User:Ahmedmariam/sandbox

Nousheen Zakaria Introduction Nousheen Zakaria is an entrepreneur who is acclaimed for her achievements in the field of business, IT and academics. She has to her credit the initiation of several innovative IT ventures and is currently serving as the CEO of The Code It Company and Managing Director of Out of Box Ltd.undefined She is the brain behind numerous web portals and platforms that include BeKarachiundefined, BeIncubator, Shadi Tayariundefined, weddified.co.ukundefined, etc. Nousheen has a PhD in Strategic HRM from the University of Leeds, UKundefined and holds a Masters in Management (HRM) from the University of Sheffield, UKundefined. Considering her outstanding performance in the field of research, she was nominated for the Emerald Outstanding Doctoral Research award in 2014. Owing to her academic excellence, she shares space on The University of Sheffield’s websiteundefined and Leeds University Business School’s website with other notable individuals as one of the lauded alumniundefined. Her accomplishments as an entrepreneur have been validated by various reputed organisations including her alma mater, The University of Sheffield and University of Leeds, as well as the British Council. Subsequently, she was one of the finalists for ED UK Alumni Awards 2016. This achievement of hers won her widespread recognition and was covered by The Star, a leading daily in the UKundefined. She has been associated with teaching, serving as an Assistant Professor at various institutes. Presently, she is also a member of the Academic Council at Textile Institute of Pakistan and the youngest one to make it to the boardundefined. Apart from entrepreneurship and academics, Nousheen has been actively involved in various altruistic endeavours. Most notable of her philanthropic initiatives include the 1rupeecampaign (that she launched as a means to support the SaveSardar campaign)undefined. Life and Education Nousheen comes from a Memon family with a business background. Born on 12th July 1984, to Yasmin Zakaria and Muhammad Karim Zakaria, a notable businessman, she is the eldest of three siblings. She has two sisters Mariam Zakaria and Uzma Zakaria- who is noted for her contributions as a tennis player and her work in Hollywood and Pakistan’s film and TV industryundefined. Nousheen is also the niece of Saleem Karim, founder and President of Pakistan Disable Cricket Association (PDCA)undefined. She is married to Syed Omar Ali, with whom she founded The Code It Company and Out of Box Ltd. While Nousheen attributes her business acumen to her experiences of working in the company of her father, there is no denying to the fact that she is an inspiring individual in her own right. She is one of the very few Pakistani women who have emerged as leaders in the IT sector. She holds a PhD in Strategic HRM from the University of Leeds and has a Masters in Management (HRM) from the University of Sheffieldundefined. A graduate of Textile Institute of Pakistan, she has studied Textile Management and acquired her early education from St Lawrence’s School in Karachi. Academic Career and Research Nousheen has been actively involved in academics and considers it as one of the most effective ways of giving back to the community. She has taught as an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Business Administration, Karachiundefined, Lecole and Textile Institute of Pakistan. During the course of her PhD she also served as a Postgraduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Leeds and taught various modules of Human Resource Management, Work and Organisations and Research Methodology to undergraduate students. Nousheen has keen interest in researchundefined. One of the most notable of her achievements as a researcher corresponds to her work for her PhD thesis. The thesis is a comprehensive study of formulation, integration and implementation of HR policies in financial firmsundefined. It contributed to her winning the Dean’s Prize for Outstanding Contribution to the Research Community as well as being nominated for the Emerald Outstanding Doctoral Research Award, 2014. Alongside working on her thesis for PhD she was also a part of the dissertation helpdesk at the University of Leeds and worked as a Research Assistant on the project ‘Lobbying and the shaping of employment relations policy in the UK’, for which she was awarded with Seedcorn funding. Additionally, while studying she also rendered her services for the assessment and marking of activities at Leeds Business School, coding research papers, seminar development for the use of archival research in British American Tobacco (BAT) and designing and development of a case-study on CIBA chemicalsundefined. Nousheen is the youngest member to become a part of the Academic Council at Textile Institute of Pakistanundefined. She has also been a member of the Editorial Board for Working Paper Series at Leeds University Business School (LUBS) and White Rose University Consortium. She has fulfilled the role of Postgraduate Research Representative at various platformsundefined. Nousheen has had her paper accepted by and presented at various prestigious platforms including the British Academy of Management (BAM)undefined. She has worked in the capacity of an Article Editor at Sage Publications and has one of her works, “Human Resource Strategic Planning Process: A Qualitative Study of Financial institutions”, published as a part of SAGE Research Method Casesundefined. She has attended and organised various conferences including the 20th EDAMBA Summer Research Academy in France. Entreprenership Nousheen is the co-founder of The Code It Company and Out of Box Ltd. She is one of the few women who have made a mark as a leader in the IT sector in Pakistan. Nousheen and her husband established Out of Box Ltd., an IT enterprise, to fund her studies for PhDundefined. At the time of its inception Out of Box Ltd. was primarily focused on web and graphic designing. Later, the company expanded its ambit to include other services such as mobile apps development, software development, search engine optimisation, etcundefined. Out of Box Ltd is today recognised as an acclaimed IT agency that runs several in-house projects such as infographicsdesigners.co.uk and weddified.co.uk. In 2014 Nousheen returned to Pakistan and co-founded The Code It Company with her husband. Under the umbrella of The Code It Company, Nousheen has started and launched various projects, websites and mobile apps, as a means to provide effective IT solutionsundefined. Some of the notable projects started under the banner of The Code It Company include Shadi Tayari, BeKarachi and BeIncubator. While BeKarachi and Shadi Tayari are essentially run as online directories, Nousheen has launched BeIncubator to extend support to start-ups in Pakistan. In one of her recent interviews she stated, that I consider it a success to be able to provide equal opportunities and healthy working environment suited to local professionals. In coherence with this ethos of hers she envisions her entrepreneurial ventures as more than mere business entities. She considers these as platforms to provide others with an opportunity to grow despite their limitations and influence them to push their boundaries and progress within their personal and professional capacitiesundefined. Hence currently she has people working in her company who are deaf and mute as well as single mothers and students who work part-time. Philanthropy Nousheen supports various philanthropic initiatives through the platform of BeKarachi. One of her most notable contributions in this arena is the launch of 1rupee campaign. It was an initiative by her to extend support to the SaveSardar campaign, in order to collect money for the surgery of ailing Sardar Rathore. Her initiative was widely acknowledged and acclaimed and the story was covered by Daily Timesundefined. The Code It Comapny, under the chairmanship of Nousheen, has also collaborated with Dastoor. Dastoor is an organisation that provides support and vocational training to physically disabled individuals. The Code It Company has offered to provide employment, internships, vocational training and mentoring to individuals trained at Dastoor. References