Join ANDE Asia and Accelerate Prosperity (an initiative of the Aga Khan Foundation) for Session 1 of the Asia Climate & Environment Learning Lab: Bring Your Own Insights (BYOI) Series — a dialogue-driven learning space where data meets lived experience.
Through an interactive roundtable conversation, speakers and participants will unpack real-world insights from the region, compare perspectives, and explore how circular economy approaches are evolving in practice.
📅 24 February 2026 (Tuesday)
🕙 14:30–16:00 IST | 16:00–17:30 ICT
Why This Matters
Circular economy conversations are everywhere but what does implementation actually look like on the ground?
This session goes beyond theory to unpack real lessons emerging from Central and South Asia, with a spotlight on Pakistan and Tajikistan. Drawing from Accelerate Prosperity’s latest TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read) insights and practitioner experience, the discussion will explore what’s working, what’s challenging, and what’s still missing when scaling circular solutions in complex, under-resourced ecosystems. Expect practical takeaways on finance, policy, ecosystem building, and the role of community innovation, gender, and youth engagement.
Who Should Attend
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Ecosystem builders and support organizations
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Entrepreneurs and founders exploring circular models
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Investors and impact investors
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Practitioners working in climate, environment, and sustainable enterprise
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Anyone looking to test ideas, exchange insights, and ground big circular economy narratives in regional realities
Come ready to share perspectives, challenge assumptions, and connect with peers shaping circular economy solutions across Asia.
Isfandiyor Abdullo, AP Country Director, Tajikistan
Experienced in developing incubation and acceleration programs for entrepreneurs in Central Asia. Serial entrepreneur with over 9 years of expertise in enterprise investment across various sectors. Strong background in supporting startups and SMEs in scaling their businesses.
Proven track record in both donor-funded projects and private sector initiatives. Passionate about fostering innovation, designing high-impact strategies, and unlocking new market opportunities for sustainable economic growth.
Ambareen Baig, Programme and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem specialist, Accelerate Prosperity
Ambareen Baig is a Programme and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem specialist with over 11 years of experience leading private sector development and impact investment initiatives across emerging and frontier markets in South and Central Asia. She currently serves as PMU and Insights Manager at Accelerate Prosperity (Aga Khan Foundation), where she oversees strategy, implementation, and learning across a £32M+ regional entrepreneurship and investment portfolio funded by donors like FCDO, SECO, the European Union, AKF, etc.
Ambareen specializes in strengthening early-stage investment pipelines, ecosystem mapping, and designing evidence-driven programmes that improve startup and SGB access to finance. She has contributed to the design of AP’s impact investment vehicle, investment readiness frameworks, and multi-country results and data systems that inform future programming and donor strategy. She is passionate about leveraging data and market intelligence to build inclusive and climate-resilient entrepreneurship ecosystems.
Padmakshi Rana, PhD, Executive Director and Co-founder, Impact Hub Kathmandu
Padmakshi supports startups and MSMEs thrive in the field of sustainable and resilient business innovation. With her expertise in purpose driven business models, systems and value innovation, and corporate social responsibility (CSR), she has spent her career at the intersection of business impact and innovation.
Padmakshi co-founded a sustainability-led innovation consultancy –The Inceptery while based in Singapore. During her time in England, she was a Research Associate (post doc) at the Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge.
She holds an MPhil in Environment, Society and Development and a PhD in Manufacturing Management from the University of Cambridge. Her preceding educational qualification includes an MBA, followed by a marketing career in ecotourism.