Muhammad Azfar Ahsan

Founder & Chairman

Muhammad Azfar Ahsan is a public advocacy consultant, global outreach practitioner, business connector, change activist, philanthropist, political analyst, and entrepreneur based out of Pakistan.

Azfar has served as Minister of State and Chairman Board of Investment (BoI), Government of Pakistan (technocrat/non-political), with a vision to open doors for the business community of Pakistan, bring in investment in all sectors of the economy, facilitate investors, ensure ease of business, improve Pakistan's international competitiveness, and contribute to the country's socioeconomic development.

During his tenure, Board of Investment was successful in instituting 125 regulatory reforms (Asaan Karobaar Program), establishing the Pak-China Business & Investment Forum, signing a framework agreement with China, and designing an investment strategy to work with Saudi Arabia on joint investments. He led Pakistan’s delegation during the trilateral ministerial meeting of Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan for “Termez–Mazar-e-Sharif–Kabul–Peshawar Rail Project” in Uzbekistan. He represented Pakistan at the Tashkent Investment Forum 2022. He chaired a session on investment and shared the stage with H.E. Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev, President of Uzbekistan.

As Chairman Board of Investment, Azfar has remained a Board Member of various committees and councils, including the BoI Board of Directors, Economic Advisory Council, Economic Coordination Committee, Board of Approvals, Export Processing Zones Authority Board, Cabinet Committee on Investment, Cabinet Committee on Privatization, Cabinet Committee on CPEC, Afghan Inter Coordination Committee, Afghan Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee, Joint Working Group of Industrial Cooperation under CPEC, Joint Coordination Committee under CPEC, Approval Committee of SEZs, and Federal Government Properties Management Authority (BOD).

Azfar is also the founder of CORPORATE PAKISTAN GROUP (CPG), which represents the elite of Pakistan's national intelligentsia, including corporate and business leaders, ministers, senators, governors, federal secretaries, politicians, distinguished academicians, energy experts, tech entrepreneurs, defense personnel, police officers, foreign policy experts, media practitioners, and movers and shakers of civil society.

Azfar is the President of the Marketing Association of Pakistan, an apex body of marketing in Pakistan. He also served as Chairman of MARCON 2016, Pakistan's flagship marketing event.

Azfar is the Founder & CEO of Nutshell Group, which comprises Nutshell Conferences, Nutshell Solutions, and Nutshell Communications. He founded Nutshell Conferences Group in 2003 as an international conference management organization, which has hosted more than 500 national and international conferences, seminars, webinars, training workshops, and group discussions in Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Dubai, and Bahrain. Nutshell Solutions, a training resource organization offering HR solutions to the corporate sector, started operations in 2021. In the same year, Nutshell Communications, a 360-degree full-spectrum communications firm offering Corporate Communications and Strategic Engagement services, was also founded.

Azfar is the thought leader behind two of Pakistan's largest corporate events: LEADERS IN ISLAMABAD BUSINESS SUMMIT and THE FUTURE SUMMIT. Both are annual leaders' conferences in Islamabad and Karachi, respectively. These conferences attract global leaders and domain experts from various backgrounds as speakers. On the platforms of Nutshell Group and CPG, Azfar has also hosted hundreds of foreign nationals in Pakistan in the last two decades.

Azfar is working with the governments of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. He is contributing intensively to the development of thought and the creation of opportunities for the same by involving the private and public sectors of both countries with their Pakistani counterparts.

Health and Education are a priority on his agenda for Pakistan. In the last 25 years, Azfar has managed dozens of community projects all over Pakistan in their respective fields. He is affiliated with several professional organizations, including the Pakistan US Alumni Network, Organization for Pakistan Entrepreneurs in North America (OPEN), International Federation for Training & Development Organizations (IFTDO), and the English-Speaking Union of Pakistan.

Azfar is a Member of Board of Directors of RYTS Global (Rytsglobal.com) and MakeA-Wish Foundation Pakistan. He is a Member Advisory Board of Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital Karachi.

He was honored by the Canada Pakistan Business Council (CPBC) in 2019 and received the “Global Outreach Award” in Toronto.

In December 2020, the US State Department featured Azfar in their list of 80 selected alumni of the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP). These 80 individuals were selected out of 225,000 IVLP alumni worldwide.

In May 2022, he received the “Global Visionary Award for Global Connectivity of Businesses and Communities” by the BSV Blockchain Association, further confirming his commitment to the modernization of businesses.

In 2008, the US State Department invited him as a State Guest under the auspices of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP – the most prestigious program of the US State Department) on “NGO Management”.

Azfar is also writing a book titled “PAKISTAN: Charting Its Untapped Potential.” The publication will share the 'untold story' of Pakistan with the world and shed light on the untapped potential of the country and its ample resources, with the objective of giving impetus to a fast-evolving geo-economic scenario, especially in the South and Central Asian regions.