Shawana Iftikhar, Chief Executive Officer of Work Generations, has announced her candidacy for one of the two reserved seats for women entrepreneurs on the PASHA Central Executive Committee for the 2026 to 2028 term. Iftikhar brings more than twelve years of executive technology leadership, has represented Pakistan on international business delegations including a recent tech mission to Malaysia, and has previously been recognized with the Tech Woman of the Year Award, positioning her candidacy around innovation and digital transformation for the wider industry.
Her manifesto opens with a focus on business growth systems, proposing to help member companies build scalable systems, processes and strategies that would allow them to drive sustainable growth, improve operational efficiency, and compete more effectively for global opportunities. Her second point centers on startup to scaleup support, aiming to help promising Pakistani startups move beyond the survival stage by connecting them with mentorship, customers, capital, technology and access to global markets needed to build businesses that can scale sustainably.
Read: PASHA CEC Elections 2026: Every Candidate Contesting
The remaining three points of her platform address financing, procurement and regulatory ease. Iftikhar wants to improve access to working capital, venture funding, export financing and growth stage investment for small and medium enterprises and startups, addressing what she describes as a persistent gap in the financing available to companies at these stages. On procurement, she wants to create more opportunities for Pakistani IT companies to participate in public sector and large enterprise contracts, arguing that local firms are often excluded from these larger opportunities. Her final commitment centers on establishing a stronger industry government feedback mechanism aimed at resolving the operational barriers that member companies continue to face in running their businesses.
Iftikhar’s candidacy comes as PASHA prepares to fill its two reserved seats for women entrepreneurs on September 18, 2026, through an election in which the newly elected Central Executive Committee will serve as the electoral college, a day after the general election for the ten open seats on September 17, 2026. Based on the Election Commission’s regional structure, voting is expected to be coordinated across Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Karachi, where PASHA maintains its secretariat and regional offices. The complete final voters list for the 2026 elections is available on the PASHA final voter list, and more information about Iftikhar’s professional background can be found on her LinkedIn profile.
Computerworld is profiling every candidate contesting the 2026 PASHA CEC elections. View the manifestos and candidate profiles here on CWPK. Profiles are drawn from published campaign material by PASHA Election Commission. Public manifestos for all CEC contestants can be found here.
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