Please join the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center and the American Pakistan Foundation for a discussion on the role of censorship on Pakistan’s innovation landscape. On October 9, Pakistan became the latest to ban TikTok, a wildly addictive video-sharing app owned by Chinese parent company Bytedance. Ten days later, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority rescinded the decision after receiving assurance from the company it would moderate content according to local laws. The panelists will discuss the implications of bans on social media applications, their impact on local markets, and more.
Speakers:
Uzair Younus is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the South Asia Center and works full-time at Dhamiri, an innovation firm helping companies align their business competencies with public good needs. Prior to joining Dhamiri, Uzair was a Director at Albright Stonebridge Group, where he focused on developing and executing advocacy strategies for companies and nonprofits operating in South Asia. Uzair regularly publishes articles on South Asian politics and economic issues for Dawn, and has been featured on Bloomberg, CNN, and CNBC. He earned his M.A. in Law and Diplomacy with a concentration in Economic Policy and South Asia from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Kalsoom Lakhani is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the South Asia Center and the Founder/CEO of Invest2Innovate, which aims to support and unleash the potential of young entrepreneurs in growth markets like Pakistan. She is also a Partner at i2i Ventures, Invest2Innovate’s early stage investment fund for Pakistan, and the country’s first female-led fund. She has also 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. She was previously a Washington, D.C. co-ambassador for Sandbox, a global network of innovators under 30, and was a World Economic Forum Global Shaper. She was featured in Diplomatic Courier’s Top 99 Foreign Policy Leaders under 33 in 2012, and was named an Ashoka Changemakers/ American Express Emerging Innovator for 2013.
Mubariz Siddiqui is a legal practitioner with extensive experience working with tech startups, VCs, and angel investors in Pakistan. He has represented various startups and investors in financing deals at different stages. Mubariz also guides early stage companies through the applicable regulatory framework to ensure their product is in compliance. Currently he is the General Counsel at Sarmayacar, and Bykea where he heads all legal and compliance matters. He has been practicing law since 2008. In his last position at Hubco, Mubariz was the head of legal for two CPEC power projects in Thar with cumulative project cost of more than USD 1 billion. Previously, Mubariz has worked at RIAA Barker Gillette, and Orr Dignam & Co. He also co-founded a startup Wukla, which he recently exited through a co-founder buyout.
Tania Aidrus is the former Chief Digital Officer of the Government of Pakistan. Prior to this, she was Chief of Staff and Head of Strategic Initiatives on the Next Billion Users (NBU) team at Google, which focused on building new products and services aimed at addressing emerging trends and needs of users in growth markets. Prior to Google, Tania co-founded a mobile health diagnosis company called ClickDiagnostics, focused on connecting rural patients in emerging markets to doctors globally. She also spent a portion of her career consulting for Fortune 500 companies and the US Government at Booz Allen Hamilton. She holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BSc from Brandeis University.