Zain Ashraf, the founder of Seedout, the first interest-free microfinance online crowdfunding platform, has been selected to receive the Commonwealth Youth Award 2018, which is recognized in the global community for young people’s work in the development of a society.
Commonwealth Youth Awards for Excellence in Development Work 2018 are focussed on highlighting the profiles of young people and the contributions they have made in developing a sustainable, peaceful, and prosperous future for the community.
Zain Ashraf, who is recognized for his work as a social entrepreneur has been selected in a list of 20 exceptional entrepreneurs from four regional categories including Africa and Europe, Asia, America and the Pacific.
Afterwards, a winner will be selected from each region, and one person from these 20 will also be recognized as the Commonwealth Young Person of the Year at a formal awards presentation ceremony that is due in London at Commonwealth Youth Forum (CYF) in April.
All of the 20 finalists for Commonwealth Youth Awards 2018 will get a cash grant of £1,000 to continue their development work, alongside a certificate and a trophy. Meanwhile, each regional winner will receive a cash grant of £3,000 each. Whereas, the Commonwealth Young Person of the Year will receive £5,000 to continue development work or to take an initiative.
Zain Ashraf has made the Pakistani nation proud by being selected as a finalist for this globally renowned award, and by all means, he deserves that keeping in view the exceptionally philanthropic work he has been doing for Pakistani community. He has founded several ventures at a very young age including Seedout, iVoke – an interactive digital agency, Eccountant – cloud accounting ERP and Super Asia Surgical. Since 2014 the Seedout has raised 350 entrepreneurs, selecting and pairing micro entrepreneurs with a business based on need. In addition, he also holds a Directorial position at Super Asia Group and Hardees Pakistan.
Furthermore, Zain Ashraf also helped the team at TechJuice by judging 25 Under 25 class of 2018, where we bring you a list of high achieving Pakistanis under the age of 25 (or 25) who have excelled in the technology arena.
Back in 2015, Ms. Gulalai Ismael from Pakistan was named as Asia Region Commonwealth Youth Award winner. Whereas, the theme of this year’s CYF is “Towards a Common Future” which aims to highlight the contributions of young people that they are making throughout their community.