News Desk |
The former ambassador of Pakistan to the United States and the founder of JS Bank Pvt. Ltd., Ali J. Siddiqui, has been added to the advisory board of Afiniti International Holdings Ltd- a billion dollar AI startup. The announcement of Siddiqui’s addition to Afiniti’s advisory board was made last month through the company’s press release statement that also named David Cameron, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, as the new Chairman of the advisory board.
Ali J. Siddiqui, a renowned entrepreneur and diplomat of Pakistan, is recognized for his expertise in finance, economics, politics and diplomacy. With his addition to the advisory board of the AI startup, he is now set to enter the tech-business domain that would subsequently add to his diverse array of interests and achievements.
However, this is not Mr. Siddiqui’s first tech-business venture; his interests in technology investments dates back to over 20 years when he started his first entrepreneurial venture at the age of 15. Funded from his own personal savings, Ali successfully launched his first tech-business “Advance Micro Research”, which integrated network systems for corporations.
Afiniti is the world’s leading AI-based behavioral pairing technology provider that belongs to the “Global Unicorn Club” of billion dollar companies with an estimated value of $1.6 billion.
A graduate of Cornell University, Mr. Siddiqui is the founder of the JS Bank, that was initially acquired as American Express Bank’s Pakistan Operations in 2006 and had served as the Managing Director, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of the JS Private Equity Management. At present, the JS Bank is reported to have an estimated $4 billion asset value. Other than his business interests, Mr. Siddiqui has served as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan with the status of Minister of State. In September 2018, Mr. Siddiqui was appointed as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US for eight months.
Being a former Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, Mr. Siddiqui is a young and dynamic technology enthusiast and his addition to the advisory board of Afiniti is a potential game-changer for Pakistan, which is gradually developing its tech-industry.
About Afiniti
Afiniti is the world’s leading AI-based behavioral pairing technology provider that belongs to the “Global Unicorn Club” of billion dollar companies with an estimated value of $1.6 billion. The startup aims at utilizing Artificial Intelligence to improve business communications between business companies and their customers. With its clientele ranging from healthcare, banking, travel and hospitality, telecommunications and various other business sectors, Afiniti has successfully provided its global services helping its clients to generate billions of revenue.
Read more: JS Bank Digital Banking Bags ‘Best Digital Innovation Award’
The advisory board of Afinity is expected to hold quarterly-meetings to discuss the developments of the company and to provide advisory counselor services on matters pertinent to strategy, growth and technology. On the recent shuffling and additions to the advisory board, Zia Chishti, the Chairman and CEO of Afiniti, said:
“We are delighted to welcome David, Bill and Ali to Afiniti. Our Advisory Board has a diverse array of senior business and political leaders who provide invaluable guidance to the company as we expand around the world. At Afiniti, we’re proud to be delivering real benefits through our AI technology today, helping to drive significant value to clients across industries. Afiniti is about raising the productivity of companies. David’s deep personal commitment to this issue makes him perfectly-placed to lead our Advisory Board, and all three new Board members will support Afiniti in our next stage of growth.”
Mr. Siddiqui is expected to work alongside David Cameron and other renowned names to provide strategic direction and guidance to the company on various matters.
David Cameron, former Prime Minister of the UK, on his appointment as the chairman of the advisory board of Afiniti said:
“The Government I led took a wide range of steps to ensure the UK was successful in the new tech industries: developing Tech City; supporting a FinTech ecosystem; ensuring that the UK was the best place for tech entrepreneurs to start and scale a business; sequencing genomes; and creating the Government Digital Service, which has become a world leader digitizing public services. As part of this work, I was excited to see the rapid development in Artificial Intelligence and the huge potential AI has to address some of the challenges that societies face today. I have been exploring developments in AI for some time to better understand how industry and policy-makers can collaborate in solving these challenges and ensuring that AI serves people’s everyday lives. I am therefore delighted to have been asked to chair Afiniti’s Advisory Board, helping support their work to transform the future of customer service and interpersonal communications.”
Mr. Siddiqui is expected to work alongside David Cameron and other renowned names to provide strategic direction and guidance to the company on various matters.
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Pakistan’s Tech-Industry Landscape
Mr. Siddiqui’s appointment as the member of the advisory board of Afiniti is a positive step forward towards Pakistan’s tech-industry development. His addition to the advisory board is an evidence of Pakistan’s global recognition in the technological arena. Pakistan is gradually developing an AI-based ecosystem and is making efforts to inculcate knowledge required for the sophisticated technology.
Last month The Global Blockchain Academy collaborated with the Blockchain Association of Pakistan (PBA) and Pakistan’s Ministry of Information Technology to initiate training courses for AI and Blockchain education in Pakistan. It is believed that the introduction of training courses pertinent to latest technology and skills within the classrooms of Pakistan will help improve the economic conditions of the country. At a press conference held by the PBA, Syed Salman Ali, a member of the association said:
“We are developing skills-based training workshops and seminars to enlighten the private and public sector for using emerging technologies. We intend to start with AI and Blockchain and later focus on more. We have great experts in the areas of Blockchain and AI. We have alliances with technology partners to support large and complex initiatives for the public sector or private projects. We also have investment partners to participate in key projects.”
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With the inclusion of academic and theoretical understanding of the AI technology coupled with the international representation of Pakistan in the AI industry, like that of Mr. Siddiqui’s, it is expected that Pakistan is slowly entering the new era of technological development.