NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Roshaneh Zafar is the founder and managing director of Kashf Foundation, Pakistan’s first specialised Microfinance institution targeting women micro-entrepreneurs through a host of financial and non-financial services. Ms. Zafar worked with the World Bank in Islamabad in the Water and Sanitation department for several years prior to setting up the Foundation. Ms. Zafar was one of the first Ashoka Fellows in Pakistan and has been a Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur since 2004. Ms. Zafar has also been awarded the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, one of Pakistan s highest civilian awards, by the President of Pakistan for her work in the field of development and women’s empowerment and was also awarded the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2007 and the Vital Voices award for Economic Empowerment in 2010.  Ms. Zafar sits on the board of several institutions including the Finca Microfinance Bank, the Pakistan Microfinance Network, the Micro Insurance Network, the BEES network, the Punjab Social Protection Board and Kaarvaan Crafts. She has also served as a member of the Prime Minister’s Taskforce on Austerity and Federal Government restructuring, and writes regularly for the Dawn. Ms. Zafar is a graduate of the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, USA and also holds a Master’s degree in Development Economics from Yale University, USA.