Mosharraf Zaidi
Founder & CEO
Mosharraf Zaidi has over two decades of experience in analysing and shaping policy in complex political environments. He has spearheaded research, analysis and delivery for a wide array of reform interventions in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as in the South Asia region. His work intersects political economy, strategic communications and change management.
Over the course of his career, Mr. Zaidi has consistently demonstrated expertise in engaging with and persuading leaders to take decision that are informed by data and evidence. He blends a wide array of public engagements through regular speaking and social media engagements. He has worked on regional stability and security in South Asia, improved learning outcomes for children and universal enrolment, universal health coverage and universal basic income in Pakistan.
His most recent work for Tabadlab, the think tank and policy advisory firm he founded in 2018, includes work on improved foreign direct investment, technology and digitalisation, housing and urban development.
Mr. Zaidi joined Albright Stonebridge as Senior Adviser in March 2021.
From 2013 through 2018, he lead the Alif Ailaan campaign for education in Pakistan.
He served as principal Policy Advisor at Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2013, where he worked in crisis diplomacy and established the Public Diplomacy division.
Mr. Zaidi was Governance Adviser for the UK Government’s FCDO (formerly DFID) from 2004 through 2008, focusing on tax and revenue reform with the World Bank, and improved public financial management in the Punjab province, with the Asian Development Bank.
Prior to this, Mr. Zaidi worked on various civil service and public administration reform efforts, including disentangling the revenue function from local administration, for the World Bank, and for the National Reconstruction Bureau of the Government of Pakistan.
Mr. Zaidi was honoured by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader in 2014 and the Tribeca Film Festival and Disruptor Foundation Fellow in 2015. He writes a regular column for The News in Pakistan, and his writing appears frequently in a variety of other publications including Foreign Policy, the New York Times and the Indian Express. He frequently contributes to television, radio and podcasts.
