Mosharraf Zaidi is a Pakistani-Canadian public policy professional and the founder and CEO of Tabadlab, an

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

-based policy think-tank. He writes a weekly column for ''The News International'' and is a senior advisor for the ''

Albright Stonebridge Group Dentons Global Advisors ASG, formerly Albright Stonebridge Group, is a global business strategy firm based in Washington, D.C., United States. It was created in 2009 through the merger of international consulting firms The Albright Group, founde ...

''. Previously, he served as a Policy Advisor to the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

between 2011 and 2013 under

Hina Rabbani Khar Hina Rabbani Khar (Urdu: ; born 19 November 1977) is a Pakistani politician, who is serving as the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs since 19 April 2022. She was previously appointed in July 2011 as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan at the ...

, the former

Foreign Minister of Pakistan The Minister of Foreign Affairs (or simply the Foreign Minister) is the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Pakistan), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Pakistan. The minister is responsible for overseeing the federal governmen ...

.Profile of Mosharraf Zaidi on World Economic Forum website
Retrieved 21 May 2019

Early life and career

Education

Mosharraf Zaidi completed his B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Economics from the

Lahore University of Management Sciences Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) () is a private research university, located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. In 1983, Syed Babar Ali, a renowned businessman in Pakistan, recognized the shortage of qualified managers in the countr ...

, Pakistan in 1997. He then went to

Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the college operates und ...

of the

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...

in 1999 and completed his Master's degree in Public Administration (MPA) in 2001.

Career

Zaidi's work and analysis covers areas such as education, public policy, emergency relief and reconstruction, telecommunications, technology, trade, and public safety improvement in major cities of Pakistan. From 2005 to 2008 he worked as a Governance Adviser for the

Department for International Development , type = Department , logo = DfID.svg , logo_width = 180px , logo_caption = , picture = File:Admiralty Screen (411824276).jpg , picture_width = 180px , picture_caption = Department for International Development (London office) (far right ...

, and was the team leader for the 2008 UN evaluation program in Afghanistan.Pakistan: The Lost Generation (Profile and Interview of Mosharraf Zaidi)
Public Broadcasting Service (USA) (pbs.org) website, Published November 2009, Retrieved 21 May 2019 He served as the principal Policy Advisor at Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2013, where he helped establish the Public Diplomacy division in 2012. From 2013 to August 2018, he founded and led the

Alif Ailaan Alif Ailaan ( ur, ) was a nonprofit organization working in the field of education in Pakistan from 2013 to 2018. Launched by a team of media and communications specialists, the program aimed to highlight education on priority basis in Pakistan ...

campaign in Pakistan. The campaign was funded by the

and worked towards addressing the education crisis in Pakistan. In 2014, he was recognized as a

Young Global Leader Forum of Young Global Leaders, or Young Global Leaders (YGL), was created by Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum. The YGL, a non-profit organization managed from Geneva, Switzerland, is under the supervision of the Swiss government ...

by the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

for leading a global campaign aimed towards improving the quality of education for children in Pakistan. He has written columns for a number of different newspapers in Pakistan, the United States and the Middle East. He is also widely known for being a vocal critic of the Pakistani government's policies on educational reform and frequently makes recommendations, as a TV and newspaper journalist, to improve public safety in the major cities of Pakistan.

Personal life

Zaidi is a Pakistani-Muslim and belongs to the Urdu-speaking

Muhajir Muhajir or Mohajir ( ar, مهاجر, '; pl. , ') is an Arabic word meaning ''migrant'' (see immigration and emigration) which is also used in other languages spoken by Muslims, including English. In English, this term and its derivatives may refer ...

community. He is also an avid Toronto Maple Leafs fan.

References

Living people Pakistani columnists Pakistani male journalists Pakistani management consultants Year of birth missing (living people) Lahore University of Management Sciences alumni Baruch College alumni {{Pakistan-journalist-stub