Since 1969, Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) has run an International Scholarship Program (ISP) to support outstanding scholars from select countries who have no other means of financing their postgraduate studies. To date, the program has served over 1,500 scholars.
In August 2026, AKF USA, in collaboration with AKF ISP, launched the AKF ISP Ambassadors initiative for select U.S.-based ISP alumni whose achievements reflect the breadth and impact of the AKF ISP. This inaugural cohort brings together leaders from diverse backgrounds and professional fields who are committed to building connections and sharing their stories in support of AKF’s work to improve quality of life around the world.
Founding Ambassadors
Tameeza Asaria
ISP Scholar from 1988-1992
Tameeza Asaria is Vice President of Research and Development (R&D) Finance at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. She is a finance executive with over 25 years of experience leading finance organizations in pharmaceuticals. A strategic business partner, she brings expertise in financial planning and analysis, organizational leadership, and translating complex information into insights.
Tameeza holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Rice University, a Master of Science in Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. An Aga Khan Foundation International Scholarship Program scholar and Founding AKF ISP Ambassador, she has a longstanding commitment to service, reflecting the transformative power of education.
Riaz Cassum
ISP Scholar from 1983-1985
Riaz Cassum is an Executive Managing Director in the Boston office of JLL Capital Markets, Americas. With more than 37 years of experience in commercial real estate capital markets, Riaz specializes in equity and debt advisory. During his career, Riaz has completed in-excess of $30 billion in commercial real estate transactions.
Riaz began his career with HFF in 1989 when it was known as Fowler, Goedecke, Ellis & O’Connor, Inc. Prior to that, he was a vice president with Wells Fargo Bank. Riaz has served on several boards and currently is a member of the Global Governing Board of Trustees of the Urban Land Institute.
Riaz holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Sydenham College at the University of Mumbai and an MBA from Boston University.
Tarik Currimbhoy
ISP Scholar from 1976-1979
Tarik Currimbhoy is an architect and sculptor who uses handcrafting and ancient casting techniques in his art. His sculptures are displayed in private collections and public places across the globe. Along with solo exhibitions, group exhibitions, and museum installations, his work has been published in a variety of magazines. Tarik serves on several art advisory committees and boards. He is the co-founder of the Unlimit Art Fellowship and Founder of the Dr. Zinet Currimbhoy Fellowship in Pediatric Hematology Oncology.
Tarik has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design and a Master of Architecture from the Pratt Institute and a Master of Arts from Cornell University. He also taught drawing at Cornell University and design at the Pratt Institute.
Aaftab Esmail
ISP Scholar from 1983-1986
Aaftab Esmail has over 40 years of experience as a real estate attorney specializing in the acquisition, sale, and development of multifamily real estate projects throughout the United States. Aaftab served a total of four terms as the Member for Legal Affairs on the Aga Khan Council for the Western United States and the Aga Khan Council for the United States of America. He also served more than five years as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Social Development and Sports Foundation, chaired by Princess Zahra Aga Khan.
Aaftab graduated from Harvard Law School after receiving a scholarship from the Aga Khan Foundation International Scholarship Program.
Dr. Adnan Hyder
ISP Scholar from 1992-1994
Dr. Adnan Hyder is dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, where he also holds the title of Robert A. Knox Professor. Recognized among the world’s premier scholars in health systems and policy, Adnan has worked to advance global health across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Through National Institutes of Health-supported research, he has made significant contributions to the global understanding of the epidemiological burden, risk factors, potential interventions, economic impact, and socio-cultural correlates of noncommunicable diseases and injuries around the world.
Previously, Adnan served in leadership positions at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University and the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. He received his MD from the Aga Khan University in Pakistan and his MPH and PhD in public health from Johns Hopkins University.
Zamila Karimi
ISP Scholar from 1980-1982
Zamila Karimi is a Senior Lecturer at Kennesaw State University’s College of Architecture and Construction Management. She established endowments at the University of Central Asia and KSU and facilitated an MOU between KSU Architecture and the Southeast Ismaili Council to host Aga Khan Award for Architecture exhibitions and lectures. She has developed flagship programs including Camp Mosaic, Camp Empower, Ethics in Action, The Living Canopy: AKDN Pavilion, New Dimensions: Exploring AKDN through Art and Culture, and Village-in-Action. Zamila served on the Aga Khan Foundation National Committee from 2000 to 2017.
She has degrees from McGill University, University of Georgia, and Southern California Institute of Architecture, with expertise in cultural mediations and technology, digital media, and architecture.
Shazia Khawaja
ISP Scholar from 1988-1991
Shazia Khawaja is a Partner at Polpis Capital, an investment firm focused on energy transition and sustainable infrastructure. She has over three decades of experience across investment, deal structuring, and legal roles in energy and infrastructure.
Prior to Polpis Capital, Shazia was a Managing Director at StormHarbour Securities, structuring private market financing. Before that, she built and led DA Capital’s Asia investment platform, focusing on private credit. She also held senior roles at Sithe Energies and began her career as an attorney at Milbank LLP.
