Kanwal Cheema

Pakistani entrepreneur and corporate executive

Compiled from 1 recorded interview. Every statement below is drawn from the passage cited beside it.

Kanwal Cheema worked for 16 years at Cisco in engineering and global sales roles before leaving in 2020. Her organization developed a mobile application named My Impact Meter.

Early life and family

Cheema spent most of her childhood in Riyadh after her parents relocated there. Both of her parents were doctors, and her father, the eldest among his siblings, was the only member of his family from a village background to enter the medical profession. During her childhood, she attended nursery school as well as American and British schools in Riyadh, regularly ranking first in her class. She completed her schooling up to grade eight and lived in Arabia where she learned to manage tasks independently. [1]

Her father wanted her to become a doctor. Her father later passed away. [1]

Education

Cheema completed her A levels in Pakistan at Robel, studying mathematics, biology, chemistry, and physics, though she chose not to sit for the biology examination. While studying in Pakistan, she lived with her maternal grandmother and grandfather, noting that her grandmother was strict when she first moved in. [1]

Without taking a gap year, Cheema enrolled at FAST, studying there from 2001 to 2005 and forming her closest lasting friendships. During her time at FAST, she served as president of multiple student organizations, including the debating society, the dramatics society, and a university-published magazine, and also served as chief coordinator of an event. She won a national-level award at a student competition and went through a religious phase during which she completely covered herself. [1]

Corporate career

After graduating, Cheema worked at FAST for a short period while applying to other organizations. She was shortlisted among approximately 33 candidates out of 9,000 applicants from Pakistan for a hiring program and flown to Dubai for interviews. Selected as the only woman among six applicants from Pakistan, she completed a one-year Cisco training program in Amsterdam alongside 130 students from 59 countries. [1]

Cheema worked in the corporate sector for 16 years, holding both engineering and sales positions at Cisco. She began her career in Amsterdam as an associate systems engineer in commercial and managed resellers. Around 2008, she was the only female systems engineer at Cisco in the Middle East and Africa region. She was based in Pakistan for several years and later in the Middle East. [1]

After relocating to Australia, Cheema led systems engineering in enterprise across the enterprise, public sector, and service provider sectors. She subsequently transitioned into sales, serving as an account director for service providers and later as a global account director. In 2018, her global role involved making eighteen trips between Sydney and Silicon Valley. She left Cisco in 2020. [1]

My Impact Meter

Cheema identified issues in the social sector including the misappropriation of funds, high fundraising costs, and a lack of transparency. To address these problems, she conceived a global charity platform designed to make charitable giving frictionless, equitable, and traceable, choosing to pilot and self-fund the initiative in Pakistan prior to global expansion. [1]

Her organization developed the mobile application My Impact Meter, which identifies beneficiaries using their national identity cards and distributes ration vouchers via SMS for use at local stores. The rapid launch of the platform was prompted by flood relief efforts in partnership with the non-governmental organization Al-Khidmat, to which Cheema's organization provided its international payment gateway. [1]

The platform expanded to include an education module and the My Impact Meter School application to assist schools in managing students. The organization also launched an initiative titled "earn tech सीखो और कमाओ", providing students with six months of training, six months of incubation, and six months of groceries. [1]

Views and personal life

Cheema met her husband during the Cisco program in Amsterdam, and they have children. While living in Australia, her husband worked at SAP and later held a senior role at Microsoft. [1]

Cheema does not give money to beggars at traffic signals. She believes that basic food security and basic education for one generation can eliminate generational poverty in Pakistan. She considers Pakistan's young population to be a major demographic advantage and views the country as one where democracy has not flourished in a true sense and political stability has not been achieved. [1]

Timeline

2001
Began studies at FAST[1]
2005
Completed studies at FAST[1]
2008
Served as the only female systems engineer at Cisco in the Middle East and Africa region[1]
2018
Made eighteen business trips between Sydney and Silicon Valley for Cisco[1]
2020
Left Cisco[1]

Appearances

DateTitleWhere
2023-11-08 Why she left a global Cisco role to rebuild Pakistani charity Thought Behind Things

Frequently asked questions

Who is Kanwal Cheema?

She worked for 16 years at Cisco in engineering and sales. Her organization developed a mobile application named My Impact Meter.[1]

What is the brand name of Kanwal Cheema's platform?

