Aleena Nadeem

founder and CEO of EduFi

Compiled from 1 recorded interview. Every statement below is drawn from the passage cited beside it.

Aleena Nadeem is the founder & CEO of Edufy. Nadeem was born in New York. She grew up in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in a gated compound, and attended middle and high school in Riyadh.

Early life and background

Nadeem was born in New York. She grew up in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in a gated compound, and attended middle and high school in Riyadh. She describes herself as an overseas Pakistani. [1]

Her parents had her return to Pakistan to meet relatives and to work on the ground for a charity, and she has said she worked at a charity in Pakistan from the time she was a child. She has said that charity is great but not sustainable, and that it will not change the game for Pakistan. [1]

Education

Nadeem studied at MIT. She completed her undergraduate degree in business and finance, graduating in 2016, and has a minor in mathematics. She found the Sloan Business School intriguing. [1]

Nadeem has said MIT grades on a curve. She has also said MIT was a very tough school, with many classmates better at calculus than her. She was president of the Pakistani society for a year. [1]

Goldman Sachs and Ventura Capital

Nadeem started working at Goldman Sachs after graduating. She flew to London the day after graduating to start her job, and she took the job in London because she wanted to be closer to Saudi. She worked on the fixed income desk and worked with the treasury departments of UK tech companies. She says she thrives in a very high-paced environment. [1]

Nadeem moved to Ventura Capital, a late-stage tech fund based in London, after receiving an offer. At Ventura Capital she worked on fintech deals focused on credit, drawing on her credit background. She has said most of the fund's deals were at series C and series D. She has also said she worked on Paytm in India and helped raise 50 million US dollars. [1]

Return to Pakistan

Nadeem decided to go back to Pakistan to help her country. She says her decision was led by her childhood charity work, and that she wanted to give back in a tangible way in a space she feels passionate about. She moved to Pakistan partly because no one there was offering student loans. She moved to Pakistan for the first time in October 2021 to start EduFi. [1]

EduFi

EduFi stands for education finance, and Nadeem says it is solving the education problem in Pakistan. She says her company works with around 20 colleges and has around 200,000 students signed up. She has said Pakistan has around 77 medical colleges and that she is focusing on medical colleges. [1]

Nadeem says she has not moved to Karachi because of her team, her credit team and the back-end support they have. She says Karachi is the hub of the tech space. [1]

Nadeem says her company has just raised 6 million US dollars and has also raised its own money. She says that after focusing on the tech build, the company will now focus on growth and marketing. She says the company is expected to be profitable within the next six months. [1]

Nadeem says the company holds an NBFC license. She says EduFi was one of the first apps to be certified when a new regulation came out. She also says it partners with banks and with other liquidity providers. [1]

Nadeem says SNPL, Study Now Pay Later, is one of her company's first products. She says it has a student credit card in the pipeline as its natural next product. She also says it has a teacher salary advance product. [1]

Nadeem says her company focuses on the consumer's ability to pay, an approach she says her background has helped. She says it has narrowed its approach down to running algorithms on bank statements and that it genuinely uses machine learning. She says it gets data from students in real time. [1]

Nadeem says the company's campus-on-cloud software, which goes into colleges, allows students to choose their courses. She says it has a liquidity portal that banks or liquidity providers use to track their loan applications. She says that a relative or a parent can be involved, and that the company then assesses their income. She says the app has a parent portal and a child portal. [1]

Nadeem says she has been exploring, in her spare time, an idea that would let anyone who wants to invest in this space do so. She says her company is one of the startups genuinely using technology to inform tangible decisions in the business, including how to lend. [1]

Nadeem says her stated vision is for EduFi to become Pakistan's first student-led digital fintech, and that the company wants to become Pakistan's first unicorn. She says her first primary market is a 30 billion dollar market. She says she hopes to help Pakistan by educating people, reducing brain drain and raising literacy. [1]

Views

Nadeem says startups in Pakistan must consider whether the business can sustain itself. She says a startup fails when it uses technology on a problem that does not exist, and that money follows a startup that solves a real problem. She says that in the lending business the problem is not on the demand side, and that education is a priority payment for many households in Pakistan. [1]

Nadeem has said she could not open an EasyPaisa account for almost six years. She says about 80 percent of Pakistan's economy is in the informal sector. She says the tech sector can attract real capital to Pakistan. [1]

Personal life

Nadeem's family is spread across London and Saudi Arabia. She lived alone in Pakistan after moving back. [1]

Timeline

2021
Moved to Pakistan for the first time, in October, to start EduFi.[1]
2024
Featured in Forbes 30 Under 30, Class of 2024.[1]

Appearances

DateTitleWhere
2023-11-22 The only startups worth funding solve a problem that already exists Thought Behind Things

Frequently asked questions

Where did Aleena Nadeem study?

