Zafar Siddiqi

Zafar Siddiqi was an accountant who was with KPMG for 18 years, initially as a partner and later as the managing director of one of its consultancy practices. He left the world of spreadsheets in the early 1990s, having spotted an opportunity to launch a TV production house in his native Pakistan, specializing in providing business programs to overseas broadcasters.

A few years later, he saw the chance to launch a CNBC business network across 18 countries in the Middle East, the first international brand to broadcast in Arabic. This was quickly followed by his establishing similar networks across 39 countries in Africa, and in Pakistan. Later, he launched Samaa TV in Karachi, which is a 24-hour news and current affairs channel.

He also established Forbes Africa, FM Stations in Pakistan and in education has partnerships with Curtin University in Dubai and Lancaster University in Ghana.

He still serves as Chairman of all the businesses he is involved with, spending much of his time on their strategic direction, not least in wresting with the challenges they face from the digital evolution that this book deals with.