Syed Irfan Ahmed
Our founder and CEO, Syed Irfan Ahmed is a seasoned consultant and trainer with over 14 years of experience in various fields. He has previously worked with institutions such as Standard Chartered Bank, Pak Kuwait Investment Co. , Alternate research , Citibank in a wide range of roles belonging to Investment banking , Wholesale/ Corporate banking , Equities and Business development / relationship management/sales. He has consulted for over a dozen local and foreign companies independently or as team of sub consultants. Over his years Irfan has helped dozens of startups with free advice and have helped many local businesses convert to shariah complaint forms of doing business.
For the last 12 years, Irfan has been teaching part time at various universities offering local degrees as well as reputed external degrees from institutions such as London School of Economics, University of London, University of whales to name a few. Some local universities that he has taught at include IBA-Karachi, SZABIST, Greenwich, MAJU, IQRA, Bayview degree college and TMUC. To date Irfan has taught at 8 different universities, more than 3000 students, in excess of 165 courses, 30 different subjects in finance, economics and accounting
Irfan is a double masters (MBA and Ms Eco) , a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) , a certified Financial Risk Manager and has done 100s of long , short trainings in finance , supply chain, marketing and IT. Alongside a PHD in Islamic Finance, he is currently pursuing Dars e Nizami (Aalim course) from wifaq ul maddaris al arabiya and is in his 7th Year (Darja-e-Sabea).
Syed Eraj Hashmi
Eraj’s Experience revolves around the Fixed Income & Money Market in Pakistan. He started his career as a Trader / Dealer for Fixed Income from Pak Kuwait Investment Bank (AAA rated) where he traded from the largest asset back investment bank book. He later moved on to Unilever and experienced working for the largest MNC operating in Pakistan as Assistant Treasury Manager where he was involve in assisting Unilever’s global treasury with decisions pertaining to domestic markets and running daily treasury operations. Since 2010, He has had the opportunity to work for the largest bank in Pakistan i.e. National Bank of Pakistan (AAA rated) as a Portfolio Manager- Fixed Income Investments. At NBP he was responsible for setting up and heading the Corporate Bonds / Sukuks trading desk. Eraj has the unique experience of originating and investing in various hybrid securities which were launched for the first time in Pakistan. Eraj is an experienced in dealer, having made sales calls in almost all money market and fixed income (both Conventional & Islamic) instruments that the Pakistan’s financial market offers.
Education wise, Eraj is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a double masters holder. He did his MSc Finance & Economic Development at University of Glasgow on a Chevening Scholarship by The Foreign & Common Wealth Office – British Government. He also has an MBA Finance from CBM, Karachi.
Eraj is a regular trainer at Various SBP workshops and he also teaches part time at various universities including IBA Karachi, CBM , IQRA and many others.
Syed Furqan
Furqan is london based and currently heads SIATFC international practice. Furqan has over 10 years of investment banking, financial advisory, private equity and business development experience covering Middle East, Europe, South Asia and Africa. Furqan has formerly worked on deal credentials worth USD 3.0 Billion
He currently sit on the Advisory Board and serve as CFO for number of tech startup in the UK. Over the past decade, he has successfully raised:
– Multiple seed, series A and Series B rounds for Fintech based in UK and UAE
– Originated and closed several M&A and PE transactions in UAE, Pakistan
– Raised public funds and managed successful exit for investor via IPO, Secondary offering in Pakistan Stock Exchange
Andreas Schwarz
Andreas is a London based Private Equity and Investment Management Executive with a proven track-record and in-depth knowledge of the capital markets across various asset classes. He has previously worked at Merrill Lynch, Pictet and Bank of Singapore
Hanif Idress
Muhammad Hanif Idrees is a Fellow member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan as well as Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan and a Certified Director from Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance. He is an accomplished professional and is also heading our Management and Tax Consultancy Division.
M.Hanif Idrees possesses rich and diversified Management and Leadership experience of more than 25 years in areas of Business and Finance including Strategic and Financial Management, Leading a Business Unit, Steering Information Communication Technology based transformation, Handling Commercial, Procurement (Imports and Exports), Conducting short overseas assignments in Far-East, Oman and Turkey.
His academic and professional forte is in the field of Finance and Accounts with initial professional training from A. F. Ferguson & Co. (member firm of PwC). His experience includes serving with renowned multinationals and reputed local organizations like DHL Pakistan (Private) Limited, Hoechst Pakistan Limited (now Sanofi-Aventis), ICI Pakistan Limited, Sony Pakistan (Private) Limited, Aga Khan Development Network, Jaffer Brothers (Private) Limited, Dadex Eternit Limited and International Industries Limited. At DHL Hanif was also assigned a Global Role of Head of Tax – Pakistan for DP DHL. Currently, he is serving as CFO and Company Secretary for Tufail Group of Companies engaged in Chemicals Manufacturing and Trading.
Hanif has represented various employers at Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI), German Pakistan Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), International Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Pakistan Chapter), Air Cargo Agents Association of Pakistan and Pak German Business Forum. He has served as member of Taxation Committee of OICCI, as member of various Committees of KCCI and as an elected member of Managing Committee of Anti Counterfeit & Infringement Forum. He has also served as member Managing Committee of Memon Professional Forum.
Currently he is an independent Director & Chairman Audit Committee on the Board of Buxly Paints Limited, Member of Corporate Advisory Committee of Bahria University (Karachi Campus), Advisor for a “Not for profit organization” engaged in medical education and health services and a Logistics Group. He is also the Member of the Taxation Committee of Pakistan Business Council. Hanif also has a passion to teach, and imparts his experience and knowledge to the next generations to come. He has been engaged in teaching at ICAP and ICMAP and is currently associated with IBA Karachi as visiting faculty for Taxation.
Hammad Muslim
Hammad Muslim is the local Head of Business Development at SIATFC. He is an IBA graduate in accounting and finance who is now pursuing the coveted Chartered Accountant qualification. He had worked for PWC Pakistan rep- A F Fergusson which is one of the big four audit firms operating in Pakistan. Hammad is a young professional with a keen sense of learning new tools and technologies and a well-established family business in the textile industry. Hammad specializes in tax laws and stays updated with local changes. HE is passionate about making change and helping others develop and grow professionally.
Maryam Tariq
Maryam Tariq did her Bachelors in Accounting and Finance from IBA, Karachi with a gold medal. She has completed all levels of the CFA program, and is currently working as a Credit Risk Analyst at Meezan Bank.