Aleena Nadeem studied at MIT. She completed her undergraduate degree in business and finance, graduating in 2016. She has a minor in mathematics.[1]

Where is Aleena Nadeem from?

Aleena Nadeem was born in New York and grew up in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She describes herself as an overseas Pakistani.[1]

What company did Aleena Nadeem found?

Aleena Nadeem founded EduFi, where she is the CEO. She says EduFi stands for education finance. She moved to Pakistan for the first time in October 2021 to start it.[1]

Where has Aleena Nadeem worked in finance?

Aleena Nadeem started working at Goldman Sachs after graduating, and she worked on the fixed income desk. She later moved to Ventura Capital, a late-stage tech fund based in London, where she worked on fintech deals focused on credit.[1]

Why did Aleena Nadeem move to Pakistan?

Aleena Nadeem decided to go back to Pakistan to help her country. She says her decision was led by her childhood charity work. She moved to Pakistan partly because no one there was offering student loans.[1]

References

  1. The only startups worth funding solve a problem that already exists . Thought Behind Things , 2023-11-22.
Show the source passages (80 statements)
  1. Aleena Nadeem is the founder and CEO of EduFi. Aleena Nadeem is the Founder and CEO of EduFi, where she is building Pakistan’s first student loan fintech platform
  2. Aleena Nadeem was featured in Forbes 30 Under 30, Class of 2024. She was featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2024.
  3. Aleena Nadeem is a Shark on Shark Tank Pakistan. Aleena is also a Shark on Shark Tank Pakistan, the Pakistani edition of the popular television show.
  4. Aleena Nadeem was born in New York. I was born in New York, lived in London, but all of my middle school and then moved to Saudi.
  5. Aleena Nadeem grew up in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I grew up in Saudi, uh, Riyadh, a very different Riyadh from what it is now.
  6. Aleena Nadeem grew up in a gated compound. I grew up in a compound, which you might know, um, it's just a gated community.
  7. Aleena Nadeem attended middle and high school in Riyadh. So middle school and high school, all that I remember is from Saudi, Riyadh.
  8. Aleena Nadeem describes herself as an overseas Pakistani. I have never lived in Pakistan. So I am an overseas Pakistani.
  9. Aleena Nadeem moved to Pakistan for the first time in October 2021 to start EduFi. I only moved to Pakistan for the first time in my life, um, in October 2021, uh, to start EduFi.
  10. Aleena Nadeem studied at MIT. I went to MIT, yeah.
  11. Aleena Nadeem completed her undergraduate degree in business and finance, graduating in 2016. I did my undergrad there in uh, business and finance and uh, graduated in 2016.
  12. Aleena Nadeem has a minor in mathematics. I also did a lot of courses in mathematics, so I have a minor in maths.
  13. Aleena Nadeem found the Sloan Business School intriguing. I felt that the Sloan Business School was really intriguing to me at that time.
  14. Aleena Nadeem has said MIT grades on a curve. MIT is a curved school, so What does that mean? So the grading is curved.
  15. Aleena Nadeem has said MIT was a very tough school, with many classmates better at calculus than her. it's a very tough school because obviously you have a lot of people from all over the world who are better at calculus than me
  16. Aleena Nadeem was president of the Pakistani society for a year. I was president of the Pakistani society for a year as well.
  17. Aleena Nadeem's parents had her return to Pakistan to meet relatives and work on the ground for a charity. my parents used to make me come back to Pakistan, make me, you know, meet my Pakistani relatives and like work on the ground here in our charity
  18. Aleena Nadeem has said she worked at a charity in Pakistan from the time she was a child. We worked there since I was a kid. Um uh as far back as I remember
  19. Aleena Nadeem says charity is great but not sustainable, and that it will not change the game for Pakistan. I saw charity is great, but it's not sustainable, right? Like it's not going to change the game for Pakistan.
  20. Aleena Nadeem started working at Goldman Sachs after graduating. Um, I uh started working at Goldman Sachs.
  21. Aleena Nadeem flew to London the day after graduating to start her job. I graduated in like June and then the next day I remember I was flying to I flew to London to start my job
  22. Aleena Nadeem worked on the fixed income desk at Goldman Sachs. I was on the the desk that I was on was the fixed income desk at Goldman.
  23. Aleena Nadeem took her Goldman Sachs job in London because she wanted to be closer to Saudi. Yeah, it was in London. I wanted to be closer to Saudi.
  24. At Goldman Sachs, Aleena Nadeem worked with the treasury departments of UK tech companies. I used to uh work with the tech companies in the UK, so like Apple, Google, Facebook, their treasury departments
  25. Aleena Nadeem says she thrives in a very high-paced environment. I thrive when it's a very high-paced environment.
  26. Aleena Nadeem moved to Ventura Capital, a late-stage tech fund based in London, after receiving an offer. I got an offer from Ventura Capital, which is a late stage tech fund. It's based out of London.