Cheema's organization developed a mobile application named My Impact Meter and an application called My Impact Meter School.[1]

Where did Kanwal Cheema work during her time with Cisco?

During her 16-year career at Cisco, Kanwal Cheema was based in Amsterdam, Pakistan, the Middle East, and Australia.[1]

What is Kanwal Cheema's profession?

She worked for 16 years in engineering and sales roles at Cisco. Her organization developed the mobile application My Impact Meter.[1]

References

  1. Why she left a global Cisco role to rebuild Pakistani charity . Thought Behind Things , 2023-11-08.
Show the source passages (78 statements)
  1. Her parents moved to Riyadh, where she spent most of her childhood. and then my parents moved to रियाद. So most of my childhood was in रियाद.
  2. She attended nursery school. initial schooling जो बिल्कुल जो nursery थी वह यहां पर Beacon House में थी
  3. She attended American and British schools in Riyadh. different schools in रियाद, American and British schools in रियाद.
  4. She completed her schooling up until grade eight. Up until grade eight रियाज में था
  5. She completed her A levels in Pakistan at Robel. और फिर A levels मैंने यहां से किया था Pakistan Robel से.
  6. She lived with her grandmother and grandfather when she was studying in Pakistan. I live with my grandmother. Right. My grandfather, yeah.
  7. Her parents were both doctors. क्योंकि मेरे parents were very busy. They were both doctors.
  8. She lived in a country in Arabia, where she had to do things on her own. वहां पर तो सौद्रिया में सारा कुछ ख़ुद करना पड़ता था
  9. Her maternal grandmother was strict when she first moved in with her. और उस वक्त मेरी नानों जो है वह थोड़ी you know strict भी होती थी.
  10. Her closest lasting friendships were formed during her university years. university की friendships हैं those have been very instrumental, have stayed. They are alive till today and they are you know some of the best friends I have are still the ones that I had in the university.
  11. She went directly to university after finishing her A-levels without taking a gap year. Did you go to university straight up from A levels or did you take a year off or? Straight up.
  12. Both of her parents were doctors. my parents wanted me to become a doctor. They were both doctors.
  13. Her father wanted her to become a doctor. So, they were both very eager, especially my dad. He wanted me to become a doctor.
  14. She took mathematics, biology, chemistry, and physics for her A levels. मैंने इसी वजह से जो है वह math भी रखा, biology भी रखा, chemistry भी और physics भी.
  15. She chose not to sit for her A levels biology examination. तो biology वाले paper वाले दिन मैं गई ही नहीं. मैंने paper ही नहीं दिया.
  16. She regularly ranked first in her class during childhood. क्योंकि हमेशा बचपन से मैं I always used to come first in my class
  17. She worked in the corporate sector. eventually in hindsight he was very happy very happy with how well I did in the corporate world.
  18. Her father came from a village background and was the only member of his family to become a doctor. He came from a very poor family, a very humble background. उनके जो although ज़मींदार थे, चौधरी थे गांव में but उनकी family में उनके मतलब गांव में वह रहते थी उनकी family and he was the only one who became a doctor.
  19. Her father was the eldest among his siblings. He was the eldest and his siblings as well.
  20. She studied at FAST from 2001 to 2005. How was fast? Four years? 2001 to 2005? [Guest] 2001 from, yeah, 2005.
  21. She won a national-level award at a competition held while studying. हमारा नास्त में एक international वह national level competition था एक stempor मैं वहां गई and then we won the national level award.
  22. She served as president of the debating society at FAST. I did so many other things in fast I was president of debating society
  23. She served as president of a magazine published at FAST. the magazine जो fast ने निकाला उसकी president थी
  24. She served as president and chief coordinator of the event. फिर जो event करता है नास्कोंन उसकी president, chief coordinator वन गई
  25. Cheema's father passed away. Doctor अवताब से मैं काफ़ी अड़से बात मिली जब मेरे अब्बू की death हो गई थी.
  26. Cheema joined Cisco. मेरे लिए क्योंकि मैं Cisco में चली गई.
  27. Cheema went to Amsterdam for a Cisco program. Cisco में फिर मैं एक program में जो Cisco academy में चली गई, मैं Amsterdam चली गई.
  28. Cheema's program included 130 students from 59 different countries. वह वहां पर one thirty students थे from 59 different countries.
