Isfandiyar (Asfi) Shaheen ‘06
Founder & CEO of NetEquity Networks Inc. and Former Private Equity Professional

In this talk, Isfandiyar Shaheen (Asfi) will share a plan to make fiber optic Internet affordable for households in rural America without subsidies. He will discuss why he quit his career to focus on this endeavor and his understanding of the problem definition. In addition, he will discuss how his time at F&M prepared him for his current role and advice he would offer to his 20 year old self.

Shaheen is the Founder & CEO of NetEquity Networks, a San Francisco based start-up company committed to making Internet for all a reality. Prior to this, Asfi helped create an infrastructure sharing company called Towershare (acquired by Edotco in 2017) and served as a board member for two publicly listed companies, Engro Corporation and Engro Foods (51% acquired by RFC). 

Asfi started his investment banking career at the Seabury Group in New York as an analyst. Thereafter, he moved back to Pakistan in 2009 to set up his first entrepreneurial venture, The Kadmos Initiative. It was here in his home country that Asfi was involved in a number of M&A transactions including United Energy Group's acquisition of British Petroleum's assets ($750 mm Transaction Value) and Royal FrieslanCampina's Acquisition of Engro Foods ($940 mm Enterprise Value). However, soon after, he quit his investing career in 2016 to dedicate all his energies toward providing affordable internet to the most obscure parts of the globe.

This event was proposed by Ali Khan ’21 and Alan Glazer and is sponsored by the Department of Business, Organizations & Society.