Shiza Shahid

Most large companies now talk about purpose, but the operating reality stalls inside marketing, legal and finance. Boards want a credible answer on how a mission can sit at the centre of a product, a brand and a P&L without becoming a slogan. The harder question is how to build a business where purpose is a growth engine rather than a cost centre.

Shiza Shahid co-founded the Malala Fund with Malala Yousafzai, built the kitchenware brand Our Place from launch, and invests in mission-driven technology founders through NOW Ventures.

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Why organisations work with Shiza Shahid

She has built a global non-profit alongside a Nobel laureate and a viral consumer brand from the ground up, which gives boards a credible voice on what purpose looks like inside a P&L rather than on a slide.
Our Place put a specific commercial bet on multicultural cooking and on cookware made without PFAS, PTFE and PFOA. She can speak about how a values position becomes a product specification and a category position.
Through NOW Ventures and her AngelList partnership, she has seen hundreds of early-stage decks from mission-led founders. She can tell a corporate audience which purpose-led strategies are creating real growth and which are positioning.
Her arc from McKinsey analyst to non-profit CEO to consumer founder to seed investor gives her language that translates across the room, from a CFO to a brand lead to an innovation team.

Biography highlights

Co-founder and founding CEO of the Malala Fund, established in 2013 with Malala Yousafzai to advance girls’ education in Pakistan and across Africa.
Co-founder and Co-CEO of Our Place, the direct-to-consumer kitchenware brand behind the Always Pan, launched in 2019.
Founder of NOW Ventures, an early-stage fund launched in 2017 in partnership with AngelList, backing mission-driven technology startups.
Author of Dinner at Our Place: Recipes for Gathering, published by HarperCollins in 2025 with eleven chefs and tastemakers.
BA, Stanford University, graduated with University Distinction; former business analyst, McKinsey & Company, Dubai.
Named to TIME’s 30 Under 30 People Changing the World and Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneurs; honoured as a Tribeca Disruptive Innovator.

Biography

A teenage activist in Islamabad set up a summer camp for Malala Yousafzai and other Pakistani girls in 2009. Three years later, after Malala was shot, that camp became the foundation for the Malala Fund. Shiza Shahid was the founding CEO, working alongside Malala and her father Ziauddin to build a global organisation focused on girls’ education in Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya and Sierra Leone.

The Malala Fund was a lesson in scaling a mission. The Our Place chapter, which started in 2019 with husband Amir Tehrani and co-founder Zach Rosner, was a lesson in scaling a product. The brand bet that multicultural cooking and toxin-free cookware were a commercial proposition, not a niche, and the Always Pan answered that bet with a 30,000-person waitlist on release.

NOW Ventures, launched in 2017 with AngelList, is the third lens. Shahid writes early cheques into mission-led founders in technology, with an explicit emphasis on women and diverse entrepreneurs. The fund gives her a constant view of which purpose-led businesses are converting into commercial substance, and which are still positioning.

Her cookbook, Dinner at Our Place, published by HarperCollins in 2025, sits on top of that body of work. The recipes are written with eleven chefs and tastemakers, and the book is structured around hosting as a cultural act. It is the most concrete expression yet of the conviction that drives her companies: that culture, commerce and care are not separate categories.

Key speaking topics

Mission-driven entrepreneurship and scale
Purpose as a commercial proposition
Building a consumer brand from launch
Women and diverse founders in early-stage tech
Girls’ education and social impact
Inclusive brand and product design
Investing in technology for global challenges

Ideal for

CEOs and founders building purpose-led consumer brands and DTC businesses
Chief marketing, chief brand and chief sustainability officers in consumer goods
Corporate venture, innovation and ESG teams designing new mission-led ventures
Women in leadership programmes, founder networks and philanthropy boards

Audience outcomes

A grounded view of how a mission becomes a product specification, a brand position and a category bet, not a marketing line.
A clearer read on which purpose-led commercial strategies are creating growth and which are signalling.
A working vocabulary for backing women and diverse founders in early-stage technology, from someone who writes cheques.
A direct account of how a non-profit at global scale and a consumer brand at viral scale are built from the same founder discipline.

Available for

Speaking

Speaking Themes

Languages

English

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Testimonials

Shiza's time on stage and meeting with all of our students has made a large impact on our community. Shiza's passion came through loud and clear.

Berkshire School

We filled the room to fire code capacity with another 100 sitting in the lobby, about 1300 attendees total. Additionally, another 750 people joined in via the live web stream. Overall, it was a big success for our program.

University of Wisconsin - Madison

It was truly an amazing event! Shiza was genuinely kind and down-to-earth. She offered unique insights and valuable advice - everyone in the audience was captivated by her story!

University of Oklahoma

It was an absolute honor and pleasure meeting Shiza and hearing her speak about her passion and progress towards change. We received such wonderful feedback from the Johnson & Johnson senior leaders and media after the lunch.

Neutrogena

Shiza was phenomenal. The students and faculty LOVED her talk and were so inspired. She was great to work with and really kind with her time.

Belmont University

We hit a home run with Shiza. 3 standing ovations, and she was very gracious and accommodating of the staff and VIP's.

American Veterinary Medical Association

The entire audience immediately responded with a standing ovation. We do not often see this at our Commencement ceremonies. Shiza created an exceptional experience for everyone present.

Capella Education Company

She is a delight and very easy to be with, not to mention incredibly inspiring and articulate and gracious. She received a standing ovation at the end of her talk!

Uncharted International

I was very pleased with her presentation, as was the rest of the audience. We liked everything about her: educated, talented, perceptive, ambitious, driven, persuasive, diplomatic, and wise beyond her years. We would highly recommend her.

Van Wyk Risk Solutions

The event with Shiza was really wonderful. She is an incredibly engaging speaker. It was a fantastic, inspirational event that I have no doubt our campus and community members will continue to learn and benefit from.

California State University, San Marcos

Shiza was wonderful! She was very well spoken and well received by the community.

The Hockaday School