Seplaa Founder CEO & Principal Consultant

Dr. Ammara Farooq Malik

Founder & Chairperson SEPLAA Group

Legal & Policy Expert

Business, Gender, Development, Advocacy & Social Entrepreneurship Consultant

Impact Investments, Gender & Climate Resilience Advocate

BA. LL.B. MA (Punjab University), LLM, University of London (UK), DBA (Netherlands).

Dr. Malik is a multi-sectoral professional with over 23 years of experience in academia, law, development, business, social entrepreneurship and green infrastructure development. She has been a prolific opinion writer and speaker since she was growing up in a multi cultural environment in the UAE.

She is a corporate & impact lawyer, development and policy consultant focusing on UN SDGs (green architecture, climate change adaptation advocacy and gender empowerment initiatives).

She has been the Ad Hoc Strategic Committee Member of the Regional Upper Indus Basin Network for Science Based Regional Cooperation created under ICIMOD Nepal and the Australian High Commission with members from Pakistan, Nepal, India, China and Afghanistan from 2018-2019.

Since 2017 to date, she has been invited to several high level policy dialogues as an international social enterprise lawyer and has contributed significantly to the development of the social enterprise movement in Pakistan and promoting startup small and medium businesses.

In legal academia, she has been the Law & Policy Program Development Coordinator at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in 2008 and also set up the Metropolitan University of Law & Social Sciences in 2004 where she was a Partner and Academics Director. She taught LL.B to the University of London’s External Program to university students for 8 years in Pakistan producing students with world distinctions. She also taught MPhil students at the University of the Punjab and Business Law to ACCA students.

In 2004 she founded the community platform ‘SEPLAA’ (Seeds of Education, Policy & Legal Awareness Association) in 2004 which was later registered under the Societies Act as the SEPLAA Foundation (2008).

Under Didot Global she built the Seplaa Hub & Green Co-Working Spaces, which are model environmentally friendly green infrastructures that serve as a community space that can be replicated for public empowerment and business incubation spaces in Pakistan.

She is a US (International Visitor Leadership Program) IVLP and World Learning Alumna, a Social Enterprise Development Center & David & Lucille Packard Foundation at SEDC LUMS Alumna, an Executive Development Institute of the National School of Public Policy Alumna and an award-winning international speaker and expert, having presented during various forums and conferences in New York, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis (USA), Duhok (Iraq), Istanbul (Turkey), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Nepal (Kathmandu), Male (Maldives), Singapore and Manila on social enterprise development with a focus on empowerment, environment and gender related national and international policies.

She has worked as a Senior Facilitator under the Asian Development Bank for Punjab Government Secretaries and Provincial Ministers group at the Resilience Accelerator, Strengthening Urban Resilience Development in Pakistan, held in Singapore and was later called to represent her organization SEPLAA Foundation at the 2^nd Regional Conference on Science Based Regional Cooperation at ICIMOD in Kathmandu in February 2019.

She has worked as a ‘Social Entrepreneurship & Gender Consultant’ for the SEGCA (Social Enterprise for Gendered Climate Action) Research Consultancy for ICIMOD Nepal in 2019.

As CEO of the Seplaa Enterprises, she is currently running an active group of Seplaa Hub Women with over 2000 professional and business women. She is also running the Seplaa Hub 100 with a following of more than 30,000 members combined under its various projects including the hub of 100 vetted business and service providers that are supported by an entire Seplaa Eco System including 3 physical offices, digital legal, financial, incubation, publishing, networking and marketing support through 14 dedicated websites being run by Seplaa Enterprises.

She is presently working on a number of book projects and co-authored the Intellectual Property Rights Tool Kit for Punjab Incubators (April 2019) as a grant recipient of a USEF & US Consulate funded project.

