Syed Hasnain Akber

Based in Pakistan

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Syed Hasnain Akber is a Research Fellow at Equitech Futures. He completed his bachelor’s degree in International Relations from National Defence University, Islamabad while doing his thesis on “Impact of Economic Developments on the Ecology of Gilgit Baltistan: An Overview of CPEC and Tourism.” He previously worked at Teach For Pakistan, Teamup.pk, National Incubation Centre Islamabad, United People Global, and In-sight Collaborative.  

Entrenched in a “learning-by-doing'’ philosophy, Hasnain has been engaged with both the development and business sectors over the past 4 years while leading multiple projects. His most notable initiative includes "Young Shapers" where he engaged more than 600 young people and ran 6 successful projects including Act Clean Fellowship Program, Climate Action Bootcamp, ShapingYou(th), and Sponsor A Meal among others. His project ideas received recognition from entities including Asian Development Bank, IBA Karachi, Accountability Lab, and Beta-i Portugal.

Having a passion to translate the knowledge to aspiring changemakers, Hasnain has mentored participants at Insight Collaborative Mentorship Prorgram, Enterprise Challenge Pakistan, Young Sustainable Impact and Center for Social Innovation in Developing Countries (CSIDC). He is also an alum at Atlas Corps, Global Schools and Equitech Futures.

Hasnain’s journey at Equitech Futures started as a student in the inaugural Civic Tech Institute. With research interests across social networks, public policy, indigenous wisdom, and marginalization - particularly in Gilgit Baltistan (GB) - he is working with Equitech Futures on combating fake news in GB by working with different local partners and communal leaders who have high social capital in the region.