Kalsoom Lakhani is a Pakistani-American entrepreneur, investor, and public speaker. She is best known as the founder and CEO of Invest2Innovate (i2i), a social impact organization that supports early-stage entrepreneurs in emerging markets.
Lakhani grew up in Pakistan and later moved to the United States, where she attended Mount Holyoke College and received a degree in International Relations. After college, she worked for various organizations, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Ashoka.
In 2011, Lakhani founded Invest2Innovate with the aim of supporting early-stage entrepreneurs in Pakistan. i2i has since expanded to other countries, including Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and has provided training, mentorship, and funding to over 120 startups. The organization has been recognized for its work in promoting social entrepreneurship and was named one of the “World’s Top 50 Innovators” by the University of Cambridge in 2013.
Aside from her work with i2i, Lakhani is also a sought-after speaker and commentator on entrepreneurship, innovation, and social impact. She has spoken at numerous conferences and events around the world and has been featured in publications such as Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist.
Overall, Kalsoom Lakhani is an accomplished entrepreneur and social impact leader who has dedicated her career to supporting early-stage entrepreneurs in emerging markets.
An alum of the University of Virginia in Foreign Affairs and Middle East Studies, Kalsoom Lakhani is the Founder and CEO of Invest2Innovate (i2i), which underpins new businesses and the more extensive enterprise environment in creating markets, particularly in Pakistan. She is also the co-maker of The Hero Project, a stage that recounts the narratives, and enduring legends, celebrating and featuring their endeavors. Kalsoom has trained change-makers, young business visionaries, and ordinary society pioneers in Cambodia, Ireland, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. She has been a Washington, DC co-envoy for Sandbox, a worldwide organization of trendsetters under 30, and is an individual from the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers.
She was included in Diplomatic Courier’s Top 99 Foreign Policy Leaders under 33 in 2012 and was named an Ashoka Change-producers/American Express Emerging Innovator for 2013. Kalsoom, who won her Master’ from George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs in International Affairs/Conflict Resolution, additionally established the mainstream blog, CHUP, or Changing Up Pakistan in January 2008, and has composed for the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, Foreign Policy, Next-billion, and Pakistan’s Dawn Newspaper.
Kalsoom Lakhani, who was conceived on 24 September 1982, is likewise the overseer of Social Vision, the endeavor altruism arm of ML Resources, LLC, a venture firm in Washington, DC. At Social Vision, she surveys and affirms seed financing for creative associations and activities in their pilot stages.
