Quiet capital, patiently given.
The Aftab Fellowship is a new venture. The Simone & Aftab Family Trust exists to back people the family believes in — and this is its first program: direct, no-strings support for young builders in Pakistan, given before anyone else will.
"Aftab" means the sun. We chose it for the idea of first light — the moment before a day takes shape, when a small amount of warmth makes everything that follows possible. That is the moment we want to fund.
The name is also a person. The fellowship honours Dr. Mian Aftab Ahmad — a teacher who believed deeply in his students and championed entrepreneurship as a path to a better future. He spent his life backing young people before anyone else would, and this fellowship continues that work: backing the next generation of Pakistani builders, in his name.
In the loving memory of
Dr. Mian Aftab Ahmad (late)
Teacher, mentor, and lifelong believer in young people — the namesake and the spirit of this fellowship.
Three convictions.
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01
Talent is everywhere; capital is not.
The bottleneck is rarely ability. It's whether anyone is willing to bet early.
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02
The first cheque should ask for nothing.
No equity, no repayment, no claim. A gift that says: we believe you.
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03
People compound; plans change.
We back the person. The idea they're building today is just the start.
Who's behind it.
For now, the Aftab Fellowship is a team of one. It's founded and run by Mian Irtiza Aftab — a designer, builder, and community builder from Lahore, now based in San Francisco — who reads every application personally.
At heart, he's a philosopher-builder and a curious inventor — drawn to hard questions, and to making things long before anyone asks him to.
A note to you
I believe two things about Pakistan at once: that it is full of exceptional talent, and that far too few people are willing to look a young person in the eye and say, I believe in you. That gap — between what people are capable of and who is willing to bet on them — is the whole reason this fellowship exists.
What I look for is curiosity — the people who can't stop asking questions, who build things before anyone asks them to, who chase an idea simply because they need to know how it ends. To me, curiosity is a more honest signal than any credential.
So this is less a fund than a community: a small, growing circle of people who take each other seriously, who believe early, and who keep believing. If that sounds like you — or someone you know — I want to hear from you.
Mian Irtiza Aftab
Founder & Patron