The She’s Next Pakistan winners for 2026 were announced back in February 2026, and their stories are worth a second look. On February 9, 2026, Visa and HBL named five women founders at an awards ceremony at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Karachi, choosing them from nearly 3,500 applicants. Each winner received a grant of 10,000 US dollars, together with tailored training, expert mentoring and membership of the She’s Next Club. Eight months on, the five businesses offer a map of where women led enterprise in Pakistan is heading.
Meet the She’s Next Pakistan winners
The five She’s Next Pakistan winners for 2026 are:
- Aiman Shafique, EV Square: converting petrol vehicles into electric vehicles for cleaner, cheaper mobility.
- Anusha Fatima, TrashIt: turning organic and agricultural waste into soil restoring compost. She also won the Sustainability Award, introduced for the first time this year.
- Fizza Hussain, Khaas Foodz Kitchen: Pakistan’s first visually impaired chef, building an inclusive kitchen that trains visually impaired people as chefs.
- Maira Siddiqui, Chiragh Education Technologies: gamified, video based learning in Urdu and other Pakistani languages for young children.
- Meesha Baig, Goud: described as Pakistan’s first pregnancy and postpartum assistant app, supporting parents through early childhood.
The winners were chosen by an independent jury including Maya Inayat Ismail of HBL Microfinance Bank, Naz Khan of the IFC, Dan Baxter of Visa, Mubariz Siddiqui of Carbon Law and Ali Ladhubhai of Abhi Microfinance Bank. According to the official Visa announcement, entries were judged on each founder’s journey, business metrics, digital presence and problem solving.
Five businesses, five different problems
Aiman Shafique is a mechatronics engineer who founded EV Square in Islamabad in 2024. The company retrofits conventional cars with electric powertrains, offering conversion kits, installation and battery upgrades, with converted Suzuki Mehran and Bolan cars among its projects. For drivers who cannot afford a new electric car, converting a vehicle they already own is a practical route into cleaner transport.
Anusha Fatima co founded TrashIt in Karachi to tackle organic waste going to landfill. TrashIt collects organic and agricultural waste and processes it into nutrient rich compost through decentralised hubs, selling to farmers, retailers and home gardeners, and says the model improves soil health while cutting reliance on synthetic fertiliser. It fits a wider green thread in our Pakistani startups and business success coverage, which also includes the Pakistan $10 million clean air startup fund.
Fizza Hussain lost her sight at the age of 18 and became Pakistan’s first visually impaired chef. Through Khaas Foodz Kitchen she helped build what supporters describe as Pakistan’s first accessible culinary training model for visually impaired people. Sightsavers, which backed the business, says more than 1,000 trainees have received culinary and life skills training through her work. Her team also runs Dining in the Dark events.
Maira Siddiqui, a third generation educator with an MBA from the Karachi School of Business and Leadership, founded Chiragh Education Technologies in 2022. Chiragh makes gamified, video based lessons for children from nursery to grade 5, starting in Urdu, the language they speak at home, and aiming to add Sindhi, Punjabi, Pashto, Balochi and Saraiki.
Meesha Baig built Goud to answer the questions Pakistani mothers actually ask, which global pregnancy apps missed. Goud offers week by week pregnancy tracking, baby milestones and medically reviewed content checked by local experts, and reports more than 20,000 downloads.
More than a cheque: training, mentoring and a club
The grant is only part of the prize. Winners also receive tailored guidance, expert mentorship, access to a workshop library and entry into the She’s Next Club, a peer community of women entrepreneurs. Follow on mentoring for the 2026 cohort has covered practical subjects such as marketing.
She’s Next is Visa’s global advocacy programme for women owned small businesses, launched in 2019. HBL is the Pakistani partner, and its own report of the ceremony is on the HBL newsroom page. Visa says the programme has paid out 100,000 US dollars in grants in Pakistan over two years and mentored more than 120 women.
What the research says about women led businesses
The announcement came with figures from the Visa and HBL Women SMB Digitization Index, a survey of Pakistani women business owners. It found that 87 percent report high levels of digitisation, and that women are leading adopters of artificial intelligence tools:
- 49 percent use natural language processing tools such as ChatGPT.
- 43 percent use data analytics and pattern recognition tools.
- 43 percent use chatbots or virtual assistants.
The survey also found that 40 percent of founders rely on a mentor or coach, and that 39 percent started for financial independence. That digital confidence matches a wider shift in Pakistan’s small business economy, where online selling helps even traditional trades reach new buyers, as seen in the recent rise of Pakistan cutlery exports.
Why the She’s Next Pakistan winners still matter in October
A February announcement can be forgotten by autumn, but this one repays attention. Nearly 3,500 applications for five grants show how deep the pipeline of women led businesses in Pakistan now runs. The winners work in five very different fields, electric mobility, waste, food, education and maternal health, where families feel the results directly. And the support continues after the ceremony, which is what turns a one off grant into a growing company.
Taken together, the She’s Next Pakistan winners show how useful innovation starts with ordinary, expensive problems: costly fuel, wasted food, inaccessible training, children unable to read in their own language, and new parents without reliable guidance. February gave these five founders a stage and a grant. The rest of the year is where their real story continues.
Sources
- Visa press release: Visa and HBL announce Five Winners of She’s Next in Pakistan, February 9, 2026
- HBL newsroom: Visa and HBL announce Five Winners of She’s Next in Pakistan
- The News: Visa, HBL name She’s Next Pakistan winners, February 2026
- TrashIt: Our Story
- Visa Pakistan Impact Statement: She’s Next in Pakistan
- Photo: Visa and HBL
Umar is an engineer by profession and a passionate writer by passion. He has a deep interest in sharing good news related to Pakistan and has been working hard to promote the positive image of his homeland. Umar has written numerous articles on various topics related to Pakistan, such as technology, sports, culture, and economy.