Dr. Bilal Zafar – Head of Incubation Center
Bilal Zafar is an engineer, team builder, and an amateur teacher.
Bilal joined UCP as Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering three days before Takhleeq was inaugurated. Prior to that, he worked as Principle Engineer and team lead at Qualcomm – a San-Diego, California-based telecommunications & semi-conductor company.
At Qualcomm, Bilal’s team created a vertically integrated ASIC design flow in an organization that was horizontally sliced. Working like a startup within a traditional semiconductor company, his team’s work unlocked huge savings in NRE cost, cut the design cycle time to almost half and improved product KPIs across the board. All of this was built because of a team culture that valued camaraderie, innovation and disciplined execution above all else.
Bilal holds PhD and MSc, both in Computer Engineering from the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, and a BSc in Electronics Engineering from GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, in Topi, KPK.
Mr. Uzair Shahid – Senior Manager Incubation
Uzair has over 10 years of rigorous industry experience in both Public and Private sector, having ample experience of Business Process Reengineering, Designing, Developing, Deploying and giving support for the Management Systems and IT solutions by working in some of the top brands in the country like Shapes Health Club and Beaconhouse Group. He has helped startups achieve their dreams by heading the pioneer Technology Business Incubation program (Plan9) under the aegis of Punjab Government, Pakistan. Plan9 is now the largest tech incubator of the country with thousands of aspiring young entrepreneurs looking up to it for getting the initial support and mentor-ship for their startups. He has also lead and executed several E-Government Initiatives by Punjab IT Board over the past 2 years including direct agriculture subsidy programs and a digital payment platform for the government.
Uzair was also nominated in the pioneer IVLP (International Visitors Leadership Program) in Entrepreneurship by US Department of State, for the work and contribution in promoting entrepreneurship at a national level. Only 4 individuals from the country were directly nominated in the coveted program which gave in-depth insights into how the Incubation Centers across US have laid a strong base for the startup ecosystem.
He holds a Bachelors in Computer Science from FAST National University Lahore and is also a certified Project Management Professional from Project Management Institute (USA).
Hanin Ahsan Abbas – Assistant Manager Outreach
Hanin Ahsan Abbas has experience from different industries in Canada such as retail, non-profit and real-estate administration. Hanin has worked as a Brokerage Administrator and Team Lead for one of the leading real-estate companies of Toronto named Re/Max Realty One Inc. In addition to that, Hanin has 6 years of volunteer experience from various NGOs such as The Canadian Red Cross and Save the Children Canada. After volunteering for a few years, Hanin was promoted as one of the leading Donor Relations Coordinator at Save the Children Canada. Prior to Takhleeq, Hanin worked as a Coordinator at the Vice Chancellor’s Office at Lahore University of Management and Sciences (LUMS).
Hanin has a Bachelor of Arts degree (Honours) in Social Sciences and Gender and Women Studies from York University, Canada. She was also part of the Sessional Academic Achievement of York University throughout her under-graduate. Hanin has also done GBA+ (Gender-Based Analysis Plus) certification from Canada – which is an analysis (used by the Government of Canada) to assess how groups of men and women may experience policies, programs and initiatives.