  29. Cheema worked at FAST for a short time. I worked at FAST for a little while just to have fun.
  30. Cheema served as president of multiple student societies at FAST, including the debating and dramatics societies. I was debating president, dramatic president you, president of many societies within FAST.
  31. Cheema experienced a religious phase during her time at FAST in which she completely covered herself. fast में जो है वह मैं मेरे अंदर एक एक phase religious phase भी आया था where I completely kind of you know covered myself
  32. She went through a religious phase while at FAST during which she completely covered herself. fast में जो है वह मैं मेरे अंदर एक एक phase religious phase भी आया था where I completely kind of you know covered myself in a way where only you know I completely covered myself.
  33. She worked at FAST while applying to other organizations. I was working in FAST at that time and I had applied to a couple of different places.
  34. She was shortlisted among roughly 33 candidates out of 9,000 applicants from Pakistan for a hiring program. नौ हज़ार applicants Pakistan से थे. उसमें से हमारे CV से shortlist हुए पांच सौ. वह जो पांच सौ थे उनका फिर एक telephonic interview हुआ था जिसमें 30 या 33 जो है वह shortlist हुए. उन 33 में मैं shortlist हो गई.
  35. She was flown to Dubai with the other shortlisted applicants for interviews. वह 33 जो है they were all flown in like बहुत with a lot of pomp to Dubai.
  36. She was the only woman among six applicants selected from Pakistan for the program. तो उसमें उन्होंने फिर छह लोग select किए and I was the only woman And there's five guys and then I was the only woman that got selected.
  37. She completed a one-year program in Amsterdam. तो that obviously very very tough selection process and then one year in Amsterdam.
  38. She met her husband during the program. By the way I met my husband in that that program as well.
  39. She worked for 16 years. मैंने सिस्कों में सोलह साल लगाए.
  40. She worked in both sales and engineering roles. Worked in sales, I worked in engineering.
  41. Around 2008, she was the only female systems engineer at Cisco in the Middle East and Africa region. Within Cisco I was the the only woman engineer in 2008 round about that time system engineer in the Middle East and Africa region.
  42. She began her career as an associate systems engineer in commercial. So I started out as an associate system engineer [Guest] commercial में
  43. She worked across the enterprise, public sector, and service provider sectors. उसके बाद फिर enterprise में गई, public sector में गई, फिर service provider side पर चलेगी.
  44. She managed resellers within Cisco. तो फिर resellers को manage करना शुरू कर दिया within Cisco.
  45. After moving to Australia, she led systems engineering in enterprise. फिर उसके बाद जब Australia move हो गई तो फिर system engineering को lead किया in enterprise.
  46. She transitioned into sales and led client accounts. फिर उसके बाद फिर sales में चली गई. फिर sales में जाकर कुछ accounts lead किए.
  47. She served as an account director for service providers and later as a global account director. फिर पूरे service provider की account director वन गई फिर global account director जो है वह वन गई
  48. She began her career based in Amsterdam, Europe. initially तो जैसे मैंने आपको कहा कि Amsterdam से start किया Europe से किया
  49. She was based in Pakistan for several years. for some years I was based in Pakistan
  50. She was based in the Middle East before moving to Australia. फिर Pakistan में कुछ हर्षा Middle East, फिर Middle East के बाद जो है फिर Australia.
  51. In 2018, she made eighteen trips between Sydney and Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley में बहुत ज़्यादा एक साल में मेरे दो हज़ार अठारह में अठारह trips लगे हैं between Sydney
  52. She has children. I had kids at the time as well.
  53. Her husband worked at SAP and later served in a senior role at Microsoft while they lived in Australia. तो अभी जब हम Australia में थे, he was in Microsoft. Ok. In SAP and then in Microsoft. He was a senior person in Microsoft.
  54. She held a global role while working at Cisco. So he didn't have to travel as much as I had a global role.
  55. She left Cisco in 2020. I left Cisco in 2020, yes.
  56. She began pursuing an MBA. I started doing an MBA.
  57. She completed a degree in social impact from the University of New South Wales. And then I did a degree in social impact from University of New South Wales.
