Nadeem Hussain, Founder, and Coach of his latest venture Planet N, aims to catalyze the next wave of tech entrepreneurship in Pakistan. Planet N Group of Companies focuses on Financial Inclusion and facilitation of entrepreneurship in Pakistan through technology and has added 24 companies to its portfolio across e-commerce, fintech, edutech, mobile television, retail and renewable energy.
With plans to invest in more rising stars within these verticals, Planet N provides a platform for prime growth to start-ups through collaboration and shared services. However, his vision does not end there. Mr. Nadeem continues to promote the causes of financial inclusion by unbundling conventional banking and digitizing all 6 verticals to financially include the 80% of the unbanked population.
Mr. Hussain champions the causes of financial empowerment, access to health care, environmental sustainability, affordable housing and provision of alternate energy to all Pakistanis. He has spent the last 10 years focusing on these areas through his leadership of Tameer Micro Finance Bank and has the unparalleled and invaluable experience to contribute to establishing a one of its kind financial solution to the financially excluded.
Nadeem Hussain is best known as the ex-President and CEO of Tameer Micro Finance Bank, Pakistan’s first private sector microfinance bank and world leader in branchless banking. Mr. Hussain’s model bank has impacted over a million people by extending credit and mobile banking to the poor and unbanked Pakistan and has introduced the first health insurance program in rural areas to protect poor households from falling below the poverty line.
Mr. Hussain later forged a partnership with an international telecom to provide mobile banking solutions to a large segment of the unbanked Pakistani population called EasyPaisa. This initiative has become Pakistan’s largest mobile transaction channel and has been recognized by the World Bank as one of the top three branchless banking solutions in the world.
Prior to pursuing his passion of making a difference, he worked in international banking for over almost 3 decades with Citigroup in seven different countries and major financial centers of the world. Mr. Hussain’s illustrious banking career included working in corporate banking, consumer banking, risk management, insurance, transaction banking and treasury. He served as General Manager and Head of Consumer Banking for Citibank, Pakistan. Under his guidance, Citibank Pakistan pioneered the concept of consumer banking, with the introduction of credit cards, automobile financing, and residential mortgage financing.
Nadeem effectively turned the bank around after it went into loss due to the freezing of foreign currency accounts in 1998.
Apart from his professional endeavors, Mr. Hussain has also served on the advisory board of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Management and Technology and Institute of Capital Markets (ICM). He is the Chairperson of the Pakistan Microfinance Network (PMN), Mentor & Advisor to Hult Prize Pakistan, TECH Pakistan, and also on the Board of PlanX. Mr. Nadeem fulfills his Trustee responsibilities for the Indus Foundation and the Jinnah Institute and is an active member of the State Banks and SECP consultative groups on various initiatives including Microfinance and insurance. He is also leading the effort to implement Universal Standards of Social Performance Management (USSPM) across all PMN member banks and institutes
Nadeem Hussain is globally recognized for his dedication and service to financial inclusion. He chaired the United Nation’s MDG Session on Financial Inclusion in New York in September 2010 and is a frequent speaker at international forums on branchless banking and Microfinance. He was invited to speak at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and Johns Hopkins University in 2012 where Tameer Bank was showcased as Asia’s solution to financial empowerment. He has also been awarded the prestigious Global leader award in 2011 by C5 in Geneva.
BY Farman Ali