Shazia holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Mount Holyoke College and a JD from Columbia Law School.
Dr. Karim Lakhani
ISP Scholar from 1997-1998
Dr. Karim R. Lakhani is the Dorothy & Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He is the co-founder and chair of the HBS AI Institute, founder and co-director of the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard, and the principal investigator of the NASA Tournament Laboratory.
Karim is known for his original scholarship on open source software and open innovation and has pioneered the use of field experiments to help solve innovation-related challenges. He has published over 150 scholarly articles and case studies and co-authored the book “Competing in the Age of AI.” Prior to HBS, he served as a Lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He co-founded Aspire Institute, a non-profit that aims to transform the lives of first-in-family college students world-wide.
Karim has a PhD in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master of Science in Technology and Policy from MIT, and a Bachelor of Engineering and Management from McMaster University in Canada.
Hussein Mecklai
ISP Scholar from 1990-1993
Hussein Mecklai is a global technology executive and former Section 16 Chief Operating Officer with three decades of experience, including co-leading three major business turnarounds that doubled revenues and restored profitability. Over his career, he managed 4,200-person global organizations and $500M budgets while prioritizing mentorship and executive development, cultivating leaders who advanced to Corporate VP and Senior VP roles. Hussein received the Society of Women Engineers’ Rodney D. Chipp Memorial Award, the highest national award for men advancing women engineers. He combines C-suite strategic rigor with personal conviction to champion educational access and maximize scholarship impact.
Hussein’s own path was enabled through an AKF scholarship to attend Lafayette College, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. He has a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University.
Farzana Mohamed
ISP Scholar from 1999-2000
Farzana Mohamed is President of Adrikani Enterprises. Her broad-ranging global career spans consulting, management, education, and healthcare with an emphasis on negotiation strategy, corporate and non-profit governance, strategic planning, and building organizational excellence. Farzana is coauthor of two books on career negotiations. She serves on several boards, including the State Board of Education for Massachusetts, and volunteers extensively with various Ismaili community institutions in the United States and Portugal.
She graduated from MIT with undergraduate and graduate degrees in city planning and environmental engineering. Farzana is a native of Nairobi, Kenya and is fluent in several languages.
Rafiq Mohammadi
ISP Scholar from 1981-1983
Rafiq Mohammadi is a data scientist and founder of Robynn AI, which helps small businesses optimize their marketing outreach across the web and social media. In 1995, Rafiq co-founded iManage, now a leader in cloud-based document-management software for the professional-services industry with more than 1,100 employees.
He serves on the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) College of Engineering Advisory Board and the UIC Chancellor’s Advisory Board.
Rafiq earned a Master of Computer Science and a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of Illinois Chicago and holds an Executive MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Yawar Shah
ISP Scholar from 1982-1984
Yawar Shah is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University and is actively engaged in advising startups focused on transforming cross-border payments and related stablecoin ecosystems. Yawar served as the Chair of the Board for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) for 16 years while also working as a senior executive at Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase.
Yawar is a limited partner advisor at Nyca Partners, a fintech venture capital firm, and on the Advisory Boards of several digital finance and stablecoin companies, as well as the nonprofits American Immigration Council and New York Legal Assistance Group.
He has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Moez Virani
ISP Scholar from 1978-1980
Moez Virani is now retired after a 40-year career in technology. He spent the first half of his career at several foundational technology firms, including Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, and Softbank in increasingly responsible positions managing finance and operations functions. He spent the second half of his career at venture capital and private equity firms focused on technology investing.
Moez was a Board Member and Chair for Focus Humanitarian Assistance USA. He helped found a boarding high school for girls in Kenya and served on its Board, and most recently was the Treasurer of the Global Fund for Women for six years.
Moez received an MBA from the Stanford Business School with the help of a scholarship from the Aga Khan Foundation. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Manchester.
Dr. Anita Zaidi
ISP Scholar from 1994-1995
Dr. Anita Zaidi joined the Gates Foundation in 2014 and is currently president of the foundation’s Gender Equality Division. Previously, she was the department chair of Pediatrics and Child Health at the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan.
In 2013, she became the first recipient of the $1 million Caplow Children’s Prize for her pioneering work in bringing health services and wraparound care to mothers and children in poverty-stricken communities in Karachi. In 2014, she was nominated as a physician of the year by Medscape. In 2021, she was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Medicine. And in 2025, Anita was named to the Vox “2025 Future Perfect 25” list for her contributions to research and development to improve women’s health.
Anita earned her MD in pediatric infectious diseases at Aga Khan University and completed further training at Duke University, Boston’s Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health.
Please note: This is a pilot program in the United States. We plan to expand the program globally in the coming years. If you were an AKF ISP scholar and are interested in joining a future cohort, please fill out this form to express your interest and we will be in contact with you.
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