The structural development framework of Pakistan is seeing a deliberate transition away from isolated micro level programs toward unified, system wide integration. Karandaaz Pakistan has significantly accelerated its nationwide campaign to weave gender equity directly into the core fabric of the national digital and financial ecosystem. Operating under its dedicated Women Economic and Digital Inclusion initiative, the development enterprise recently brought together the top tier leadership of prominent commercial banks, regulatory bodies, and international developmental networks for a high level strategy session titled Driving Systemic Change for Women Economic Inclusion.
The specialized forum functioned as a central platform to reinforce institutional commitments and showcase a series of targeted operational programs engineered to dismantle persistent gender related economic imbalances. During the sessions, speakers highlighted the pressing requirement to resolve the country’s significant gender gap, noting that female labor force participation currently lingers below twenty five percent. Furthermore, data pulled from the Karandaaz Financial Inclusion Survey 2024 revealed that women account for an exceptionally small share of formal financial account ownership, standing at just fourteen percent nationwide.
To systematically advance national financial inclusion priorities, the organization utilized the event to officially unveil its evolving institutional Gender Strategy, presented by Samia Salik, the Gender Lead at Karandaaz. The reveal was accompanied by multiple milestone project announcements and partner spotlights. Speaking at the opening assembly, Karandaaz Pakistan Board Member Carol Coye Benson explained that the institution is actively focusing on constructing digital financial frameworks that are inclusive by design, noting that interoperable digital pathways are necessary to unlock massive untapped economic potential and bring underserved women into the formal financial fold.
A major operational highlight of the event was the formal execution of contract signings for the Financial Inclusion for Women Challenge Round 5, establishing fresh field execution agreements with Mobilink Microfinance Bank Limited and the Manzil Organization. Backed by capital injections from Karandaaz, Mobilink Bank will work to onboard fifty thousand female farmers and agricultural workers by deploying specialized digital banking workflows through its Dost smartphone application. This program combines core digital financial literacy with free healthcare coverage and dedicated savings instruments. Concurrently, the Manzil Organization will deploy a program to empower nine thousand rural women across Balochistan by transferring direct land ownership rights, distributing agricultural input kits, and constructing dedicated community marketplaces within the Naseerabad region.
The event also featured the Women Ventures Showcase, which introduced a strategic investment framework designed to close the financing gap currently restricting educational small and medium enterprises. Presented by Shumaila Rifaqat, Director of Innovation Investments at Karandaaz, and Kamran Azeem, Chief Executive Officer of Taleem Finance, the venture targets the growth capital requirements of low cost private schools that are completely bypassed by traditional commercial credit lines. By deploying tailored investment funds, the joint effort intends to systematically expand classroom capacities and upgrade basic school physical structures, creating secure learning environments that directly improve educational retention rates for young girls.
The strategic forum concluded with an interactive panel discussion moderated by policy expert Aysha Shujaat, featuring prominent inputs from corporate leaders including Jazz CEO Aamir Hafeez Ibrahim, Interloop Chairman Musadaq Zulqarnain, UN Women Representative Jamshed M. Kazi, and the Asian Development Bank’s Sana Masood, who critically evaluated regulatory setups to sustain ecosystem alignment. In her keynote address, Dr Elena Mylona from the British High Commission in Islamabad emphasized that sustaining inclusive growth requires institutionalizing changes across active markets, a sentiment echoed by Karandaaz Chairperson Syed Salim Raza, who concluded that the group is fully committed to embedding women’s inclusion across its entire investment, innovation, and ecosystem portfolio to bridge digital access gaps permanently.
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