PAC - Key Persons
Mr. Anjum is a Strategy, Transformation, Coaching and Leadership Development Consultant. He brings with him over four decades of a highly active operating work experience from an extremely broad portfolio of industries. He has worked closely with several national and multi-national organizations. Having started his career from the service industry (InterContinental Hotel Chain), he has worked in multi-disciplinary industries such as agricultural inputs (fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, farmer advisory services) petrochemicals, infrastructure development, IT, sugar, textiles, beverages, etc. Organizations he has worked for include Owning Company of InterContinental Hotels, Exxon/Engro Chemical Pakistan Limited, Jaffer Brothers, Bottlers of Pepsi Network, Gul Ahmed / Arwen Tech (Private) Limited. Mr. Anjum was a core team member of Engro Chemical Team which was responsible for the creation of Engro Polymer and Chemicals and Engro Vopak Terminal. While with Jaffer Brothers (Private) Limited, he successfully led NADRA's Project of digitization of Citizen's database for Pakistan in the year 2000. During initial part of his career and after one and a half year in the service sector, he spent 15 years with Exxon Chemical and was part of the organization when employee buy-out took place. Since then he has spent 25 years working with different family-owned businesses. During this period Mr. Anjum has led a few successful transformation projects and been a member of core teams leading to the formation of a textile and a sugar unit. Mr. Anjum has been a PAC director since 2014 and is a founding director of Mehrgarh Kasht Private Limited (MKPL).
Job Titles:
- Project Development Specialist
Chaudhary Mohammad Ashraff is the Project Development Specialist at PAC. He has more than 37 years of experience in planning, designing, strategizing, coordinating and implementing on farm water management (OFWM) projects. He retired as Director General of Punjab OFWM program and has played significant role in planning and implementation of over two dozen donor assisted and locally financed projects. He has also worked with various international institutions/ organizations like the World Bank, FAO, ADB, USAID, IFAD, OECF, JICA etc. in the capacity of consultant and client/partner including providing technical assistance for planning and designing of Afghanistan On Farm Water Management Project. He is among the pioneers of introducing drip irrigation in Pakistan and working on its design, installation, and operation & management as well as capacity building for last 10 years. He has also served as Project Director of the World Bank funded Punjab Irrigated‑Agriculture Productivity Improvement Project (PIPIP). Mr Ashraff holds a Bachelors in Science in Agricultural Engineering from University of Agriculture, Faisalabad and a Masters in Soil and Water Engineering from Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Chief Digital Finance Officer
Kashif Umar Thanvi is the Chief Operating Officer (Pakistan) and Chief Digital Finance Officer (Thailand and Vietnam) for Ricult. He started his career with Engro. Kashif was awarded Engro's coveted Marketing Excellence Award in 1998 for his lead role in fertilizer supply chain optimization. He moved on to the Banking industry in 2002. Prior to joining Ricult in 2022, he worked with HBL, UBL and Khushhali Microfinance Bank. At HBL, Kashif pioneered the transformation of HBL's Rural Banking into a business model that is innovative, self-sustainable, and scalable. HBL has a leadership role in Agricultural Finance in Pakistan and the top provider of loans to farmers amongst the commercial banks. The Bank has been awarded the "Best Bank for Agriculture" for the years 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022 at the Pakistan Banking Awards. The Bank was also declared the "Top Agricultural Lending Bank" for the year 2021-22 by State Bank of Pakistan. He was the Co-Chairman of PBA's subcommittee on Agricultural Finance and had served on the Boards of "HBL Microfinance Bank", "Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation" and "Naymat Collateral Management Company Limited". He is currently serving on the Board of "Pakistan Agricultural Coalition". He has an MBA from IBA, Karachi and a Bachelor's in Science from Government College, Lahore.
Job Titles:
- Expert on Economic Development, Public Policy and Business Strategy
- Strategy Advisor
Kazim Saeed is an expert on economic development, public policy and business strategy with over 25 years of experience. Mr. Saeed co-founded Pakistan Agricultural Coalition in 2013 with Pakistan's leading business groups. He has built new business models for growth in agriculture with Pakistan's largest business groups as well as the Asian Development Bank, USAID, and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Kazim Saeed serves on the boards of pioneering companies Naymat Collateral and Khushhaal Kissan as well as Pakistan's leading school education NGO Idara-i-Taleem-o-Aagahi. Over his career, he has provided energy policy advice to the governments of China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Pakistan with the World Bank. Mr. Saeed's award-winning book Dou Pakistan: Har Pakistani Gharanay Tak Khushhaali (Karachi; Maktaba-e-Daniyal, 2020) presents a comprehensive strategy for delivering prosperity to every Pakistani household by Pakistan's 100th birthday in 2047. After completing his school education in Karachi, he received Bachelor's degrees in engineering and the history and philosophy of science from Cornell University, USA, and received a Master's degree in public policy from Princeton University, USA.
