UN Women Pakistan honoured 17 winners and runners-up at the Pakistan WEPs Awards 2026 in Karachi on 3 November 2026, in the first national ceremony of the Women’s Empowerment Principles Awards ever held in the country.
The biennial awards drew 52 applications from businesses across Pakistan, from large corporations to small and medium-sized enterprises. Organised by UN Women Pakistan in partnership with Derien and Soorty, with GEO as media partner, the evening recognised companies that are turning commitments on paper into real change for women at work.
Pakistan WEPs Awards 2026 Winners by Category
Leadership Commitment: Angel Imdad of Irverde Gogreen Pvt. Ltd. won, ahead of Dr. Muhammad Suleman of SAFCO Microfinance Company and Zunaira Omar Saqib of The Square Peg.
Gender-Inclusive Workplace: Fatima Fertilizer Company Limited won, with Abacus and Artistic Milliners as runners-up.
Gender-Responsive Marketplace: Pakistan Microfinance Investment Company won, ahead of Walee Financial Services and The Bank of Punjab.
Inclusive Procurement (championed by WE RISE Together): JAZZWorld, PMCL, took the award.
Community Engagement and Partnerships: Mobilink Bank won for its Banking on Her initiative, with Engro Fertilizers and EFU Life as runners-up.
Technology and AI for Gender Equality: HBL won, with Bioniks as runner-up.
SME Champions: Davaam Life won, with Fruit of Sustainability as runner-up.
Some winners brought striking numbers with them. Mobilink Bank’s Banking on Her programme, which took the Community Engagement and Partnerships award, works with partners including CARE Pakistan, Mastercard and Karandaaz, and says it has trained 31,000 women in financial literacy, helping them manage money, save and use financial services with confidence.
Welcome remarks open the Pakistan WEPs Awards 2026 ceremony in Karachi
Photo: UN Women Pakistan
Move Beyond Commitments on Paper
Jamshed M. Kazi, UN Women Pakistan’s Country Representative, told the ceremony that the true measure of business success is not only what companies produce, but whose lives they transform. When women can lead without barriers, work with dignity and shape the decisions that affect their lives, he said, businesses help redefine the economy itself.
The chief guest, Sindh Minister for Local Government Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, said women’s economic participation is essential to Pakistan’s development, while keynote speaker Nishat Fatima, Chief Executive Officer of South Air, stressed that empowering women strengthens organisations and drives innovation.
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What the WEPs Ask of Companies
The Women’s Empowerment Principles were developed by UN Women and the UN Global Compact as a practical framework for business. Companies that sign up commit to seven principles, covering leadership for gender equality, fair treatment of all staff, employee health and safety, education and training for women, enterprise development and responsible marketing, community engagement, and public reporting on progress. The awards exist to show which companies are actually delivering on those promises, and to give others working examples to copy.
What Happens Next for the Winners
The Pakistan WEPs Awards 2026 winners will now be considered for the regional Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards, with the ceremony scheduled for 1 December 2026 and broadcast on the UN Women Asia-Pacific YouTube channel. More than 190 companies in Pakistan have joined the WEPs network, part of a global community of more than 13,400 companies guided by the Women’s Empowerment Principles developed by UN Women and the UN Global Compact.
The awards add to a run of recognition for Pakistani companies backing women’s economic empowerment, from the L’Oreal Pakistan award for women’s economic empowerment to the progress tracked in our report on Pakistan’s financial inclusion reaching 71 percent as the gender gap narrows. More company success stories are collected on our Pakistani Startups and Business Success page.
Sources
- UN Women: UN Women recognises businesses and leaders advancing gender equality
- The News: UN Women Pakistan awards recognise 17 businesses, leaders
- Lead Pakistan: UN Women honours 17 award recipients at Pakistan WEPs Awards 2026
- Featured image: Award recipients pose together on stage at the Pakistan WEPs Awards 2026 ceremony in Karachi (UN Women Pakistan)
- In-body image: Speakers at the podium during the Pakistan WEPs Awards 2026 ceremony in Karachi (UN Women Pakistan)
Umar Farooq is the founder and editor of Good News Pakistan. An engineer by profession and a writer by passion, he started the site in December 2022 to share good news from Pakistan, and has since written and edited more than 200 articles about its people, sports, science, business and world records. He believes the story of Pakistan is bigger than its headlines, and that good news, told honestly, is worth telling every day.