Today’s episode is with Halima Iqbal, the CEO and founder at Oraan, a financial company that helps women access financial services. A former investment banker and consultant with 8 years of experience, Halima moved back to Pakistan in 2017 after a decade in North America with a drive to make finance inclusive and simple for the underserved millions. She is the only female executive in the Pakistan Fintech Association. Along with her finance background she is a certified chef and co-founded Mealsurfers (food-tech) which was acquired in 2016. We dive into the following: - Why she created Oraan after her initial inability to create a bank account in Pakistan - Her flagship product, Committees and how it works - What it is really like to be a founder, and how to deal with challenges - How she navigated the fundraising journey and the advice she would tell new founders - How her team navigated through the pandemic Stay tuned for upcoming episodes with startup founders in the Middle East and North Africa! Please tag us and tell us what you learned. We’d greatly appreciate a review if you are enjoying these conversations.