Today’s episode is with Halima Iqbal, the CEO and founder at Oraan, a financial company that helps women access financial services.

A former investment banker and consultant with 8 years of experience, Halima moved back to Pakistan in 2017 after a decade in North America with a drive to make finance inclusive and simple for the underserved millions. She is the only female executive in the Pakistan Fintech Association.

Along with her finance background she is a certified chef and co-founded Mealsurfers (food-tech) which was acquired in 2016.

We dive into the following:

- Why she created Oraan after her initial inability to create a bank account in Pakistan

- Her flagship product, Committees and how it works

- What it is really like to be a founder, and how to deal with challenges

- How she navigated the fundraising journey and the advice she would tell new founders

- How her team navigated through the pandemic

Stay tuned for upcoming episodes with startup founders in the Middle East and North Africa!

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