Zunaira Omar, Chief Executive Officer of The Square Peg, has announced her candidacy for the PASHA Central Executive Committee for the 2026 to 2028 term, contesting both the open Associate seat and one of the two reserved seats for women entrepreneurs. Omar is a computer science graduate from FAST Lahore’s 2001 batch, holds an executive MBA from NUST, and brings more than twenty years of experience in the industry, including fifteen years in leadership roles. She currently chairs the IT Committee of the Islamabad Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is a Vital Voices VV Grow Fellow, and has led close to a hundred business to business go to market programs, representing Pakistan at international events including GITEX, ITCN Asia, and LEAP in both Riyadh and Hong Kong.
For the open seat, her manifesto centers on building what she calls an SME value chain, positioning herself as the only marketer among the contesting candidates and arguing that this background allows her to help sell what the industry builds more effectively. Her specific commitments include organizing a shared Associate stand at the next LEAP or GITEX event, producing a capability map of the Associate class within ninety days of taking office, drafting standard teaming paperwork once so it remains free for members to reuse, assembling four or five complementary firms around a single real opportunity for a joint bid, and establishing a standing Associate consultation process ahead of any CEC policy submissions. Her second point focuses on building a future ready workforce collectively, proposing pooled training in capabilities that individual small firms are often priced out of on their own, collective certification pursued as a group rather than company by company, and a graduate recruitment route aimed specifically at SME employers.
Read: PASHA CEC Elections 2026: Every Candidate Contesting
For the reserved seat, Omar has framed her candidacy around the idea that PASHA should be debating how many women sit on the committee rather than which two candidates should fill the existing seats. Her manifesto here focuses on three commitments. The first is growing the number of women-led member companies by identifying women-led technology and IT enabled services businesses that are not yet part of PASHA and running a targeted membership drive in coordination with the National Incubation Center network, incubators and women’s chambers. The second is ensuring women are present in the room whenever policy decisions are made, which she has framed as a default practice applied to every PASHA policy delegation, government roundtable and drafting group rather than an occasional aspiration. Her third commitment addresses access for women led firms specifically, covering capital access through investor convening, infrastructure access through desk space in technology zones and parks, subsidised rates for export, delegation and certification support, and continued digital inclusion training for women entrepreneurs building on work she already runs through IWCCI.
Omar’s candidacy comes as PASHA members prepare to vote on September 17, 2026, for the ten open seats of the Central Executive Committee, with the two reserved seats for women entrepreneurs to be filled the following day by the newly elected committee. 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. Voting will take place through secret ballot between 9 am and 5 pm, with original CNIC or passport required for identity verification at polling stations. The complete final voters list for the 2026 elections is available on the PASHA final voter list, and more information about Omar’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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