Four Pakistanis shine on Forbes 30 under 30 list for North America

Four Pakistanis made it to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for North America, recognised from among 600 young game-changers across 20 different fields.

This year’s social entrepreneurship, games, education and marketing and advertising categories feature four Pakistanis who they believe are changing the world.

Asad J Malik

Included in the list for his marketing and advertising skills, 24-year-old Asad Malik is currently the CEO of Jadu AR - an app that can make performances of Tik Tok starts and musicians come alive by creating their holograms and immersive 3D representations.

Malik moved to the US from Pakistan in 2016 for college. He is a pioneer in using augmented reality for storytelling. His breakout project 'Terminal 3', Malik explored the personification of AI, featuring young Muslim immigrants and a collaboration with American startup company Magic Leap.

He is now working with Verizon to build educational AR experiences with 5G, and his AR app Jadu turns TikTok stars and musicians into holograms.

Sanaa Khan

Sanaa Khan has been chosen under the category for games. The 29-year-old is a programme manager at Google, where she leads go-to-market strategy and hardware planning for the company's gaming service Stadia.

She spearheaded initiatives such as Stadia's Free Play Days, enacted during the pandemic for financially constrained gamers and drives a scholarship programme for women developers.

Considered under the category of Education, Danish Dhamani belongs from Pakistan, but grew up in East Africa. He founded Orai - a speech app - out of his own fear of speaking in classroom presentations and job interviews. The fear was a huge part of his life when he moved to the US.

He founded the speech-coaching app with his Drexel University classmates Aasim Sani (COO) and Paritosh Gupta (CTO) in 2017.

Between corporate clients including Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Comcast and IBM and individuals who pay $10 per month, 5,000 active monthly users record themselves speaking and receive feedback such as how many times they say "um."

The Philadelphia-based startup has raised $2.3 million in seed funding and expects to become profitable in 2021.

Faizan Bhatty

Studying at the University of Pennsylvania, Faizan Bhatty and his friend Kenan Saleh co-founded Halo Cars in 2019. The initiative aims to create more advertising space on rideshare vehicles and help Uber and Lyft drivers earn more.

He has also been chosen under the category of Marketing & Advertising.

"Smart digital screens sit atop cars enabling the display of hyper-targeted ads," said Forbes. Bhatty's company sold to Lyft within a year of its inception.