Region: South and Central Asia
Nima Namdari
Nima Namdari is a social entrepreneur, technology professional, and a fighter to end poverty. He has played a key role in founding or growing eight startups with tens of millions of users, most of which empower low-income people. He is CEO of Karnameh, a platform for empowering low-income blue-collar freelancers in the auto industry. He is also Co-Founder of Baloot Saving, a fintech startup that helps families without pensions to save money. Nima has over two decades of experience in the technology industry, having worked in both the public and private sectors. He was the senior advisor of the Tehran City Council on transparency and smart city planning. Nima also…
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Roba El Husseini
Roba El Husseini is a journalist, having spent the past decade working with the French news agency AFP in Beirut, covering war-torn Syria and crisis-hit Lebanon, relaying breaking news and resulting human tragedies. Roba has reported on numerous military operations launched by various actors in Syria—a country bursting with regional and global powers. She has also deployed multiple times to Syria and Iraq to cover battles against the Islamic State group in Mosul, Raqa, and the jihadists’ last stronghold of Baghouz. In Lebanon, Roba covered the unprecedented 2019 protests against a corrupt ruling elite, the deadly Beirut port blast, and years of economic fallout that threaten to push the country…
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Priya Pillai
Priya Pillai is an international lawyer with over two decades of experience, globally recognized for deep legal expertise in international law and advocacy to effect change. Priya leads the Asia Justice Coalition, focused on international justice and accountability, helming it since inception. The coalition has been key to efforts to hold the Burmese military accountable by supporting legal proceedings in international and domestic courts. Under her leadership, a new multi-year program to enhance leadership of women in international law across Asian jurisdictions has commenced, intended to dismantle systemic barriers. Previously, Priya worked at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on trials in the Balkans, and on global humanitarian issues at…
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Shamil Ibragimov
Shamil Ibragimov is a highly experienced professional with over 17 years of expertise in the fields of social development, local governance, and media development. He previously served as the Executive Director of Soros Foundation Kyrgyzstan, an affiliated part of the Open Society Foundation, where he established himself as a prominent figure in civil society development, anti-corruption initiatives, community mobilization, and social accountability. In addition to his professional work, he is a co-founder of Ilim Educational Complex, the oldest private school in Kyrgyzstan, where he holds position of Director for International Programs and Development and founder of Ilim College, an innovative professional education institution that prepares students for the challenges of the…
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Hussain Nadim
Hussain Nadim is a renowned policy expert, innovator, and a published author. He pioneered the use of data analytics and digital technologies to transform the policy sector and assist policy leaders in Pakistan with evidence-based decisions that serve public good. Hussain has held key policy positions, including serving as Executive Director of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute at the Prime Minister’s Office of Pakistan and as Special Assistant to the Federal Minister for Planning & Development & Reforms. He was also a member of the Prime Minister’s Special Committee on Digital Media and Forensics and Chief Minister’s Committee on Web 3.0. Additionally, Hussain has served as a Senior Policy Expert…
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Azizullah "Aziz" Royesh
Azizullah "Aziz" Royesh is a leading advocate for equal access to primary and secondary education and Founder of Marefat High School for Afghan refugees in Pakistan. With a focus on critical thinking and human rights, the school flourished and eventually moved to Afghanistan in 2002, where it now teaches more than 3500 Afghan students, about half of whom are girls. Marefat High School has become a highly respected and well-known model for a new approach to community-building in Afghanistan. Aziz has written textbooks on humanism, human rights, democracy, social studies, and Quranic interpretation and is a frequent speaker on the concept of a tolerant community. Aziz and his colleagues established…
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Raheel Khursheed
Raheel Khursheed has 15+ years of experience helping global tech firms grow exponentially. In very short periods of time, he has helped launch some of the world’s most popular tech firms in some of the world’s toughest markets. Currently splitting time between Toronto, Boston, and Kashmir, Raheel is the co-founder of Laminar, a 21st Century Streaming/Video infrastructure OS/platform. Prior to Laminar, Raheel successfully co-founded Anthro.ai, an AI X Anthropology startup that specializes in supercharged insights at scale. Anthro.ai continues to deliver high quality research projects to a select set of global clients. Before taking the entrepreneurial route, Raheel led Snapchat in India as their sole expert guiding the integration of…
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Bakhodir Ganiev
Bakhodir Ganiev is a consultant to the Asian Development Bank where he consults on issues of education, finance, and small business development. A native of Uzbekistan, he also works to advance its economic growth, social transformation, and political modernization, and supports active participation of youth in development processes. He previously chaired the Central Council of the Civic Movement of Youth of Uzbekistan "Kamolot", the largest NGO in the country, which has over 4 million members. He is also a member of boards of numerous organizations and many minister-level state commissions, including commissions on prevention of human trafficking, AIDS, and juvenile crime. A member of the Liberal Democratic Party, he was elected to…
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Imtiaz Ali
Imtiaz Ali is a Non-Resident Fellow with the Center for Global Policy – a Washington D.C.-based non-partisan think tank working exclusively on issues at the intersection of U.S. foreign policy and Muslim geopolitics. He is currently based in Washington D.C. and working as a public policy analyst and consultant focusing on political, security, development, and media-related issues related to Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the wider South Asia region. Imtiaz was born in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, where he worked for several years as a journalist for local and foreign media organizations such as the Washington Post, London’s Daily Telegraph, BBC, and prominent Pakistani newspapers The News and Dawn. He…
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Manasi Subramaniam
Manasi Subramaniam is Editor-in-Chief at Penguin Random House India, where she heads the literary division's flagship imprints: Allen Lane, Viking, Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Paperbacks, Penguin Classics. She has published some of the most exciting new voices across South Asia, including two winners of the Booker Prize, one winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and several winners and finalists of international awards including the National Book Awards, Folio, JCB, Andrew Carnegie Medal, Women’s Prize, Desmond Elliott, among others. Manasi has been recognized for her contributions to global publishing and has been invited to the Frankfurt Buchmesse fellowship, the Bureau International de l'Édition Française fellowship, the Australia Council for the Arts Visiting International Publishers…
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