Our Team – Inspire Mill

Founder and Director Strategy

Sidra Jalil

With over 15 years of experience in ICTs, digital policy-making, and capacity building, Sidra has gained significant expertise in the intersection of technology, innovation, and AI. Her journey in community development began in 2014, volunteering for OPEN Islamabad, where she contributed to community-driven initiatives. She led the Pakistan Innovation Foundation’s civic hackathon and directed operations at Code for Pakistan, where she spearheaded gov-tech initiatives utilizing AI-driven solutions to address local challenges. As the founder of InspireMill, she introduced AI and digital tools to empower rural women entrepreneurs. For the last three years at TikTok, she managed AI-driven platform safety initiatives and digital policy compliance across South Asia.

Additionally, she addressed critical concerns related to AI during elections, where she proactively developed strategies for escalation management and created creative approaches to mitigate potential risks. One of the emerging issues she is currently working on is the mis-use of AI to exploit children, an area where minor safety concerns are rapidly increasing. This growing challenge highlights the urgent need for focused efforts on AI regulation and safeguarding vulnerable populations online.

Development Lead

Shahzaib Shahid

Shahzaib Shahid is a tech enthusiast and has worked as a full stack developer in different environments including startups and corporate as well. He has been working with communities like Code for Pakistan, working primarily as a key lead of their Chakala Civic Innovation Lab and GDG cloud Islamabad as well. His passion for joining these communities is to mentor development enthusiast, fresh coders and help learn new skills through technical workshops and codejams. He scored and was among the top three winners for Asia in Facebook Developers Community Challenge 2018. Shahzaib has recently joined Gitstart, which has a diverse environment where developers get exposure to different technologies.`Shahzaib has a passion for travel and loves to read book in his spare time.

EVENTS Lead

Syed Muhammad Mehdi Kazmi

Mehdi Kazmi brings fresh energy and a people-first perspective to Inspiremill. With a background in event management, business development, and social impact initiatives, Mehdi bridges strategy with community. His experience in leading purposeful events and driving mission-aligned growth makes him a valuable voice on our executive team helping us stay grounded, relevant, and always human-centric.

Operations Lead

Ahmad Azfaar

For over a decade, Azfaar has been recently deeply involved with charitable organizations, gaining hands-on experience in managing operations through roles such as Operations Manager. He is currently serving as the Operations Lead, and supports both the Operations and Community. With a strong passion for youth empowerment and community participation, Azfaar is driven by a vision of inclusive and sustainable social impact.

Azfaar brings a diverse background that includes entrepreneurial experience in Pakistan’s service and e-commerce sectors. His time working with various startups has shaped his ability to think strategically, adapt quickly, and build systems that work. He is also no stranger to innovation—having participated in and organized multiple Hackathons and Hack Days, he’s well-versed in orchestrating high-energy, purpose-driven events that bring ideas to life.

He firmly believes that “young people, when guided by the wisdom of mentors, can harness their energy and creativity to transform the future of Pakistan.”

ABOUT US

We are a collective of changemakers driven by a shared belief: that technology, community, and meaningful skills can unlock opportunity for Women and Youth across Pakistan.