Describe a time when you demonstrated leadership. In your answer, please address the following:
- What was the context or challenge you faced?
- What specific actions did you take as a leader?
- What was the outcome, and what did you learn?
- How has this experience shaped your approach to leadership?
Leadership, to me, means enabling others to achieve their best. My first test came at sixteen when I spotted a gap in PakistanΓÇÖs ethical hacking community, talent existed, but there was no collaborative, supportive ecosystem. I acted by publishing technical articles on Null-Byte, one becoming the second most-read globally from 2018ΓÇô2024, proving the audience existed. I then founded an international community with mentors from six countries, creating a hub where members taught, innovated, and shared tools. We organized workshops, trained over 1,000 students, many securing internships and jobs in CyberSecurity. My role was to set vision, foster collaboration, and ensure inclusivity.
This early leadership experience shaped my professional growth. At ACE Money Transfer, I applied the same principles, innovating and leading projects such as designing the Employee Monitoring Suite, which greatly boosted team productivity, and architecting key ERP subsystems now used across the enterprise. Leading without formal authority, I united diverse teams by clarifying goals, removing obstacles, and creating desired systems. My background in psychology helped me anticipate resistance and align different personalities toward shared outcomes.
These experiences affirmed my view that leadership is not about being the loudest voice but about building structures and trust so others can excel. Leadership skills transcend contexts, from student communities to enterprise projects and future ambitions to empower SMEs and engineers across Pakistan. Hence, for me, leadership has always been about enabling collective achievement.
Tell us about a professional relationship you have built and maintained. In your answer, please address:
- How was the relationship formed, and what made it important?
- What did you contribute to this relationship, and what did you gain?
- How have you sustained or developed this relationship over time?
- How will these skills help you build connections within the Chevening community and beyond?
During my final year of graduation, I formed a professional relationship with a visiting PhD professor specialising in quantum computing. I considered him as an opportunity to learn beyond my curriculum, and so I proactively approached her to discuss her research. The relationship became crucial as it was my first bridge between theoretical academia and world-class practical research.
We started within a week. I delivered working C++, Python and MATLAB prototypes for mirrorΓÇæarray and emitter-detector setups, wrote reproducible notebooks, and documented tradeΓÇæoffs; she coached me on framing hypotheses, versioning results and writing for publication.
We established a weekly cadence of mild critique. The partnership produced two peerΓÇæreviewed papers and, more importantly, a way of working I still use: open with value, keep promises sacred, and make the relationship biΓÇædirectional. She is now in Poland; we keep a steady WhatsApp communication where I share milestones and blockers and she points me to literature and collaborators. That mentoring line directly raised the bar for my later delivery of an indoorΓÇæpositioning simulation for MIMOS Berhad.
IΓÇÖve applied the same muscles at ACE, which is building trust with product and security leads by pairing clear proposals with working demos. Inside Chevening, these habits will help me convene crossΓÇædisciplinary project groups, bridge UK labs with Pakistani engineers, and turn introductions into durable collaborations that outlast the degree.
Explain your first choice of course and university. Please relate your answer to one of the UK priority areas for Chevening as referenced on the Chevening website here Chevening application criteria | Chevening:
- What is the specific priority area you wish to address?
- How will your chosen course equip you to contribute to addressing this theme?
- Why have you selected your particular university in the UK?
- How do you plan to immediately apply the knowledge or skills you will gain after your studies?
My Chevening priority is economic development and prosperity through innovation-led digital transformation of SMEs. PakistanΓÇÖs small firms need practical, trustworthy AI to raise productivity and compete globally.
ImperialΓÇÖs MSc in Artificial Intelligence Applications and Innovation fits that mission because it pairs deep ML with venture-building. The AI Ventures and Ethics group project will let me prototype an UrduΓÇæfirst SME AI assistant and pressureΓÇætest the business and governance model. Machine Learning for Streamed Data maps to my eventΓÇædriven systems work at ACE Money Transfer, enabling live fraud, risk and operations analytics. Internet of Things and Applications equips me for lowΓÇæcost edge AI in agriculture and light manufacturing. Trustworthy AI content will anchor deployments in auditability and safety. A summer industrial project, within the White City ecosystem and supported by the Enterprise Lab, will help convert a prototype into a product with mentor and investor feedback.
I chose Imperial for its REFΓÇæleading research strength and its rare combination of engineering excellence and entrepreneurship.
Immediate application: on returning to Pakistan, I will launch an SMEΓÇæfocused venture that coΓÇæbuilds AI with clients via buildΓÇæwith sprints, revenueΓÇæshare pricing, behaviourally informed onboarding and handsΓÇæon adoption support. In year one I will pilot with two SME clusters, delivering proofΓÇæofΓÇævalue in customer support automation and inventory/cashΓÇæflow forecasting, and publish an open Urdu playbook (costs, metrics, ethics) other firms can reuse.
Outline your medium and long-term career plans. Please relate your answer to a key challenge or priority facing your country or region.
- What impact do you intend to make in your home country or region?
- How does your career plan connect with your course of study and the challenge or priority you identified?
- What barriers or obstacles might you face, and how will you overcome them?
- How will being a Chevening Scholar help you achieve your ambitions?
PakistanΓÇÖs most pressing economic issue is an underΓÇæemployed young workforce and an SME sector held back by low productivity and uneven digital adoption. My mission is to turn talent into income, at scale, through applied and trustworthy AI.
Medium term (3ΓÇô5 years): I will found a PakistanΓÇæbased venture studio that delivers AI coΓÇæpilots and analytics for SMEs, designed for lowΓÇæresource devices and constrained data. We will combine product and capabilityΓÇæbuilding: buildΓÇæwith sprints, behaviourΓÇæinformed change management, and a short, practiceΓÇæfirst upskilling track for junior engineers. Targets by year three: 150 SMEs onboarded, 800 engineers trained, and measurable productivity gains (service response times, forecast accuracy, cashΓÇæcycle improvements).
Long term (5ΓÇô10 years): Grow the venture nationally and spin out Pakistan AI Commons; a social arm that publishes openΓÇæsource Urdu toolkits, an SME dataΓÇæandΓÇæethics playbook, and runs trainΓÇætheΓÇætrainer programmes in secondary cities. I will engage with policymakers on standards, privacyΓÇæpreserving data sharing and compute credits for SMEs.
Barriers: early capital, API costs, fragmented data and trust. Mitigation: revenueΓÇæshare pricing instead of heavy retainers; pooled/edge compute and compression to cut costs; privacyΓÇæbyΓÇædesign pipelines; and coalitions with chambers of commerce, vocational institutes and provincial IT boards to reach firms beyond major cities.
Chevening will be catalytic: its credibility opens doors to partners and policymakers; its network links me to UK mentors and ethicalΓÇæAI leaders; and its leadership training will strengthen my ability to convene founders and deliver at scale. I will return to Pakistan immediately after the MSc to execute this plan.