Foodpreneurship Mentors

Usama Ahmed

Being a revolutionary in Pakistan’s growing culinary industry is not a small feat., and Usama has achieved that with his idea of MasterClass Pakistan. He has taken it upon himself to promote the global age of cooking, and endorses distinctive hands-on approach of teaching culinary techniques to amateurs and experts. His marketing excellence has transformed the hospitality game in Pakistan, and has lead to MasterClass Pakistan’s recognition both nationally and internationally.

Atif Iqbal

Atif is one talented individual with experience in financial literacy, leadership, communication channels, faculty development and entrepreneurship. He’s currently working in one of the top business schools of Karachi and has an enriched experience of working with Junior Achievement – Pakistan Chapter (Injaz Pakistan) as head of programs. He’s also designed and implemented a training program for Imtiaz Super Market, through which more than one thousand employees have been trained. He’s been a part of a number of successful projects, and has also been awarded Employee of the Year for outstanding performance by Aman Foundation.

Yousuf Ikram

A seasoned senior baker, Yousuf Ikram has enriched over 15 years of experience in the corporate, social and academic sector. He’s an active speaker, trainer, teacher and mentor for the youth and is serving as a visiting faculty in one of the top business schools of Karachi, teaching research, business modeling, entrepreneurship, small business finance and risk management.

Nadia Patel Gangjee

Nadia isn’t a new name for women entrepreneurs. Her platform – Sheops – has enabled hundreds of women to be a part of Pakistan’s first online marketplace for women. She’s led the company to win prestigious national and international awards including P@sha’s Best ICT Startup Award 2016, and APICTA Silver Award in Inclusion and Community in 2016. Sher has also represented this platform in the digital divide for women at a high-level UN Women and EU Commission’s conference in Brussels in April 2018.

Nadia is a therapeutic counselor and marketer turned entrepreneur, and is a strong advocate of women’s economic empowerment. She’s also an alumna of FbStart 2.0 2018 which is Facebook’s invite-only accelerator program for 14 high potential startups. Her story was featured on Facebook Business in 2017 and in the keynote speech of F8 in 2018

She is also a business coach mentoring early stage businesses and a lead trainer for Facebook’s SheMeansBusiness Program in Pakistan.

Chef Aisha Waris

Her first exposure to professional kitchen was in L’Atelier Des Chefs at the Le Meridien, Dubai. That passion for culinary arts held no boundaries as she joined Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts and completed her Certificate De Cuisiner in 2014. The hotel industry was her next step, followed by becoming an entrepreneur when Chef Aisha started her home based business “Sel & Sucre”. She’s also completed a confectionary technology course from the Chocolate Academy in Dubai. Then her teaching instincts kicked in and thus, joined MasterClass Pakistan in 2017.

Osamah Ghauri

Founder and principal architect at Doodling Studio, Osamah is a graduate from NED university and has a Master’s degree in Project Management from IoBM. Mr. Ghauri has worked with several renowned architects in Karachi before founding his firm, and he’s the brilliant mind behind the much loved MasterClass Pakistan kitchen. He’s experienced in providing design consultancy in Karachi’s residential, commercial, industrial, educational, interior, hospitality and retail sector, and this diverse experience brings a unique perspective to any project he’s a part of.

His work also includes design for Ala Rasi, New York Pizza (North Nazimabad), Maskan Mandi, Itecknologi head office, Sindlab head office, Marvi Rice Mill, SME Rice Mill, The Orchid Schools, Mesol Showroom, Gulshan Public School and countless others.

Syed Azfar Hussain

With a diverse set of expertise in media, communication, hospitality, management, marketing, event management and administration, Syed Azfar brings a lot of knowledge to the table. He’s currently the Program Manager at NIC, Karachi and was previously associated with a number of other incubation centers. He’s also an advisor to Entrepreneurship Development Fund and Pakistan Academic Consortium. Azfar is also a member of the board of advisory in ORIC at Jinnah University for Women.

Mr. Hussain believes in strengthening in entrepreneurial landscape of Pakistan. He is also actively engaged in working with multiple stakeholders towards the growth of entrepreneurship in Pakistan.