GharHo
“Transforming lives through low-cost housing finance.”
Trellis Housing Finance Limited is a Housing Finance Company, providing affordable home loans to low and middle income households.
Pakistan is at a crossroads – with a population of 220 million people, more than 60% of them under the age of 35, it is a growing economy. However, with the rapid growth in population and urbanization in recent years, a housing crisis has emerged.
House prices have risen at a much higher rate than incomes have grown, and thus, with much higher land prices and construction costs, it has become increasingly difficult for low and middle income families to buy and build their own homes.
Trellis is leveraging the latest in FinTech, Housing & informal economy research to address the needs of an under served market. Our team of experts has a combined 150+ years of industry experience across affordable housing, microfinance & finance background and has now come together to address the affordability crisis for the housing sector in Pakistan.
Board of Directors
Nadeem Hussain
Chairman of the Board
Globally recognized for his dedication and service to financial inclusion in Pakistan as the founder and ex-CEO of Tameer Bank and EasyPaisa that has impacted millions of Pakistanis by extending credit, insurance and mobile banking solutions to a large segment of unbanked population.
He is an active member of the State Bank’s and SECP consultative groups on various initiatives including Microfinance and insurance.
Jamshed H. Meherhomji
Board Director
As the CEO of Trellis FI, Jamshed will bring first-hand perspective of the pulse of operations on the ground to help guide the board on key strategic decisions.
Mr. Jamil Akbar
Independent Board Director
20+ years in Private Equity, C-Level Operational Leadership, Real Estate Development, Private Equity and Strategy. COO TPL Properties. Previously led Infrastructure (incl. Energy) Strategy and diversification M&A for Fauji Foundation.
Prior roles include leading Emaar Pakistan, unlocking value through strategic renegotiations, rescuing legacy projects and successfully incubating new multi-use developments.
Emma Malik
Board Member
A highly experienced senior leader and urban development specialist, Emma has over 13 years’ expertise in developing and delivering programs financed by the European Commission, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, Sida, and FCDO across Africa and Asia.
She has expertise in the affordable housing sector/ecosystem and has worked in positions across the private, public, and non-profit sectors. Having lived and worked extensively in Asia, Emma possesses substantial knowledge and experience of the regional housing landscape.
A well- established communicator, employing five languages, with excellent interpersonal and people management skills, she brings international experience to Trellis as one of our key board members.
Ali Mukhtar
Board Member
Serial Investor with more than 7 years of experience. Ali Mukhtar is the founder and CEO of Fatima Ventures, a progressive venture capital fund established in 2014, with the vision to support the startup ecosystem of Pakistan. Under his leadership, Fatima Ventures has partnered with Gobi Partners to launch Fatima Gobi Ventures and has invested in leading technology startups including Airlift, Tajir, Safepay, Abhi and Sasta Ticket among others.
Ali is an Advisory Board Member of National Incubation Centre Lahore, a joint venture between Fatima Ventures, Lahore University of Management Sciences and Ignite. He also serves as a board member at Trellis Housing Finance Ltd.
Saadya Riaz
Board Member
A result-driven, innovative business leader with expertise in Retail Banking, Wealth Management and Client Segmentation. Possesses over 21 years of experience leading businesses and having direct ownership of P&L for multiple banks. Previously worked across investment markets in East Asia, Middle East and Pakistan.
Saadya has built several businesses from scratch for local and international organizations with direct P&L responsibility. She is passionate about setting up new business models and exploring digitization of product solutions with emphasis on delivery models to grow revenues, drive efficiency and deliver a superior client experience.
She joins Trellis to provide Strategic Leadership & Direction for Business Performance, Revenue Generation, Growing Book of Business, Managing P&L, solving for Sales & Business Development, Building Client Relationships, and Effectively managing the teams.
Management Team
Jamshed H. Meherhomji
CEO/Co-founder
10 years experience at J.P. Morgan. Most recently head of Liquidity Product Management. Pioneered the banks IS Cash & Liquidity Data Analytics Program. Has experience running large Liquidity portfolios & strategic transformation agendas.
Sam Hjelmfelt
CTO/Co-founder
Broad technical experience from infrastructure to front-end design with an emphasis on open source, cloud-native, big data, AI & blockchain.
Zain Sharif, CFA,FRM
Chief Risk Officer
Broad technical experience from infrastructure to front-end design with an emphasis on open source, cloud-native, big data, AI & blockchain.
Sohail Ausaf
Chief Financial Officer
Sohail is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (ICAEW,UK) and Associate. Member Corporate Treasurer (ACT,UK) with 20 years’ post qualification experience spent mostly in a strategic and decision making roles in the Industry. Exposure to C-level roles with Etisalat Telecom and Union Properties in UAE.
Zaid Naveed, CPA
Head of Product
A highly qualified and accomplished Finance and Accounting professional who is a former Investment Banker and Financial Strategist at HBL. He has almost 10 years of diversified experience working with organisations in Canada, Bahrain and Pakistan across multiple domains in the financial services, construction, audit and advisory sectors.
Alina Islam, MBA
Head of Investor Relations
6+ years of experience in Corporate Treasury, managing liquidity and focusing on debt financing transactions for companies in a wide variety of industries; from gold mining, to medicine. Most recently, has worked on customer strategy for one of the largest banks in Canada.
Usman Mahmud
Head of Internal Audit and Regulatory Compliance
Usman Mahmud is a Certified Forensic Auditor (AFIA, Canada) and holds a Masters degree in Banking & Finance. Over 14 years of diversified experience in Internal audit and Compliance advisory roles, Usman has worked with top tier banks and MSBs both in Pakistan and UAE. With a blend of expertise in regulatory compliance, risk-based audits, AML-CFT controls and operational risk management, Usman leads the Internal Audit and Compliance functions at THFL.
Muhammad Shahid
Company Secretary
Muhammad Shahid has more than a decade of experience in dealing with Corporate governance, Policy Issues, Research and Development in the areas pertaining to Financials Services, Capital markets, investment banking, development economics and regulatory regimes. Shahid has been involved in different assignment with World Bank and Asian Development Bank pertaining to capacity building projects. Before joining Trellis Housing Finance limited, he worked with Bank Alfalah, in SME & Commercial department in retail banking.
External Advisor
Adil K. Tirmizey
External Legal Counsel
Partner at Riaa Barker Gillette. Extensive experience of structuring financial solutions & can drive legal execution.
Saad H. Latif
Energy Advisor
More than a decade in the power sector, Saad has worked with grid, mini-grid and off-grid companies in Pakistan & Tanzania.
Mufti Muhammad Ibrahim Essa
Shariah Advisor
Shariah Scholar, Member of Darul Ifta Jamiah Darul Uloom Karachi. Chairman Shariah Board–Zarai Taraqiyati Bank Limited and Member Shariah Board at Habib Metropolitan Bank Limited and The Bank of Khyber. Shariah Advisor to a number of national and international Islamic Financial Institutions including Atrium Underwriting Syndicate-Lloyds of London, Craft 3 investment U.S.A., EFU Life Assurance Ltd, EFU General, Allianz EFU etc.