Why Futurefest?

Samina Rizwan is Country Head at Code for Pakistan, where she builds support for civic tech initiatives and leads the effort to scale engagement with the organization’s key audiences, including government partners, civil society alliances, and funding agencies. 

Samina is passionate about the application of Information Technology to achieve better outcomes for communities. With over 30 years of experience in G2G and G2C processes and program strategy, Samina has spent the better part of her career at Oracle in various positions. Her last assignment was Vice President of Key and Lead Accounts, ASEAN region, where she took stewardship of Oracle’s most critical customer accounts. Prior to that, she led the ECEMEA Analytics & Big Data team, which architected and deployed data management platforms for customers. Well-versed in scaling companies, she first joined Oracle in 2001 as Managing Director, South Asia Growth Economies, and established Oracle’s presence in her native Pakistan, before growing Pakistan’s leadership to manage additional countries in the region, including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Afghanistan.  Samina began her career 30 years ago in Washington, D.C. as a Systems Analyst for American Security Bank Limited, and subsequently served as Director, Information Systems, for Paktel, a subsidiary of UK telecom company Cable and Wireless before joining Oracle. Samina has served on the board of Khushhali Bank Ltd., as well as USAID’s Competitiveness Support Fund. She was an executive member of the Oracle Women Leadership Committee, and is a Certified PMP from the Project Management Institute (PMI) and Certified Director from the Institute of Corporation Governance, IFC. Currently, Samina is on the Board of Governors of FMTI PIMS, Islamabad. Samina was the founder of Rizwan Scholars, which sponsored tertiary education scholarships for students from underserved communities in Pakistan. Samina maintains a strong interest in Pakistan’s startup ecosystem, investing in early-stage tech startups. She holds an Executive MBA from the Lahore University of Management Sciences and a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from American University in Washington, D.C.