ISLAMABAD (GNP) Beyond Geography — Building Legacy Through Resilience, Enterprise, and Hope — The Global Shapers Community Pakistan, in partnership with Pathfinder CITADEL, hosted a Meet the Leader session with Ikram Sehgal, Co-Chairman of the Pathfinder Group, at AmaaniBagh, Angoori. The day-long programme brought together over 100 university students and nearly 45 Global Shapers from hubs across Pakistan, including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Wah Cantt, Peshawar, and Lahore, for a landmark session that combined intimate dialogue with one of the country’s most enduring entrepreneurs. Shehrbano Jamali Niazi, a true embodiment of Global Shapers in Pakistan, delivered an overview of the scale and impact of the community’s work across Pakistan and the Islamabad Hub.
Hosted by Mahrukh Faraz from Global Shapers Islamabad, under the theme “Beyond Geography,” the centrepiece of the day was a 90-minute moderated conversation between Ikram Sehgal and Maaz Ali Nadeem, Global Shaper and Co-Founder & CEO of VECTOR AI, followed by an interactive Q&A session with participants.
The discussion revolved around Sehgal’s extraordinary trajectory, from his service in the 1971 war, where he became the first Pakistani prisoner of war to escape from an Indian POW camp, to founding the Pathfinder Group in 1977, which today employs over 12,000 people across 75+ cities in Pakistan.
The conversation moved through Ikram Sehgal’s journey at the World Economic Forum, where he has been hosting the Pakistan Breakfast at Davos for over 20 years, and into the personal philosophy that has sustained him across five decades of enterprise.
Sehgal engaged the audience by sharing the highs and lows of his military career, the moment he resolved never to work under anyone again. He emphasized his commitment to his employees and attributed his success to tawakkul (trust in God) and a connection to divinity.
Describing himself as a “Zariya,” a vessel for good. He honored the influence of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his father, Abdul Majeed Sehgal.
Global Shapers, Muneeb Maqbool, Rania Rajput (Curator, Islamabad Hub), and Hourab Din (Curator, Rawalpindi Hub) presented thank-you shields to Ikram Sehgal and Air Cdre (Retd) Farhan Ahmed.
The programme also included an overview of the Pathfinder Enhanced Harmony Division (EHD) by Brig (Retd) Mujahid Alam (CEO, EHD), and an introduction to Pathfinder Center of Innovation, Technological Advancement, Digital Entrepreneurs and Leadership (CITADEL) by Imran Jattala, Vice President, Pathfinder CITADEL.
In a landmark institutional development, the MoU was signed between Muneeb Maqbool, Community Champion for Pakistan and Afghanistan (Global Shapers Community), and Air Cdre (R) Farhan Ahmed, Project Director, CITADEL, in the presence of the leadership of Pathfinder Group, including Ikram Sehgal, Gen (Retd) Shakeel Hussain, AVM (Retd) Asad Ikram, Air Cdre (Retd) Khalid Banuri, Imran Jattala, and Shakeel Ahmed.
The event also included a live patriotic Qawali performance by the melodious Numan Haider and his Qawal group, followed by a networking lunch.
