Inc, in New York providing cross-border advice to financial institutions. Earlier, at HSBC USA, Navid advised approx. USD 6 billion in specialized investment funds of HSBC and led a global wealth team covering North America, the GCC, and South East Asia. He has also led Investment Banking teams at IICG Bahrain, Qatar National Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland.
Navid has an MBA from IBA, University of Karachi). He serves as a nominee director on several investee companies of Karandaaz.
Phillip Skinner is the Managing Director of the Global Execution Team at GuarantCo. Since joining GuarantCo in 2016, Phil has worked on a number of infrastructure projects in Africa and Asia with a special geographic focus on Pakistan. Today he leads the team at GuarantCo responsible for due diligence, detailed structuring, credit approvals and documentation for over $250m of guarantee transactions per annum.
Prior to joining GuarantCo, Phil worked for the UK Green Investment Bank where he worked on a number of renewable energy transactions in the UK before joining the start-up team to establish UK Climate Investments LLP, a specialist fund targeting transformational green energy investments in some of the world’s most carbon intensive economies. Phil started his finance career at DNB Bank where he specialised in power and renewable energy transactions.
Phil holds a MSc in Development Economics from Oxford University.
Tayyeb Afzal is a seasoned C-level executive with over 45 years of international experience in both industry and professional services (Big 4). Board level participation and leadership of audit committees, financial accounting & systems, management, strategic planning, IPO activity, M&A, and due diligence initiatives. Expertise in external and internal auditing, wholesale and corporate banking, equipment leasing and skill set of adaptability and business knowledge of different industry sectors and diverse functional roles providing the ability to quickly add value while dealing with individuals at all levels and across all disciplines.
In Pakistan, he had served on the positions of Group Finance & Corporate Director and Advisor to the Chairman, in House of Habib, Chief Executive Officer of National Development Leasing Corporation (then largest equipment leasing company in Pakistan), and Country General Manager at Faysal Islamic Bank of Bahrain EC (now Faysal Bank Limited). Prior to this he served as Vice President for Arab Banking Corporation, Bahrain. Whilst working with ABC, he served on the Supervisory Board of its German subsidiary – ABC Daus & Co GmbH.
Tayyeb is a Fellow Member (FCA) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales (ICAEW) and Fellow Member (FCCA) of The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants of the UK having professionally worked in the U.K., Canada, Middle East and Pakistan.
Mr Muneer Kamal has over four decades of experience in the banking and financial sector. He started his career in 1979 at Citibank Pakistan where he served for 15 years in various capacities, including Director and Head of Public Sector & Financial institutions in Pakistan and Director of the Regional Training Centre for Asia Pacific at Citibank Singapore.
Kamal then joined Faysal Bank as the President and CEO where he spearheaded a major growth drive within the bank to increase the branch network and balance sheet size and strength. He then moved on to President and CEO of Union Bank in Pakistan and subsequently Vice Chairman and COO of Union Bank International. He was instrumental in various acquisitions done by Union Bank Ltd i.e Bank of America, American Express Cards, Emirates Bank International and Mashreq Bank’s Sri Lanka operations. Union Bank was considered a major success story and its operations were then later acquired by Standard Chartered Ltd to consolidate their position in Pakistan and the region. Kamal moved on post-acquisition to KASB Bank as President and CEO.
Mr Kamal’s diverse Corporate Governance experience includes having previously served as Chairman Pakistan Stock Exchange, Chairman National Bank of Pakistan, Trustee Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital, and Director at Engro Corp, DH Corp and Government Holding Private Ltd.
He currently serves as member Board of Governor, National School of Public Policy (NSPP) and serves on the board of GSK ( Pakistan ) and Karachi Education Initiative . NSPP is the apex body chaired by the President of Pakistan Dr Alvi, responsible for setting standard and content of training given to bureaucracy at various levels.
Maheen Rahman was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of InfraZamin Pakistan in 2020 and has played a crucial part in setting up InfraZamin Pakistan’s base operations and its initial structure. Maheen has over twenty years of experience in investment banking, research and asset management.
In her previous appointment, Maheen Rahman served as the Chief Executive of Alfalah GHP Investment Management where, under her leadership, Alfalah Investments has grown to be one of the largest asset management companies in Pakistan. Prior to that, Ms Rahman was the Chief Executive of IGI Funds, during her tenure, IGI Funds turned into a profitable entity from a loss incurring fund. Her other roles include, Head of Research at BMA Capital Management, Associate at ABN AMRO Bank and investment banking analyst at Merrill Lynch. She has the experience of working across multiple geographies during her career.
Maheen has been featured on Fortune’s “40 Under 40’s women to watch” list, in 2015. She has also represented on multiple forums in Pakistan including Independent Director at GlaxoSmithKlein Pakistan, Director of Special Technology Zones Authority, Pakistan, Director Nasra Public Schools and Advisor to KatalystLabs. She is also the former Chairperson and Director of the Mutual Funds Association of Pakistan, former Director Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance and former Member of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Restructuring of Evacuee Property Trust Board.
In addition to her extensive work experience and professional achievements, Maheen holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) degree in Economics from the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and a Master of Science in Finance and Economics from Warwick Business School in the UK.
The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) is an innovative infrastructure development and finance organisation which encourages and mobilises private investment in pioneering infrastructure in the frontier markets of sub-Saharan Africa and south and south-east Asia to promote economic development and combat poverty. PIDG delivers its ambition in line with its values of opportunity, accountability, safety, integrity and impact. Since 2002, PIDG has supported 171 infrastructure projects to financial close which provided an estimated 217 million people with access to new or improved infrastructure. PIDG is funded by the governments of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, Sweden, Germany and the IFC www.pidg.org
PIDG TA can provide technical assistance and capital grants to the PIDG Companies to meet a range of needs associated with an infrastructure project’s lifecycle. PIDG TA can also provide up-front viability gap funding grants to support PIDG projects that require concessional funding to make a project with strong development impact financeable. To find out more visit: www.pidg.org
https://www.pidg.org/
InfraCo Asia’s portfolio spans 12 countries in South and Southeast Asia. InfraCo Asia provides early-stage development capital and expertise to catalyse sustainable infrastructure projects in the region’s emerging and frontier markets.
Impact
* Based on projects in operation and under construction
https://infracoasia.com/
KARANDAAZ PAKISTAN is a not-for-profit special purpose vehicle set up under Section 42 in August 2014. Karandaaz is the implementation partner of the Enterprise and Asset Growth Programme (EAGR) of the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). Karandaaz promotes access to finance for micro, small and medium-sized businesses through a double bottom line investment platform and financial inclusion for individuals by employing technology-enabled solutions.
Impact
*Includes Karandaaz share in both debt and equity instruments
* * Includes 824,000 micro-enterprises and 820,000 jobs supported through Pakistan Microfinance Investment Company (PMIC)
* * * Includes growth capital, COVID support, and business development support provided through technical assistance
https://karandaaz.com.pk/
GuarantCo has a portfolio consisting of 19 countries and two multi-country projects in Africa and Asia. GuarantCo was established in 2005 to mobilise local currency credit solutions for infrastructure projects and to support the development of capital markets in lower income countries.
Impact
InfraCoAsia is a commercially managed infrastructure development and investment company of the Private Infrastructure Development Group.
60% Shareholding
A not-for-profit company promoting access to finance through commercially directed investments and digitally-enabled solutions.
40% Shareholding
A commercially managed credit guarantee and enhancement company of the Private Infrastructure Development Group.
Contingent Capital Provider