  27. At Ventura Capital, Aleena Nadeem worked on fintech deals focused on credit, drawing on her credit background. I was put on the Fintech deals that focus on the credit side because of my background in credit.
  28. Aleena Nadeem has said she worked on Paytm in India and helped raise 50 million US dollars. I worked on Paytm in India and helped raise 50 million US dollars as part of that.
  29. Aleena Nadeem has said most of Ventura Capital's deals were at series C and series D. I worked in Ventura was a series C to series D fund. Right. Um, majority of their deals were in that stage
  30. Aleena Nadeem says early-stage investors are really investing in the founder, because the product pivots so often. Because when you're in an early stage startup, you're investing in the genuinely you are investing in the founder because the idea or the initial product pivots so many times
  31. Aleena Nadeem says due diligence matters most in later-stage growth investing. In the later stages though, when you're going to growth, due diligence becomes very important.
  32. Aleena Nadeem says startups in Pakistan must consider whether the business can sustain itself. But in Pakistan, when you're building a company, you do need to think about like, you know, if for example, right now we're in a tough time, like, can my business sustain itself?
  33. Aleena Nadeem says a startup fails when it uses technology on a problem that does not exist. If you are making or putting technology to solve a problem that doesn't exist, that is the only time your startup will fail.
  34. Aleena Nadeem says money follows a startup that solves a real problem. If you're solving a real problem, the money will come and the money will flow.
  35. Aleena Nadeem says EduFi stands for education finance. Like EduFi short for education finance.
  36. Aleena Nadeem says EduFi is solving the education problem in Pakistan. We're solving the education problem in Pakistan.
  37. Aleena Nadeem decided to go back to Pakistan to help her country. I was thinking, okay, I want to go back to help my country in Pakistan.
  38. Aleena Nadeem says her decision to move was led by her childhood charity work. that really led my decision because as I mentioned, I worked in a charity when I was a I was a kid.
  39. Aleena Nadeem wanted to give back in a tangible way in a space she feels passionate about. am I going to give back in a tangible way in a space that I feel passionate about.
  40. Aleena Nadeem's family is spread across London and Saudi Arabia. My family is kind of all over the place. Some of them are in London, some of them are in Saudi.
  41. Aleena Nadeem lived alone in Pakistan after moving back. Yeah, I lived here alone. I think like especially I think society wise, it's very weird.
  42. Aleena Nadeem moved to Pakistan partly because no one there was offering student loans. I moved to Pakistan because obviously I'm from Pakistan descent, but also no one is doing student loans.
  43. Aleena Nadeem says she has not moved to Karachi because of her team, her credit team and the back-end support they have. I haven't moved to Karachi because my team, my credit team and the Techlogics kind of um back end support that we have
  44. Aleena Nadeem says Karachi is the hub of the tech space. Karachi is really the hub of the tech space and Lahore doesn't really have that ecosystem.
  45. Aleena Nadeem says she has been in business for two years. I've been in business since two years, not a single headline.
  46. Aleena Nadeem says her company works with around 20 colleges and has around 200,000 students signed up. right now we have around 20 colleges in two years, which is you know, we have around 200,000 students who are, you know, in our, you know, uh signed up technically with us.
  47. Aleena Nadeem says Pakistan has around 77 medical colleges and that she is focusing on medical colleges. So, I have coached probably, so in Pakistan, there is around 77 medical colleges. When I'm focusing on medical colleges
  48. Aleena Nadeem says her company has just raised 6 million US dollars. we've just raised $6 million US dollars.
  49. Aleena Nadeem says that after focusing on the tech build, her company will now focus on growth and marketing. we've been focusing on the tech build, so now we're going to be focusing on growth and marketing.
  50. Aleena Nadeem says education is a priority payment for many households in Pakistan. Education is a priority payment for many households in Pakistan.
  51. Aleena Nadeem says that in the lending business the problem is not on the demand side. But you have to remember lending business, the problem is not on the demand side. It's not a demand deficiency.
  52. Aleena Nadeem says her company focuses on the consumer's ability to pay, an approach she says her background has helped. What we focused on in, you know, that's where my kind of my background a little bit has helped as well, is focusing on the consumer's ability to pay.
  53. Aleena Nadeem says her company has narrowed its approach down to running algorithms on bank statements. we've narrowed it down to doing algorithms on the bank statements itself.
