Who we are

Invest2Innovate is committed to supporting startup communities in growth markets.

We've been a pioneer in the Pakistan startup ecosystem since 2011 & have expanded our work to support players in the region.

OUR COMMUNITY

At Invest2Innovate, we have built an amazing community of mentors, investors, partners, and friends who make what we do in Pakistan possible. As Brad Feld, the co-founder of Techstars, wrote in Startup Communities, “Building a startup community is not a zero-sum game in which there are winners and losers; if everyone engages, they and the entire community can all be winners.”

We are passionate about developing the life cycle for entrepreneurs – from partnering with incubators and startups competitions that produce ideas that can be fed into the Invest2Innovate pipeline, to working with local and international investors who our entrepreneurs can access for future funding. We want to see success stories emerge from growth markets like Pakistan, which means collaborating with all stakeholders in the startup ecosystem to better support the growth of these companies. It also speaks to the growth of our own work since 2011, and how we take an ecosystem-based approach in how we operate.

MEET OUR TEAM

Kalsoom Lakhani

Founder and Partner, i2i Ventures

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Founder

KALSOOM LAKHANI

Kalsoom has 10+ years of experience working with startups in Pakistan and the region. She founded Invest2Innovate in 2011, and is also a Co-Founder/General Partner of i2i Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund for Pakistan, and the country’s first female-led fund. She has trained young entrepreneurs, changemakers, and civil society leaders in Kosovo, Nepal, Cambodia, Ireland, Bangladesh, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, and has spoken at numerous venues, including the World Economic Forum, Aspen Ideas Festival, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. State Department, the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, and the Global Entrepreneurship Congress. Kalsoom is currently a nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and a member of the American Pakistan Foundation’s Leadership Council.

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Mehvish Arifeen

CEO

MEHVISH ARIFEEN

Mehvish Arifeen is an experienced Co-Founder and Women's Socio-Economic Inclusion and Business Development expert. She has a demonstrated history of 10 years in creating diverse interventions for urban and rural, women led micro,small and medium enterprises. She is specialized in Gender Mainstreaming, Financial Inclusion, Market Research, Operations and Cross-Sector collaborations. Mehvish is an entrepreneur and strategic management professional who strives to innovate and implement programs and market based solutions that empower communities and reduce the gender gap. She has a Master’s Degree in International Business and Human Security from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Hamza Masud

Business &
Operations Lead

Business & Operations Lead

Hamza Masud

Hamza specializes in operations management, training, community building, event management and finance. He has helped multiple business owners leverage technology to grow their businesses and is running a small business of his own in a small town in Punjab. In roles, Hamza has worked with clients like USIP, CocaCola, EngroPower Gen, Mobilink, Google Cultural Institute and many more. He has also been part of a community volunteer network of Google Business Group. Hamza loves to travel and is an avid sportsman, who likes to play golf and squash.

Ambareen Baig

Insights
Lead

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Insights Lead

Ambareen Baig

Ambareen Baig is a research professional well acquainted with the startup ecosystem in Pakistan. After starting out her career as an educator, she moved on as a Fulbright scholar for a masters in Educational Psychology from the University of Arizona (UofA). Other than teaching research methodologies at the undergraduate level at her alma mater, she also served as a Global Ambassador for international students at the UofA. She has worked on youth development projects in Pakistan through the School of Leadership (SoL) where she brought two UNICEF projects to fruition while spearheading SoL’s community space, the Hangout Space. Currently, she is working at invest2innovate (i2i) as Head of Insights where she gets to do what she loves inherently - data and research. In addition to coauthoring i2i's bimonthly data driven newsletter, she has authored/co-authored several publications at i2i including Pakistan Startup Ecosystem Report (2019), COVID & its Impact on Pakistani Startups (2020), KP Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Report (2021), and more. She loves to make an impact on the startup ecosystem in the country by bringing equity to the use and dissemination of data and information.

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Sidra Amin

Programs
Lead

Special Projects Lead

Sidra Amin

Sidra Amin was previously the co-founder and Director Events at Daastan, a social enterprise working in the publishing industry. At Daastan, Sidra worked with multiple SMBs and non-profits for content development as well as community events for social impact. She has conducted over 100 events across Pakistan for mobilizing readers and writers. She has also worked in product development at Daastan for literature preservation and has helped Daastan publish over 300 books. Through Daastan, Sidra has been an active part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem since 2015. Apart from this, Sidra has led Young Women Writers’ Forum Pakistan, a non-profit working for providing a platform to women writers. Sidra has her degree in Mechatronics Engineering from UET Peshawar, and runs book clubs on weekends in Peshawar and Islamabad.

Ahmed Niaz

Research
Analyst

Research Analyst

Ahmed NIAZ

Ahmed brings with him a prior professional background in Management Consulting and Policy Research. With previously completed project engagements within developmental institutions and for-profit organizations, his skillset primarily consists of deploying qualitative techniques and quantitative analytics in data aggregation and end-level analyses.
He is presently working at i2i as a Research Analyst as part of the Insights team.

Armeen Khan

Programs
Coordinator

Programs Associate

Armeen Khan

Armeen is a graduate from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) with Bachelors in Accounting and Finance. During her undergraduate, she worked on a research project which focused on the success rate of Incubation Centers in Pakistan and that is what made her consider pursuing a career in this field. At i2i, Armeen has gotten the chance to not only grow professionally but also personally. Working on numerous different projects has given her the opportunity to get to know and understand the entrepreneurial ecosystem even better. Currently she’s working at i2i as the Programs Associate

Duaa Asif

Jr. Lead Marketing and Communications

Jr. Lead Marketing and Communications

Duaa Asif

Duaa is a Digital Marketing professional with an extensive portfolio of projects demonstrating skills across various digital marketing activities. Her strengths include managing PR and influencers, developing successful social media end-to-end campaigns, managing and optimizing social media channels, and designing and implementing effective content strategies. She runs her consultancy by the name of Thru Stories, based on PR and Influencer marketing. As part of the consultancy, Duaa has been working with different clients, particularly in social enterprises, including SOLF
and Hashoo Foundation. Aside from work, Duaa loves exploring food eateries and blogging about it.

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Umar Farooq

Operations
Associate

Operations Associate

Umar Farooq

Umar did his bachelors from International Islamic University. His forte includes skills in accounting, finance, operations, event management and media. He has worked with numerous clients which include USIP, British Council, UNDP, and UN women. He is also in the organizing team of TEDxIslamabad. He loves to explore northern areas of Pakistan. He is a sportsman and loves to play cricket and badminton.

Merai Syed

Director
Programs

Director Programs

Merai Syed

Merai has joined the team as Director Programs and will be supporting the Programs teams. Merai is passionate about strengthening the entrepreneurship ecosystem. Through her expertise and extensive experience in the local and global startup ecosystem, she helped build and deliver over 500 technology high growth products and services from idea to series A stage across various markets around the world.

Sarwat Rattani

Lead Special Projects

Lead Special Projects

Sarwat Rattani

Sarwat is passionate about impact-driven businesses. Her long-term professional and voluntary service in the non-profit sector combined with professional experience in the social sector helped her understand the importance of a sustainable business model to address the triple bottom line. As a result, she opted for MBA in Social Change and Sustainability through the Fulbright platform to have a well-rounded skill set so she could advise and support businesses and startups working in this sector. Sarwat is excited about businesses pushing the envelope in Pakistan and hopes to contribute to their success through her work.