KARACHI: In order to promote financial inclusion, Karandaaz Pakistan convened the final pitch round of the ‘Offline Payments Innovation Challenge’ an extensive evaluation process to identify secure and scalable digital payment solutions leveraging Raast for environments with limited or no internet connectivity.
The initiative marks a shift from problem recognition to solution development, bringing together innovators and ecosystem players to build practical, locally relevant technologies that can function beyond the constraints of always-on connectivity.
The challenge attracted a strong response from across the financial ecosystem, with multiple high-quality and innovative proposals received from startups, fintech, and technology innovators, of which a select few were short-listed for the pitch round.
The participants presented their solutions over two days to a six-member national and international judging panel comprising Ms Layanah Al-Wreikat, Director, JoPacc, Jordan; Ms Sabiha Ahmed, Private Sector Development Advisor, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office; Shauzab Ali, Principal Project Officer, Asian Development Bank; Muhammad Imaduddin, Director, Digital Innovation & Settlement Department, State Bank of Pakistan; Dr Zartash Afzal Uzmi, Professor and Lead, Center for Digital Assets Research, LUMS; and Sharjeel Murtaza, Chief Digital Officer, Karandaaz Pakistan.
Proposals were assessed against criteria including technical robustness, security and risk controls, regulatory alignment, scalability, market relevance, and long-term sustainability.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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