  58. She identified issues in the social sector including the misappropriation of funds, high fundraising costs, and a lack of transparency. And I realized कि there is a lot of in this whole sector, the social sector, there is a lot of gaps in that. ठीक है? Those gaps are around misappropriation of funds, very costly money raising for NGOs, Then you know simplicity, friction है उसके अंदर, traceability, trackability, visibility में issues हैं
  59. She envisioned creating a global platform to make charitable giving frictionless, equitable, and traceable. तो then I thought कि एक ऐसा global platform होना चाहिए which provides that equitability, traceability, visibility, makes it frictionless, makes it simple to do charity.
  60. She conceived a global charity platform intended to provide traceability, visibility, and equitability in charitable donations. I felt कि यह जो एक ऐसा sector है charity, charitable donation, social sector where this is even more needed than any other place. तो then I thought कि एक ऐसा global platform होना चाहिए which provides that equitability, traceability, visibility, makes it frictionless, makes it simple to do charity.
  61. She believes that supporting one generation with basic food security and basic education can eliminate generational poverty in Pakistan. तो अगर हम theoretically अगर एक भी generation को support कर लें with basic things like basic food security कि उनके बच्चे ना सोएं, उनको nutritional deficiencies ना basic education. तो theoretically हम Pakistan में से उस नसददर्द नसद गुरबत को ख़त्म कर सकते हैं.
  62. Her platform sends ration vouchers via SMS to beneficiary families to use at nearby stores. आप किसी भी Impact family को add करके उन्हें राशन के vouchers दे सकते हैं. वह voucher उनको as an SMS चला जाएगा वह अपने ख़रीबी store से जाकर
  63. Her platform uniquely identifies each person using their national identity card. एक चीज़ जो platform करता है कि हर शनाख्ती card को uniquely एक बंदे के साथ identify कर देता है. ठीक है. शनाख्ती card ज़रूरी है.
  64. Her platform partnered with the non-governmental organization Al-Khidmat. अलखिद्मत is a very big partner NGO हमारे platform पर
  65. Flood relief efforts involving Al-Khidmat prompted the rapid launch of her platform. अलखिद्मत का flood था वह that was the driver for us to launch it quickly.
  66. Her organization provided its international payment gateway to Al-Khidmat during the floods. उस वक़्त हमने अल्खिद्मत को अपनी international payment gateway दी थी और flood के दौरान.
  67. She does not give money to beggars at traffic signals. मुझे मैं जो इशारे पर खड़ा जो beggar है ना उसको कभी भी नहीं देती.
  68. She chose to launch her platform in Pakistan before expanding it globally. Pakistan में सोचा कि Pakistan से start कर, इसको ना भी एक global platform but Pakistan से start करती हूं
  69. Her platform launched an initiative titled "earn tech सीखो और कमाओ" to sponsor students for six months of training, six months of incubation, and six months of groceries. तो हमने यह इस पर बहुत बड़ा एक हमने program launch किया है earn tech सीखो और कमाओ के नाम से. जिसमें हम यह कह रहे हैं तुपाक्तानी all over the world कि भाई एक बच्चे को sponsor करें for six month training, six month incubation, six month grocery.
  70. Her organization developed a mobile application named My Impact Meter. They can identify this app. My Impact Meter Play, Apple Play Store, Google Play Store या Apple App Store से आप download कर सकते हैं
  71. Her platform launched an education module. अभी अभी हमारा education module launch है.
  72. Her organization launched an education module. अभी अभी हमारा education module launch है.
  73. Her platform developed an app called My Impact Meter School for schools to manage students. School के पास भी एक My Impact Meter School एक app है. तो वह उसमें वह बच्चों को maintain करते हैं
  74. She previously worked at Cisco. जैसे जब मैं Cisco में थी अगर मैं हज़ार रुपया देती थी शौक्त खानम को तो Cisco भी हज़ार रुपया देता था.
  75. She is self-funding her initiative with her own money while piloting it in Pakistan. It's only being piloted in Pakistan and and bootstrap हो रहा है. It's my own money.
  76. Cheema considers Pakistan's young population to be a major demographic advantage. Pakistan को बहुत बड़ा demographic advantage है. Mhmm. Pakistan has a very young population.
  77. Cheema views Pakistan as a state where democracy has not flourished in a true sense. Pakistan जो है वह एक ऐसा state है जहां पर democracy in its true sense hasn't been able to flourish.
  78. Cheema believes Pakistan lacks a political system that has matured and brought stability to the country. अभी कोई ऐसा system नहीं है Pakistan के अंदर political system जो कि हम कह सकें कि एक stability लेकर आया है मुल्क के अंदर और एक mature हुआ है.