Hallar Azad, founder of Mixeal and a member of the startup community at CEGA, the Centre of Excellence in Gaming and Animation, has been elected as a Board Member of the International Game Developers Association Pakistan’s Karachi Chapter, joining four other newly elected members across Lahore and Islamabad in a board that will collectively support the development and growth of Pakistan’s game development ecosystem. The election marks a recognition of Azad’s standing within the Pakistani gaming and creative technology community and places a startup founder from within the CEGA ecosystem in a position of institutional influence over one of the more significant professional bodies in the country’s game development landscape.
IGDA Pakistan serves as the local chapter of the International Game Developers Association, a global non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting and connecting game developers across the world. Its Pakistan chapters in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad provide a structured community and professional development framework for game developers who are otherwise building their careers and companies in relative isolation from the global industry networks that their counterparts in more established gaming markets can access more easily. Board members play a direct role in shaping the programmes, priorities, and partnerships that determine how effectively IGDA Pakistan serves that developer community, making the composition of each newly elected board a matter of consequence for the wider ecosystem.
Alongside Hallar Azad representing Karachi, the newly constituted board includes Saadaan Waqar and Nimra Sardar from the Lahore chapter and Hasnad Lodhi and Shahrukh Khan from the Islamabad chapter, bringing together five members whose combined experience and networks span Pakistan’s three main gaming and technology hubs. The geographic distribution of the board reflects IGDA Pakistan’s intent to build a community and governance structure that serves game developers across the country rather than concentrating its attention and resources in any single city. Azad expressed particular gratitude to IGDA Pakistan’s Muhammad Hilal and Bilal Cheema for their trust in supporting his election, framing his role on the board as a contribution to a mission he intends to serve with whatever influence the position affords him.
For CEGA and the broader startup community it supports under Ignite and the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, Azad’s election represents a concrete example of the kind of ecosystem leadership that emerges when gaming and creative technology founders are given the environment and the support to develop their ventures and their professional standing simultaneously. A startup founder sitting on the board of IGDA Pakistan’s Karachi Chapter is positioned to create connections between the incubation infrastructure that CEGA provides and the professional community that IGDA Pakistan convenes, potentially opening pathways for collaboration, talent development, and ecosystem building that benefit both institutions and the wider game development community they serve.
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