In many other countries, Hina Usmani would just be doing her day job, but in her homeland of Pakistan, as a rare female accountant in a male-dominated environment, she is at the forefront of changing an entire work culture.
Now 50, Usmani was only the tenth woman in the whole of the 188 million-strong South Asian nation to qualify as a chartered accountant, and the first to do so in her extended family.
In 2010, after a successful two decade career, she decided to dedicate her experience to founding an all-female accountancy firm, not only offering female accountants flexible hours that work around their home lives, but also focussed on helping other women entrepreneurs to build up their businesses.
The socially conservative country of Pakistan has a conflicting reputation on women’s rights. In 1988 it was the first majority Muslim nation to elect a female leader, Benazir Bhutto.
Yet in 2016, girls in rural Pakistan can still be discouraged from attending school. Only four years ago, the world was shocked when 15 year old education activist, Malala Yousafzai, was shot by extremists on her way to school in the northwest district of Swat. She survived to win a Nobel Peace Priz
