Videos
Adnan Shahid, Alumni
- Year
- 2008-2009
- From
- Pakistan
- Sector
- Mobile Technologies
- Location
- Pakistan
- Degree
- 2008
MBA Sloan Fellow, Innovation and Global Leadership Program
“I seek inspiration from my late grandmother who in 1937 traveled 800 kilometers to get an education in medicine. Born, bred and having professionally worked in a developing country, I am fully aware of the challenges faced in poverty alleviation, elimination of corruption, and improvement in health.”
As a young engineer, I had the opportunity to work in remote areas of Pakistan – areas which could be considered the remotest in world with no access to basic human necessities like water, electricity, communication and health care.
As the Director IT Strategy with Mobilink, Pakistan’s largest cellular service provider, I witnessed the success of a single mobile phone turning into a business model. Mobilink started the ‘PCO Self Employment Package’, which included a wireless pay phone to be used as a Public Call Office. This one phone scheme improved access for otherwise disconnected households. My experience helped form my professional goal: to set-up a mobile technologies incubation center for low-income countries. The goal is to increase the commercialization of communication technologies and incentivize entrepreneurs and innovators.
I have over 12 years of technical and management experience in the field of Information Technology including Enterprise IT Management, Strategy, Governance and Information Security in different industry verticals. I also worked as an ‘IT Specialist’ on World Bank poverty alleviation projects in Pakistan.
My wife, Zeasth, who is an engineer with specialization in robotics and image processing, and I have two kids. Our son is teaching us the challenges of parenting a toddler, while our daughter is a newborn. I love traveling and have been to 85 cities in 20 countries. Like any other Pakistani, I am a die-hard cricket fan.
