OPEN Lahore hosted Built to Include: A Conversation on Finance, Technology, and Access at Tkxel, bringing together investors and fintech founders to discuss how the conversation around financial services in Pakistan is shifting from inclusion toward financial wellbeing. The central thread of the evening was that giving people access to financial services was only the first step, and that the next chapter lies in helping people save, protect and grow what they earn. The session was moderated by OPEN Lahore General Secretary Shuja Ul Hasan, and was hosted by Umair Javed, Charter Member of OPEN Lahore and CEO of Tkxel, with closing remarks delivered by Malik Danish of Fasset.
The panel featured Khurram Agha, President of OPEN Dallas and Head of USA at Cur8 Capital, Mohsin Termezy, Co-Founder and CEO of Hemaayah, Muhammad Hiraj, Founder and CEO of OneLoad, and Naseer Akhtar, President and CEO of InfoTech Group. Between them, the speakers brought perspectives from investing with purpose, building for the last mile, designing financial systems at scale across different markets, and protecting the blue-collar migrant workers whose earnings sustain so many families at home. The range of backgrounds on the stage gave the discussion both an investor’s view of where capital should go and an operator’s view of what it takes to reach customers who have traditionally been left out of formal finance.
Several ideas stood out during the conversation. Participants argued that access is no longer the finish line, and that the real opportunity now lies in helping people manage and grow their money once they have entered the financial system. They also pointed out that building for the underserved means building across borders, from neighbourhood shops in Pakistan to the migrant workforce in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, since the customers and the families they support are connected across those markets. A third point was that Pakistan is not starting from scratch, because many parts of the financial technology pipeline have already been built, some of them by the people on the stage, and the work ahead is largely about connecting those pieces so that they function as a coherent system.
The visit of Khurram Agha also opened a conversation about closer collaboration between OPEN Lahore and OPEN Dallas, which the organizers said they look forward to building on. OPEN Lahore thanked its President Anwar Kabir, its Board and its Executive team for making the evening possible. The announcement did not give details on attendance, the date of the event or any specific outcomes from the proposed collaboration, so the practical shape of the link between the two chapters is likely to become clearer as discussions continue.
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