Mr Abdul Wahab is a Senior Business Leader with more than three decades of accomplishments in diverse industries such as Agriculture, Animal Health, and Pharmaceuticals. He has a proven track record of leading large and geographically diverse teams, effectively managing stakeholders, and developing and executing business strategies. During his tenure leading the Agri business at ICI Pakistan Limited, a former UK-based multinational, he worked on the development of edible oil crops and their value chain. He closely coordinated with policy makers to create strategies that made these crops a sustainable option for all stakeholders. Mr Wahab is an ex-member of the Pakistan Oilseeds Development Board (PODB), which comprises representatives from all stakeholder groups. He also launched a Cotton Seeds Breeding program to develop new cotton varieties suitable for a changing environment. He successfully diversified the company's portfolio by introducing a complete range of Vegetable seeds and Agrochemicals from the world's leading organizations. Moreover, he pioneered digitalization in the Agri space by collaborating with global technology platform providers. In an effort to support farmers, he developed and implemented a model that facilitated easy access to credit from the formal sector. By receiving training from renowned international and national organizations, he has gained valuable insights into the dynamics of Agri business across the globe
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Core Team
Mr. Arif Nadeem has over 35 years experience in the public sector and is an expert in public policy and administration. Prior to joining PAC he served as Secretary to the Government of Punjab in the departments of Agriculture, Irrigation and Health. He is known to be an authority on the procedural functioning of federal, provincial and local governments and holds extensive knowledge of Pakistani laws, rules and regulations. He has worked closely with various UN Agencies and international aid organisations (the World Bank, ADB, DFID, USAID, CIDA) and managed several large projects (both local and foreign-funded) . He holds a Masters Degree in Political Science from the University of Punjab. He also has to his credit various courses and trainings at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, National School of Public Policy , NIPA and CSA.
Mr. Hadi A. Rizvi after graduating from Government College of Commerce in 1980, joined the family business, The PCI Group - A diversified organization engaged in manufacturing and distribution of flooring solutions, automotive parts & accessories and packaging products. Being the head of marketing, he has been assigned to lead the group's vision to achieve overall targets set by the board. He has actively participated in the diversification plan of the group which, in last 25 years, has expanded into various fields which includes introducing world leading brands of flooring products and establishing nationwide sales network in Pakistan, establishing automotive division which is now involved in producing over three hundred parts and accessories for local automotive manufacturers which includes Toyota, Honda and Suzuki. Establishing state-of-the-art blow molding packaging division which is now serving leaders of lubricant industry in Pakistan namely Shell, Chevron & Total PARCO. Besides having extensive knowledge and experience of marketing and sales, he also oversees corporate affairs of the group. Along with being a founder member & director of Pakistan Agricultural Coalition, he is also the managing trustee of Akbar Foundation, which runs Akbar Public School, providing quality education to over 1000 students.
Mr. Raashid Anwer is an Advocate (Supreme Court of Pakistan) and the Managing Partner at Khalid Anwer & Co., Legal Consultants and Advocates, one of the leading law firms of the country. Mr. Raashid Anwer brought together the major industrial groups and investors in Pakistan in a bid to form the Pakistan Agricultural Coalition to make Pakistan's agriculture more business-oriented and private-sector led.
Mr. Shahid Abdullah is a leading businessman of Pakistan and holds multiple directorships in the various entities of the Sapphire Group of Companies. Sapphire Group is a vertically integrated textile manufacture with diversification in the power generation, dairy and retail sectors with more than 24 manufacturing facilities. The group employs over 25,000 employees and exports to over 35 destinations around the globe. At present the group is one of the largest textile exporter of Pakistan with an annual turnover of USD 1 Billion. Mr. Shahid Abdullah is also a director of Abdullah Foundation which has been a sustained supporter of numerous educational projects in Pakistan. Abdullah Foundation helped Lahore of Management Sciences (LUMS) in setting up Pakistan's leading business and law schools and is part of Outreach Programme at LUMS. The foundation has set up schools in rural areas to offer free basic education to under privileged children. It is also an active donor of many health care institutes. Abdullah foundation is an active supporter of Hunar Foundation, FAST Classroom in Chiniot and City Grammar School in Kotri. Abdullah Foundation is also an active donor of many health care institutes.
Job Titles:
- Senior Strategy Associate
Rabia has worked as a development professional with experience in public-private partnerships, service delivery and stakeholder engagement across public-private sectors. At Pakistan Agricultural Coalition, she has been supporting Mehrgarh Kasht Private Limited's traceability and sustainability initiative, and is also facilitating Pakistan Agricultural Coalition expand its strategic reach through new public-private partnerships. Previously, Rabia has worked at one of the leading international crop insurance tech companies, Pula Advisors, in 2022, and has experience in project management, service delivery and stakeholder management from her work at the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives (IDEAS) Pakistan, where she worked as a Project Manager for the Human Development Cluster. She holds an MPA (Master of Public Administration) from Cornell University.
Saffa Imran graduated from Lahore School of Economics with a degree in Economics & Political Science. She has been working at Pakistan Agricultural Coalition as a Strategy Asscoiate for the last two years with a focus on project management and coordination for the Traceable & Sustainable Cotton Cultivation Project. She has previous experience working as a Research Associate in the Innovation and Technology Center of the Lahore School for three years, which involved data collection and analysis for three issues of the Lahore School Business Confidence Survey, and has also assisted the Dean of Economics in co-authoring a report on "The Impact of Coronavirus on Exports 2020."
Job Titles:
- Development Consultant
- Senior Strategy Associate
Shan is a development consultant with almost 8 years of experience in designing, strategizing, management, and evaluation of multifaceted agriculture projects. He has been working on PAC's initiatives for revival of cotton cultivation and improving financial inclusion of farmers. He has also co-authored a report for IFC on identifying hurdles for scale-up of the electronic warehouse receipts regime with a deep dive into four major agricultural value chains. Previously, he has worked with CropLife Pakistan as a Research Manager where he led a market assessment of Pakistan's crop protection industry and has also been a consultant for a study by Oxford Policy Management on climate resilient agriculture. He holds a Master's degree in Public Administration (MPA) from Cornell University with a concentration in International Development and a specific focus on private sector-led agricultural development.