LAHORE: Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, in her capacity as the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Advocate (UNSGSA) for Inclusive Finance for Development, on Wednesday spent an eventful and busy day on the last leg of her visit in the Punjab capital.
Upon her arrival, she visited Bykea, a Pakistani company providing mobile application-based services for transportation, logistics and cash on delivery payments. Queen Maxima interacted with a group of Bykea users and appreciated the success stories, profiling and approaches to the concept.
The group members apprised the Queen of their experiences, expertise and financial inclusion with the Bykea. Earlier, Bykea Pakistan Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Muneeb Maayr and employees accorded a warm welcome to the Queen on her arrival and briefed about the vision performance, evaluation criteria and social impacts of the company.
Separately, the Queen visited Tez Financial Services, a financial technology (Fintech) startup, which was an instant small amount loan provider for short term through its mobile application to its subscribers. The next stop was a merchant shop powered by Finja, a financial technology (Fintech) startup, where she was given a briefing on the usage of digital technology for financing small businesses by Finja Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Qasif Shahid. Queen Maxima appreciated the idea of the company which was financing more than 700 small merchants in the city.
Moreover, the next thing on Queen Maxima’s itinerary was GharPar, a mobile app and web-based solution providing women with high quality, hygienic, and timely at-home beauty services. The Queen was briefed about functioning, products and services of the company.
The Queen also met with the trainee girls at the facility and inquired about their learning experiences. Queen Maxima is visiting Pakistan in her capacity as UNSGSA for Inclusive Finance for Development. Since 2009, she has been actively engaged worldwide in promoting access of individuals and enterprises to financial services at a reasonable cost, with the aim to improve economic and social development opportunities.
