Recognition at the Pakistan Women’s Empowerment Principles Awards

Walee Financial Services received an award in the Gender-Responsive Marketplace category at the Pakistan Women’s Empowerment Principles Awards. UN Women Pakistan hosted the event on November 3, 2026, in Karachi to acknowledge organizations making progress toward gender equality in the workplace and the economy. The annual ceremony evaluates corporate strategies, supply chain policies, and marketplace initiatives that create equal economic participation for women. Commercial entities submit their internal metrics and public programs for evaluation by a panel of judges representing international development organizations, financial institutions, and academic bodies. Winning this category places institutional validation on the company's operational framework.

The Khudmukhtar Khatoon Financing Model

The award recognizes the impact of the Khudmukhtar Khatoon program, which translates to Independent Woman. Developed with Karandaaz Pakistan, the program operates through the WFS Shariah-compliant digital platform, Hakeem. The initiative provides micro and small enterprise owners direct access to productive equipment and capital without traditional banking hurdles. Access to formal credit in Pakistan remains heavily restricted for women due to collateral demands and documentation requirements. Financial institutions traditionally require land titles, formal credit histories, or employment verification documents that exclude the majority of female entrepreneurs who operate in the informal economy. Khudmukhtar Khatoon bypasses these barriers by substituting physical collateral with alternative risk assessment mechanisms built on digital transaction histories and community-level verification steps.

Fintech Strategy for Financial Inclusion

Noshad Minhas, CEO and Co-Founder of Walee Financial Services, stated the program provides tangible assets instead of debt-heavy financial products. The company uses a Shariah-compliant approach to help home-based businesses transition into sustainable enterprises. This recognition follows the company's previous work in the digital finance sector, including its platform Hakeem’s Big Win: Singapore FinTech Festival 2024 Honors Pakistan’s First Shariah-Compliant Nano-Financing App. Shariah-compliant nano-financing models eliminate interest-based lending by utilizing asset-backed structures where the financier purchases the required machinery or raw material and sells it to the entrepreneur on a deferred payment schedule. This model addresses religious preferences among business owners who avoid conventional commercial bank loans due to interest prohibitions. Digital delivery mechanisms reduce administrative overhead costs for the lender, allowing micro-loans to remain financially viable despite small ticket sizes.

Core Objectives of the WEPs Initiative

The UN Women WEPs Awards are a joint effort between UN Women and the UN Global Compact to honor entities taking actionable steps toward gender equality. For Walee Financial Services, the award is a milestone in its effort to address the gender gap in the local financial sector. The company continues to focus on digital Islamic fintech solutions to support women's entrepreneurial ambitions. Corporate policies aligned with the WEPs framework require organizations to measure gender parity internally and externally. Marketplace initiatives must demonstrate measurable improvements in procurement practices, supplier diversity, and consumer access to financial products. Fintech platforms operating within this domain must maintain transparent pricing structures and clear grievance redressal mechanisms to protect vulnerable borrowers from over-indebtedness.

Understanding the Impact on Women Entrepreneurs

The following points outline the operational focus of the Khudmukhtar Khatoon program:

  • Direct provision of productive equipment to female micro-entrepreneurs.
  • Elimination of the traditional requirement for a male guarantor.
  • Delivery of Shariah-compliant digital financing through the Hakeem platform.
  • Focus on scaling home-based businesses into sustainable enterprises.
  • Integration of alternative credit scoring methods for unbanked populations.
  • Provision of digital literacy training alongside financial capital disbursement.

Questions Regarding the Initiative

How does the program ensure Shariah compliance?

The financing is delivered through the Hakeem platform, which is built on Shariah-compliant principles for digital micro-financing. Islamic finance scholars audit the underlying contracts to verify that all transactions involve tangible goods and adhere to prohibitions against interest.

What is the eligibility criteria for the program?

The program targets women-led micro and small enterprises looking to acquire productive assets to scale their businesses. Applicants must demonstrate operational history in their chosen trade and possess basic digital literacy to manage applications through the mobile application.

What role does Karandaaz Pakistan play?

Karandaaz Pakistan acts as a partner to WFS in delivering the Khudmukhtar Khatoon program to entrepreneurs across the country. The organization provides funding support, technical assistance, and strategic guidance to expand the reach of digital financial services in underserved regions.

Source: PhoneWorld