Babson College will present Karim Khoja, CEO, Roshan, and Shainoor Khoja, Director, Corporate Affairs, Roshan, on Monday, April 6, 5:00-6:30 p.m., in Olin Auditorium.  Together, they built Roshan into Afghanistan’s largest mobile phone company in an effort to keep a war-torn nation connected as one.

The Lewis Initiative and Babson’s Net Impact are co-sponsoring this presentation as part of The Lewis Initiative Career Speaker Series on Entrepreneurship and Societal Impact. Mark Albion, of Babson’s Lewis Initiative will make the introductions.

Hear their winning business strategy. Learn how they did it with two growing children. At the same time, find out what the career opportunities are in the developing world.

Karim Khoja is CEO of Roshan, Afghanistan’s leading mobile phone company and winner of worldwide acclaim for promoting female employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.  Karim has served in senior management positions in national and multi-national telecommunications companies for over fifteen years. He has extensive experience in nurturing start-up businesses from infancy through development, and has led several GSM start-up companies into becoming major market players as President and CEO, including being the founding CEO of Mobilink (Pakistan), Director of Marketing, Strategy and Sales for ERA GSM, Chief Operating Officer and Member of the Board for CROATIAN Telecommunication HT, as well as founding CEO of T-MOBILE, Croatia.  Mr. Khoja has also been on the board of directors and in senior positions focusing on sales, marketing and strategy for companies such as Exi Wireless Inc, Spectonics Microsystems Ltd., and RAM Mobile Data Ltd.   In January 2003, Mr. Khoja was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer for the Telecom Development Company Afghanistan Ltd, t/a Roshan. Under his leadership, Roshan has grown to be Afghanistan's largest mobile provider and today is the largest company in Afghanistan with over 3 million subscribers. Mr. Khoja is also Chairman of the Board of the Afghan Investment Climate Facility AICF and an advisor to the GSMA Development Fund.

Shainoor Khoja has a BSc in Physiotherapy, an MBA in Health Management, a basic background in Law and several Postgraduate qualifications in Corporate Social Responsibility. Shainoor has successfully operated projects and businesses in four different continents working within diverse cultures, in challenging environments and in multiple languages. For the last four years she has focused on the mobile technology sector setting up a new division within the mobile technology industry in corporate social responsibility from start up to project delivery and operation. The project manages a budget of over $2 Million USD and integrates social development mobile technology projects such as mobile money, village phone models and bottom of the pyramid business strategies. Over the years she has built collaborative relationships with large international agencies and the private sector for joint projects and funding including USAID, Mercy Corps, CISCO, Vodafone, Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi, French Medical Institute for Children and One laptop per child through MIT.

Shainoor continues to develop the programs by researching and creating innovative uses of technology for business expansion and societal benefit in areas such as Telemedicine, transfer of educational content through mobile phones, training programs to build in-country human capacity.  She has expanded the program to develop the promotion of strategic tri-sector partnerships, manage partner relationships and direct PR and media efforts. Shainoor is also working with academic institutions such as Harvard and Berkley Haas Business School MBA students assisting their understanding of business in emerging markets.

The Lewis Initiative leverages the Babson Way of entrepreneurial thought and action to address many of the world's most pressing social problems through systemic change. In the fall of 2008, Alan and Harriet Lewis founded the startup of the Initiative with their vision and the second largest gift in the history of the College. For information, visit www3.babson.edu/Lewis.