Founders of “The ZB Foundation”
Danielle & Akber Naqvi
Founders of “The ZB Foundation”
Danielle & Akber Naqvi are both successful business people, parents, and founders of a beautiful organization called the Zahra Beau Foundation. This Foundation aims to pioneer the use of NewBorn Screening, targeting the uncharted medical areas of rare metabolic diseases.
Danielle Wilson Naqvi has lived in the UAE since she was 18 years old. She has had an incredibly successful career and personal life. She worked at ITP for 6 years as Head of Marketing for the women’s group. She then founded her PR agency CSPR in Dubai for 10 years and then 2 years ago, she decided to close down her PR agency and follow her passion for travel, by starting Unique Family Travels, which is a luxury family holiday experiences agency.
Akbar Naqvi has also been in the UAE for quite some time and has a very impressive portfolio. He founded Zasar Holdings in 2019, which sits at the confluence of the gaming and fintech industries. He had previously worked as an Executive Director at Al Masah Capital Management Limited, as well as Daman Investments, Standard Chartered Bank, and on Wall Street. Apart from being a successful businessman, Akbar is passionate about running marathons, last year he ran a 200km run through the Dubai desert to raise awareness for the ZB Foundation.
Together, Akber and Danielle started ‘The Zahra Beau Foundation’, an NGO based in Pakistan, in their late daughter’s name. They are the only screening facility in the country and they provide free newborn screening tests, targeting the uncharted medical areas of rare metabolic diseases.
About this Episode
In this episode, we talk to the parents of 3 about their journeys throughout the different careers that they have had and how they got to where they are today. Both Danielle & Akbar have lived in the UAE for a long time and have had many successes in both their personal and work lives. We discuss the tragic story that struck them, with the loss of their daughter Zahra Beau and how they used their loss as motivation to start an incredible foundation, to ensure that no other parent has to go through the same.
Tune in, this episode is well worth your time.
“One of the main reasons we were attracted to each other, where the relationship really blossomed, was that we had a shared vision, very early on, in terms of giving back in a way where we wanted to adopt.”
Akber Naqvi
“We try to get as many donations as we can, but we never really ask for funds, because our product isn’t tangible, so people don’t understand, they think, well how is this money going to help.”
– Danielle Naqvi
Show highlights
“We set out to save a girl and bring love into the world, instead we ended up with so much pain, it just didn’t add up. That’s where we did a lot of soul-searching and we thought, there must be a deeper meaning to all this.”
Akber Naqvi
“This test is a birthright, we shouldn’t have to fight to make this happen, we say our charity is born on the wings of an angel, which it is.”
Danielle Naqvi
Useful Links
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daniwilsonnaqvi/
https://www.instagram.com/aknaq06/
https://www.instagram.com/thezbfoundation/FB: https://www.facebook.com/TheZbFoundation/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Thezbfoundation
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-wilson-naqvi-480b0a13/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/akbar-naqvi-04721b/Website: http://www.thezbfoundation.com
