Mahbub ul Haq Research Centre at LUMS

Muhammad Yar Hiraj is a technology entrepreneur, and fintech and digitization specialist in Pakistan. His focus areas include financial inclusion, digital banking and informal sector digitization. 

Mr. Hiraj has played a leading role in the digital banking and fintech space in Pakistan. He founded OneLoad, the first independent fintech that successfully digitized and captured micro-SMEs in Pakistan, capturing 50,000 retailers and serving over six million customers each month. OneLoad received an equity investment by IFC Fintech team in Washington DC, and also became the first commercial investment of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Strategic Investment Fund. 

Previously his professional career was in Venture Capital, Private Equity and Technology Investment Banking. He spent a decade with Morgan Stanley’s Technology investment and advisory businesses based out of New York, San Francisco and Tokyo. While based in Silicon Valley he worked with a number of start-ups as an adviser and investment specialist, several of which became world leading companies. 

Mr. Hiraj received degrees from Harvard University and Brown University in the USA in Computer Science, Finance, Electrical Engineering and Public Administration. His prior research interests include Artificial Intelligence and man-machine systems.