Shaukat Zamani, Co-chairperson
Shaukat Zamani is the founder and CEO of the Zealand-based Zamani Finance, OptionB Real Estate and Pamir Rugs. He served as President of the Afghan Association of New Zealand in 2003 and recently founded Help Afghan Education (HAE), a primarily education-driven effort, to empower young Afghan men and women via the medium of modern education.
Zamani is a pioneer of Islamic finance in New Zealand. He is also the youngest ever participating journalist in the history of the prestigious US-based Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships where his assignments included the Boston Globe and The Charleston Daily Mail, West Virginia. The July 19, 1989 edition of The Connection newspaper in Virginia called Zamani "a top prospect in his country" and quoted American officials describing him “as the most promising in the field of journalism”.
Originally from Kunar Province, Zamani was born in Kabul in 1969. He obtained his primary education at Rokhshana Primary School in Kart-e-Seh, Kabul, and attended Habibia High School. He left Afghanistan at the age of 16 in late 1985 and migrated to Peshawar, Pakistan, where he attended the IRC English Language Program and later taught English to Afghan refugees. In 1987, he joined IRC’s Journalism Program and in 1988 became Editor of the Program’s English language newspaper, Bouquet Among the Ashes. The newspaper was the first of its kind in Peshawar and covered different aspects of refugee life in Pakistan.
Zamani migrated to New Zealand with his family in 1990 and from 1991-1995 attended New Zealand’s largest university, the University of Auckland, completing a Bachelor of Arts degree and Master of Arts studies. He majored in sociology and economics. Zamani attended some law studies, including Legal System and Public Law. Zamani also has a post-graduate diploma in Islamic Finance.
For more information about Shaukat Zamani, please refer to his personal web site: www.shaukatzamani.com
Dr. Gabriele Strohschen, Co-chairperson
Dr. Kenneth Elazier, Curriculum Development Coordinator
