A new chapter for youth, technology and impact began in Karachi with the Pathfinder CITADEL Karachi Chapter Launch, bringing together young leaders, industry professionals, academia and technology stakeholders for dialogue and connections meant to extend well beyond the event itself. The programme opened with a welcome address from Air Commodore (Retired) Khalid Banuri, followed by a keynote from Jehan Ara, Founder and CEO of Katalyst Labs, on Youth, Technology and the Future of Pakistan, From Youth Potential to National Impact, setting the tone for a wide ranging evening of speakers drawn from government, academia, industry and civil society.
The event also featured perspectives from Murtaza Lashari, Curator at Global Shapers Karachi, speaking on Youth as Partners in Change, and Muhammad Salman Ali, CEO of VRG, who addressed From Potential to Participation, Unlocking the Power of Youth and Women in Pakistan’s Digital Future. These talks framed youth engagement not as a passive beneficiary role but as an active, participatory one, with speakers pushing the audience to think about how young people and women specifically can shape the country’s digital direction rather than simply following it.
A panel discussion on From Youth Potential to National Impact brought together Syed Azfar Hussain, Project Director at NIC Karachi, Dr. Samreen Hussain, Vice Chancellor of Dawood University of Engineering and Technology Karachi, Kapeel Kumar, Regional Head of Digital Underwriting and Founder of The Founders Space, and Mansoor Aamir, Co-Founder of Ovel Metaverse, moderated by Eishah of Global Shapers Karachi. The mix of panelists, spanning incubation, academia, insurance technology and the metaverse space, gave the discussion a cross-sector view of how national impact might actually be built from youth potential rather than treating the two as automatically connected.
The programme also featured an interactive audience engagement session led by Qamar Abbas of Global Shapers Karachi, along with remarks from Air Commodore (Retired) Farhan Ahmed, Director and COO of Pathfinder CITADEL, on The Pathway Ahead. The evening closed with remarks from Ikram Sehgal, Co-Chairman of Pathfinder Group, followed by networking among attendees. Held in collaboration with Global Shapers Karachi, the launch created a platform for a wide mix of perspectives to converge around youth development, technology, innovation and the changing nature of work, with organizers describing the Karachi Chapter as the beginning of a longer journey toward building an engaged, forward looking community in the city.
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