Enterprising empowerment

Qurat-ul-ain Siddiqi (Annie)

Owner, Slate Kitchen & Café

Slate is a neighborhood fast casual eatery — a place where the nearby community meets and connects through the love of food, music and good vibes. Whether you’re a passionate carnivore looking for the best juicy briskets and burgers, going out for a family breakfast during the weekend or just craving for a cup of coffee, Slate is the right choice. Inspired by visits during various family holidays and business trips. Annie and her family got to experience some of the best smoked meat houses around the world and closer to home in KSA where food is served on slates. Those were the experiences that left a mark and as a result, Annie started a passion journey into the smoked meats and coffee world.

Nestled in the flourishing Hayat Boulevard in Town Square, Slate brings the combination of the best ingredients, masterful meat smoking and great energy in a progressive yet comfortable environment and vibrant atmosphere that makes every visit to Slate a memorable one. The café is opening soon to serve you.

Maheen Hemani

Creative Director, Hemani Group

To say that Hemani Group is now one of the biggest manufacturers of natural and herbal products would be an understatement, especially when one considers the achievements of the group and its contribution by Maheen Hemani, Creative Director.

Joining the business in 2017, Maheen’s vision has helped the family-run brand ‘Hemani’ become one of the biggest Pakistani brands internationally with over 1,500 products in more than 83 countries worldwide.

The success has not gone unnoticed! The company has been awarded numerous times as the Best Exporter and also as Brand of the Year, and the dynamic vision of Maheen in the field of marketing and designing has led the brand to be recognised for its design and packaging around the world.

Hemani as a group believes in allowing women to demonstrate their talents and Maheen is a prime example, where her skills have helped the company reach new international heights.

Maryam Umar

Director, MIH Group

Leadership is based on executing a vision into reality. Since the 1970s, the groups’ journey required strategic planning and adaptability

MIH group is one of the leading suppliers of building materials in the GCC market. It strives to focus on service and provide high-quality innovative products to our customers. We specialise in over 13,000 products. Our procurement sector adapts to the market’s needs. Our vision is to expand our presence in multiple segments of building materials across the region with an emphasis on expanding and improving our supply network. The group has been serving 40 years in the construction industry.

The group specialises in the import and wholesale of aluminium profiles, aluminium sheets, glass, accessories, types of MDF, commercial plywood, marine plywood, and all types of timber materials, as well as an extensive stock available of materials in various sizes, specifications, and finishes.

“On this joyous occasion, I wish everyone a Happy Pakistan Independence Day!”

Tania Chaudhry

CEO, HCC Middle East

On the occasion of the 75th Pakistan Independence Day, HCC stands by its commitment to further the image of Pakistan in an international space with a deep sense of pride and heritage.

HCC Middle East is a rapidly growing Dubai based business technology company, offering IT consulting in the MENA region. From ERP implementations, mobile applications to developing industry specific solutions, our company works on a problem solving model. In a span of four years, we have expanded the horizon of HCC with founding the HCC Labs and HCC Foundation to develop award winning problem-solving IT solutions for our business community and simultaneously promoting female inclusion in the IT space with the sole mandate of closing the gender gap in this field in Pakistan.

As a woman leading a business technology company in the UAE, Tania Chaudhry takes pride in harnessing the upcoming talent in our Pakistani youth, in particular low income women, providing them opportunities in the field of Information technology in the Middle East.

Saima Asghar Riaz

CEO and Co-Founder, StEPS

Saima Asghar Riaz, CEO and Co-Founder of StEPS, a one-stop platform for students and professionals looking to advance their academic and professional careers with unbiased and transparent advice from our highly qualified industry professionals. Riaz is a TESOL qualified Warwick alumna who is a British Council trained language assessment professional and has extensive teaching and teacher training experience. She has taught English at Kinnaird College for Women in its English Language Teaching, and Applied Linguistics master’s degrees, and for undergraduate degrees at the University of Warwick, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and the Virtual University of Pakistan.

She is the Founding Director for Faculty Development and Internationalisation at Lahore College for Women University (LCWU), Pakistan, where she set up a Faculty Development Centre, an International Resource Centre and Pakistan’s first university-level mandatory Citizenship programme in collaboration with the British Council.

Anum Baqai

Director, Onlinist FZE

‘ist’, which means a follower of a distinctive practice, defines ‘OnlinIST’

A boutique digital agency backed by more than 20 years of experience in the IT world of creating and innovating the internet, represented by an in-depth understanding of the local market.

We enjoy immersing ourselves in your business to achieve results that align with your revenue driven strategic objectives.

Our sweet spot is automation, where we are on a mission to optimise the processes and reduce operational costs by utilising our impeccable skills.

Come and create your ‘digital asset’ now.

Samina Nasir

Samina Nasir is a professional and energetic educationist and leader with a history of 35 years of spearheading the educational field with remarkable achievements in both academic and strategic management, currently working as Director of the Sarhad University of Science and IT, RAK.

She is highly instrumental in supporting schools by arranging educational workshops and is the first elected lady as an Educational And Personal Development Director in the Pakistan Association Dubai (PAD) 2009 and headed the Education Committee in PAD for the past 11 years for Pakistani schools. She has served Pakistani community schools as the Chairperson of the Sports Committee under the umbrella of the Pakistan Consulate in Dubai and received several awards, including a Pakistan Award from Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the UAE’s Minister for Tolerance and Coexistence on Pakistan Independence Day in 2017.

“I greatly wish to equip our future generations with the right knowledge and skills to promote the soft image of Pakistan all over the world.”

Haseeba Mohsin

Kintsugi Coach

Mohsin is a women’s empowerment coach who seeks to raise awareness about toxic relationship issues faced by women in Pakistan and beyond. She brings experience from various industries such as IT, education and healthcare. Her passion for helping people has been ingrained since her youth. Her qualifications include a Ba Hons in Human Resources and an MSc in Occupational Psychology. She is also a certified MCMI, CMP, NLP, ICF member, Personal Development coach and hypnosis expert.

Since then, she has successfully coached women from different parts of the world with different ethnicities. As Covid-19 affected the whole world, she got involved as a volunteer coach with Tamkeen-Pakistan Association Dubai and UV Consultants CSR initiative ‘Because we care’.

“After a breakdown, it is natural to feel vulnerable and have a negative self-image. In such circumstances, it is a true blessing to have someone as a coach who has gone through this ordeal themselves and become a more confident person. This is the reason why I named my coaching business ‘Kintsugi,” she said.

Hajra Nazir — MBA (Executive), LLB, PGDAE, B Com

Corporate Advisory/Consultancy Division, VASS International Auditing and Consultants

Nazir is a corporate advisory expert having experience in multi-jurisdictional corporate set-ups in the UAE for more than 15 years. She has worked for one of the top five international accounting firms. She has extensive experience and assisted more than 1,000 companies to register and have a presence in the UAE. She is responsible for setting up and leading PBC’s corporate advisory/consultancy division in the UAE. She is a dynamic and results-oriented professional with a proven track record of delivering key projects and bringing value services to customers. She has hands-on experience in business setup, registered agent management, strategic/business planning and marketing.

“I am taking this opportunity to convey my heartfelt love to all the Pakistanis as they celebrate this special day. Pakistan is a nation that is built on harmony, peace, prosperity, and development. From the lessons of independence, there’s no struggle that can be a success without women participating side by side with men. We have to start today and value the efforts of each other. On this special day, may Allah shower our country with blessings. Wishing a Happy Independence Day!”

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