Awards & Achievements:

Only Pakistani selected to be part of the 6 member Ad Hoc Strategic Committee of the Upper Indus Basin Network, under ICIMOD Nepal and Australia Aid, with over 40 member organizations from 6 South Asian countries in Kathmandu, Nepal. (2018).
Selected for the ‘Afghanistan- Pakistan Partnership Summit’ organized by the Hollings Center for International Dialogue in coordination with the U.S. Embassies in Islamabad and Kabul, held in Islamabad and Maldives in January 2017.
Selected as Ms. Inspiration 2015 by the US Pakistan Women’s Council, DC in March 2015.
Selected for and attended the US International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) for ‘Strengthening Communities’ held in Washington DC, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and New Orleans, USA (April-May 2014).
Only Pakistani who was awarded partial grant to present paper at the International Symposium of Peacebuilding organized by the New York University at the University of Duhok, Iraq. (2014).
Selected as a Local Champion in Social Entrepreneurship by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Lahore Chapter based in LUMS. (March 2013)
Recognized in the book ‘Leading Social Entrepreneurs of Pakistan’ by SURE as an ‘Unsung Hero’ where profile was also published (2012).

Excellence in Management and Organization Skills:

Selected as a Local Champion in Social Entrepreneurship by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Lahore Chapter based in LUMS, Lahore, Pakistan, March 2013.
Recognized in the book ‘Leading Social Entrepreneurs of Pakistan’ by SURE as an ‘Unsung Hero’ where profile was also published, Lahore, Pakistan, 2010.
Selected as a Successful Social Entrepreneur to speak at the 2 Day Conference organized by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industries & IBA Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan, April, 2010.

Participation as Key Note Speaker, Social Enterprise & Political Economy Expert at National & International Conferences & Seminars:

Speaker at the ICIMOD Gender Resource Group Meeting, 2020.
Speaker at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) Policy Dialogues, 2020.
Speaker at Women’s Rights in the Middle East and South Asia class at the New York University, USA, 2019.
Speaker on ‘Social Entrepreneurship Opportunities between Pakistan and Turkey’ at Impact Hub, Istanbul, Feb. 2018.
Speaker on ‘Social Entrepreneurship & Seplaa’s Journey’ at Altinbas University, Istanbul, Turkey, Feb. 2018.
Speaker on ‘Social Entrepreneurship Regional Challenges’ in Okan University, Istanbul, Turkey, Feb. 2018.
Speaker at the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) and Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) Policy Conference on the topic ‘ Provincial Economy, NFC Reforms and Social Sector Development’, December 2017.
Speaker at the ‘Afghanistan Pakistan Partnership Summit’ on ‘The Role of Social Enterprise in Fostering Partnership between Pakistan and Afghanistan’ organized by the Hollings Center for International Dialogue held at Maldives, January, 2017.
Guest Speaker at International Women Day dialogue at the Executive Development Institute, National School of Public Policy, March 2016.
Speaker at the Pak US Alumni Conference on ‘Sexual Harassment at the Work Place’, held at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industries, August 2015.
Invited to give critique and speak after NYU student presentations on peacebuilding projects conducted in different countries, at the Center for Global Affairs, New York University, New York, USA, April 2014.
Lecture with LUMS BSc. Class on Social Entrepreneurship, April, 2014.
Speaker at the Suleman Dawood School of Business, Lahore University of Management Sciences on ‘Leadership Skills’ for MBA students, 2010.

Books:

Intellectual Property Rights Toolkit for Punjab Business Incubators:

Malik, A.F. & Malik, A.F. (2019), Intellectual Property Rights Course & Tool Kit for Business Incubators, Lahore: U.S. Embassy in Pakistan & Pakistan-U.S. Alumni Network. 2019

Malik, Ammara F., Sewegap Women & Leaders of Pakistan, Impact World Press, Lahore- Forthcoming 2022.
Malik, Ammara F., Building Bridges Through Social Enterprises, Impact World Press, Lahore-2021.

Other positions:

Asia Pacific Regional Board Member, Global Alliance of Impact Lawyers (GAIL)

Founder & Executive Director, SEPLAA (Seeds of Education, Policy, Legal Awareness & Advocacy) Foundation & Think Tank

Founding Principal Attorney, AFMalik Law- Attorneys & International Development Consultants