  54. Aleena Nadeem says her company genuinely uses machine learning. And we genuinely use machine learning.
  55. Aleena Nadeem says her company gets data from students in real time. We're getting this data from real time from the students.
  56. Aleena Nadeem says her company's campus-on-cloud software, which goes into colleges, allows students to choose their courses. Our systems, our ERP systems, our our our campus on cloud software that goes into the colleges and really you know, allows students to choose their courses and and pick that.
  57. Aleena Nadeem says her company has a liquidity portal that banks or liquidity providers use to track their loan applications. our liquidity portal, which is basically what the banks or the liquidity providers use to track their um loan applications.
  58. Aleena Nadeem says her company partners with banks and with other liquidity providers. We partner with banks, but we've partnered with other liquidity providers as well.
  59. Aleena Nadeem says her company has also raised its own money. We've also raised our own money.
  60. Aleena Nadeem says that a relative or a parent can be involved, and that her company then assesses their income. So either if it's a relative, so chacha ho gaya, theek hai, ya parent ho gaya, and then we assess their income.
  61. Aleena Nadeem says her app has a parent portal and a child portal. there's a parent portal on our app and then there's a child portal.
  62. Aleena Nadeem says she has been exploring, in her spare time, an idea that would let anyone who wants to invest in this space do so. one like idea that I have been exploring or been thinking about in my spare time is um anyone who wants to invest in this space can.
  63. Aleena Nadeem says her company holds an NBFC license. Right now, do you have a license? Yes. What what sort of a license is that? NBFC.
  64. Aleena Nadeem says EduFi was one of the first apps to be certified when a new regulation came out. But actually, EduFi was one of the first apps to be um certified. There was a new regulation that came out.
  65. Aleena Nadeem says her company is expected to be profitable within the next six months. we are expected to be profitable within the next six months.
  66. Aleena Nadeem says emerging-market VCs view burn differently because of limited access to capital. emerging market VCs do look at things a little bit differently, um like I said, because of lack of access to capital or easy capital.
  67. Aleena Nadeem says that without access to capital, a startup cannot be aggressive with its growth strategies. Like if you're not going to see the capital, you're not going to be able to um be aggressive with your growth strategies.
  68. Aleena Nadeem says a startup must be tech enabled to keep a competitive advantage and a low customer acquisition cost. So you really do have to be tech enabled to one ensure competitive advantage and two ensure your CAC is low.
  69. Aleena Nadeem says the best founders she found were often investment bankers. The best founders I found were investment bankers more often than not, which also places you at the top.
  70. Aleena Nadeem has said she could not open an EasyPaisa account for almost six years. Um, for almost six years, mera EasyPaisa account nahi khul raha tha.
  71. Aleena Nadeem says SNPL, Study Now Pay Later, is one of her company's first products. SNPL, which is Study Now Pay Later, is one of our first products.
  72. Aleena Nadeem says her company has a student credit card in the pipeline as its natural next product. We have a student credit card in the line, obviously that's our natural next product.
  73. Aleena Nadeem says her company has a teacher salary advance product. We have a teacher salary advance product.
  74. Aleena Nadeem says her company is one of the startups genuinely using technology to inform tangible decisions in the business, including how to lend. We are one of the startups that are genuinely using technology to actually impact real like, you know, tangible uh decisions in the business and how to actually lend out.
  75. Aleena Nadeem says her stated vision is for EduFi to become Pakistan's first student-led digital fintech. the larger vision for EduFi is to be Pakistan's first student-led, you know, digital fintech
  76. Aleena Nadeem says her company wants to become Pakistan's first unicorn. We do want to become Pakistan's first unicorn.
  77. Aleena Nadeem says her first primary market is a 30 billion dollar market. even if we capture our first primary market, it's like I mentioned, it's a $30 billion dollar market.
  78. Aleena Nadeem says she hopes to help Pakistan by educating people, reducing brain drain and raising literacy. I hope that I can assist or do my part in it by educating as many people as I can, um reducing the brain drain, increasing the literacy rate and injecting capital into the middle class.
  79. Aleena Nadeem says about 80 percent of Pakistan's economy is in the informal sector. remember, 80% of our economy is in the informal sector, right?
  80. Aleena Nadeem says the tech sector can attract real capital to Pakistan. the tech sector can be a very positive driving force to attracting real capital to the country.