Kulsoom Lakhani

Kulsoom Lakhani (September, 1982 )is a Washington based Pakistani-American entrepreneur, the Founder/CEO of Invest2Innovate, an accelerator that aims to support young entrepreneurs in Pakistan. She is also a Partner at i2i Ventures, Invest2Innovate’s investment fund for Pakistan, which is the country’s first female-led fund. She has also trained young entrepreneurs, changemakers, and civil society leaders in various countries, and has spoken at numerous international forums, including the World Economic Forum, Aspen Ideas Festival, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. State Department, the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, and the Global Entrepreneurship Congress.
She has also won a number of entrepreneurship and leadership awards during his career.
Education
Lakhani holds a graduate degree in International Affairs and Conflict Resolution from The George Washington University. Her undergraduate degree was in Foreign Affairs, Middle East from University of Virginia.
Career
Lakhani is the Founder and CEO of , a Pakistan based accelerator that selects & vets impact entrepreneurs. I2i runs an annual four-month program that provides business support and access to mentors and investment. Since 2012, i2i has accelerated 41 startups in Pakistan, which have gone on to raise over $6M in capital, scaled their businesses.
Lakhani is also a partner at , Pakistan’s first women led investment fund that invests exclusively in technology enabled early stage businesses in Pakistan.
Lakhani’s interest in Pakistani political and development space came to the digital space in 2008, with a blog called , a website that was dedicated to increasing awareness of socially and politically pertinent issues facing Pakistan. The blog started at a time where blogs were still new in Pakistan.
Her writings have also appeared in, the Huffington Post, Foreign Policy Magazine, NextBillion and Pakistan's Dawn Newspaper.
Honors
• In a Washington, D.C. co-ambassador for Sandbox, a global network of innovators under 30.
• Lakhani was also World Economic Forum Global Shaper
• In 2012, Lakhani was featured in Diplomatic Courier's Top 99 Foreign Policy Leaders under 33 in 2012
• In 2013, she was named an Ashoka Changemakers/ American Express Emerging Innovator.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu