This Founding CEO Raised $50 Million To Build A Credit Enhancement Company To Issue Guarantees For Promoting Private Infrastructure Projects

In a rapidly changing world, navigating uncertainty, building scalable solutions, and creating positive social impact are more critical than ever. These were the focal points of the conversation with Maheen Rahman, a trailblazing entrepreneur and finance leader who has raised a balance sheet capability of over $400M.

Maheen also talks about introducing and tailoring a product to bridge the gap in the market and thinking beyond the commercial aspects of her company, Infra Zamin. She now leads a unique initiative reshaping access to capital in emerging markets.

Listen to the full podcast episode and review the transcript here.

A Global Upbringing and Embracing Change

Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Maheen’s early years were shaped by a dynamic, multicultural upbringing. Growing up in Pakistan, the UK, and Africa, she attended six different schools by the time she graduated high school.

Constantly moving, she learned to adapt quickly and build relationships in new environments—a skill that proved invaluable throughout her life. She moved back to Pakistan in 2005 and started her entrepreneurial journey.

Reflecting on these formative experiences, Maheen shared, “Change is a constant in life, and you can’t get too attached to certain ways of doing things or places. Embracing change rather than resisting it leads to growth.”

This adaptability became a cornerstone of her personal and professional philosophy, allowing her to thrive in the ever-evolving world of finance.

The Fascination with Finance: A Journey from Wall Street to Pakistan

Maheen’s journey into finance began with an early fascination sparked by Michael Lewis’s book Liar’s Poker, which delves into the rise of Wall Street in the 1980s.

The world of bonds, stocks, and corporate deal-making captured her interest, leading her to pursue a finance degree and, after graduation, a career in the corporate world.

Maheen began her career at major financial institutions such as Merrill Lynch and ABN AMRO Bank N.V., where she was introduced to the intensity of investment banking. She recalls the grueling schedule of the three-month training course that Merrill Lynch sent her for.

“I’ve done the 18-hour days and the all-nighters. It was intense, but the grounding I received in understanding how finance works was exceptional,” Maheen recounted. She also did the investment banking routine way back in early 2000.

Her time at these institutions sharpened Maheen’s financial acumen and solidified her belief that finance, while complex, is a versatile skill. “It’s not rocket science,” she often tells others. “Once you learn the basics, you can apply them anywhere.”

Maheen also learned how to use techniques and tools within the financial sphere to accomplish various tasks.

Taking on the Challenge of Restructuring

In 2009, Maheen took on one of her biggest challenges yet. At just 32 years old, she was appointed CEO of IGI Funds, a struggling asset management company that had lost 40% of its baseline equity and was incurring losses. At the time, it was part of a large industrial and commercial conglomerate.

With the global financial crisis still casting a shadow, Maheen embarked on a daunting integration and restructuring process with virtually no asset management experience.

She recalls, “We had to let go of 70% of the workforce, which was the hardest part. You’re dealing with people, many of whom had been with the company for a long time. But we managed to turn the company around in around 12 to 13 months.”

Maheen recalls how they restored investor confidence and ultimately made the company profitable. Despite the layoffs, their primary objective was to give better investment returns to investors and shareholders. Eventually, in 2013, the company was acquired by a much larger financial group.

Maheen reveals that within 36 months of her taking over, an offer was on the table for the company since the sponsors were looking to sell out. She also talks about the challenges of managing an acquisition and managing the integration of two companies with very different cultural environments.

Maheen looks back at how IGI distribution was limited. Since IGI was a small-scale institutional business, the company’s growth was going to be stunted.

It needed a change of sponsorship to a larger asset manager with more significant investment potential to shift its shareholding structure away from family-owned groups toward large-scale financial institutions with the breadth, width, and distribution capability to take the firm to another level.

After the acquisition, Maheen stayed with the acquirer, AlfalahGHP Asset Management, and served as Chief Executive for eight years.

The Move into Impact Finance: Founding Infra Zamin

After 12 years of building a successful career in asset management and raising funds, Maheen felt it was time for something new. She had achieved her personal and professional goals at Alfalah and was looking for her next challenge.

That’s when the opportunity to be the founding CEO at Infra Zamin came along. “It was a risky move,” she admits, “but the idea of impact finance appealed to me.

It was about more than just making money; it was about enabling access to finance in developing markets where it’s incredibly difficult to obtain.”

Maheen recalls how Private Infrastructure Development Group and Karandaaz, based in the UK, approached her. They wanted to create development finance opportunities for people who wanted to start their businesses.

They were interested in large-scale private sector infrastructure projects to raise money from the local domestic capital markets.

The Infra Zamin Business Model and Fundraising

Infra Zamin focuses on providing credit guarantees to businesses that struggle to secure financing from traditional banks and bond markets.

The model is simple yet powerful: Infra Zamin offers credit guarantees, reducing the risk for banks and unlocking capital for companies that would otherwise be overlooked.

Maheen explains that InfraZamin does the due diligence and runs the numbers. If the project is viable, it gives the entrepreneur a credit guarantee to take to the bank and get funding using the Infra Zamin collateral and guarantee.

In other cases, the project owner can launch a bond in the debt capital markets fully wrapped by the credit guarantee to entice risk-averse institutional investors.

Essentially, it unlocks a piece of lending or capital access that would otherwise not have been available. This is the kind of catalytic impact that Maheen wants to bring into the markets.

In the last three years, Infra Zamin has demonstrated success in interesting transactions and has won multiple international awards.

Maheen’s transition from leading a corporate giant to becoming the first employee of a startup was drastic. “I went from being a high-end CEO to essentially being the company secretary, CFO, and marketing head all at once,” she laughs.

But despite the challenges, Maheen says the last three years have been incredibly rewarding. Infra Zamin started with $50M in capital and can leverage that to issue $400M worth of guarantees in the market.

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Maheen explains that they will soon raise funding for the company since they have a robust balance sheet and alliances with various institutions that offer grant financing.

Infra Zamin, via their Technical Assistance Fund, also provides grant financing for capacity building in the markets or to bring down transaction costs.

This facility assists entrepreneurs who don’t want to bear the transaction costs. At Infra Zamin, they try to create combinations of guarantees and grants and leverage their balance sheet to stretch the capital. Its structure doubles its capacity to do more guarantee frameworks.

Maheen stresses that funding does not always need to be equity since that takes away from ownership. She advises other forms of financing, including debt and debt instruments similar to those available in developed countries like the US.

Unlocking Capital and Scaling Solutions

At the heart of Infra Zamin’s work is the belief that scaling impact is about more than just growing the company—it’s about creating replicable solutions that banks and other financial institutions can adopt independently without needing guarantees.

One area where Infra Zamin has made a significant impact is solar energy. Five years ago, banks were hesitant to finance rooftop solar projects.

Thanks to Infra Zamin’s and sister company GuarantCo’s credit guarantees, banks are increasingly willing to fund such projects without guarantees, unlocking a new segment of lending in Pakistan.

“For us, the goal isn’t necessarily to do all the business ourselves, but to enable the market to recognize and price risk appropriately so that it can scale independently,” Maheen explains.

This is the essence of what she calls Infra Zamin’s “catalytic impact”—opening up new sectors and technologies to financing, which, in turn, drives growth across the board.

Doing Good for the World: The Broader Mission

Beyond the commercial aspect, Maheen is deeply committed to ensuring that every transaction Infra Zamin undertakes positively impacts development.

She shared a powerful example of how the company responded to the devastating floods in Pakistan in 2022, which displaced 33 million people and destroyed 5 million homes.

“We launched a bond in the capital market with a microfinance institution to help fund the rebuilding efforts. It’s about more than just finance—it’s about making a real difference.” Maheen explains how the institution lent or used the funds from the bonds to fund women exclusively.

The money was used to reconstruct flood-damaged homes, rebuild schools, and refurbish damaged businesses, effectively providing livelihoods across the gender board. This ended up being the first gender bond of its kind in South Asia.

This is how Infra Zamin demonstrated its impact on the market and development. Initially intended to help around 30,000 women, it has already impacted around 18,000 in low-income segments. Around 15% of the bond proceeds have gone toward housing reconstruction.

Maheen explains how they are trying to build in development impact at every layer. As she sees it, anyone can put together structured project finance and layer in development impact, ESG, climate, and all these nuances, which are so topical today,

Raising Capital and Thinking Outside the Box

One of the key factors behind Infra Zamin’s success has been its ability to raise and leverage capital creatively. They have effectively brought in mainstream commercial investors to invest in impact projects and gender bonds without compromising their returns.

Moving forward, Infra Zamin hopes to replicate this success across different sectors, such as finance innovation and development finance.

Maheen looks forward to when Infra Zamin will be out of a job since it has effectively catalyzed the market to recognize risk and lend to all sectors that would typically get overlooked.

Maheen foresees a world where open access to finance is available to all types of innovations and industries. Domestic institutions, local banks, and local capital markets would lend long-term to infrastructure financing, such as bridges, water plants, and other complex projects.

Maheen’s advice for entrepreneurs is simple: “Think outside the box. Not everything has to be equity. Equity takes away from your ownership, so explore other forms of financing like debt or venture debt.”

Maheen emphasizes the importance of not reinventing the wheel but learning from what’s been done in other markets and adapting those solutions to fit your own business structure.

Looking back at her journey, Maheen would advise her younger self to be more tenacious and to keep going despite the doubt and fear of the unknown. She would also advise tenacity, resilience, and keeping the passion in her beliefs alive.

Conclusion

Maheen Rahman’s journey from investment banking to impact finance is a testament to the power of adaptability, resilience, and a commitment to doing good.

Through Infra Zamin, she is not only building scalable solutions that unlock capital for underserved markets, but she’s also creating a legacy of positive social impact.

As she continues to lead Infra Zamin in its mission to democratize access to finance, one thing is clear: Maheen’s story is far from over, and the impact she’s making is just beginning.

Listen to the full podcast episode to know more, including:

• Embrace change: Maheen Rahman highlights how adapting to change throughout life helped her thrive in uncertain environments.
• Finance isn’t rocket science: Building a strong foundation in financial principles can open doors across various sectors and opportunities.
• Restructuring is tough but necessary: Successfully turning around a failing company requires difficult decisions, such as workforce reductions, but can lead to long-term growth and profitability.
• Acquisitions can unlock growth: Rahman emphasizes the importance of scaling through mergers, especially for smaller companies aiming to expand their market reach.
• Impact-driven finance: Through Infra Zamin, Rahman is working to provide access to capital for underserved sectors, catalyzing growth in developing markets.
• Scaling isn’t always direct: Creating self-sustaining frameworks, like encouraging banks to lend without guarantees, is key to achieving long-term, scalable impact.
• Business with a purpose: Rahman believes in balancing commercial success with social good, citing examples like helping rebuild after natural disasters through innovative financial instruments.

 

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