A Harbinger of Global Financial Change

Javed Khattak is a qualified actuary, as a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries in the UK, and an expert in finance, strategy, risk, investments, technology and start-ups. As a FTSE100 advisor, he is a recognised expert and a strong proponent of blockchain technologies, seeing them as the inevitable next step in the corporate and professional landscapes.

It is, however, his role as CFO of Humaniq that brought him to Wealth & Finance’s attention. Javed starts the interview by outlining the importance of the work he is doing at the firm, “Amongst other roles, I am the CFO of Humaniq, this role has been my primary focus over the last year. Humaniq is a financial inclusion project that, through use of technology in namely blockchain and biometric ID, aims to bring financial services to the unbanked population of the world and has successfully launched in several African countries.”

Perhaps a crucial element to Javed’s work is his advocacy for blockchain technologies, believing them to be the ‘next big thing’; a revolutionary development for innumerable sectors and fields. “Humaniq, and many other innovative ventures, are able to come into existence thanks to this technology. This is in two ways; blockchain first made the initial funding for these companies possible through ICO’s, and alongside blockchain also provides these ventures with the tools and technology to execute their novel ideas and make them a reality.” Through effective utilisation of the technology, Javed sees limitless possibilities with most sectors benefitting from it, including technology, financial services and real estate industries, alongside transforming supply chains and empowering end users (e.g. through control of their personal data).

However, Javed admits that blockchain is becoming stigmatised due to false parties adopting the name to make money quickly; this is a frequent occurrence with an exciting emerging technology but seems to be amplified in the case of blockchain and cryptocurrency. “Blockchain has become a buzz-word which is also attracting the wrong players who are using the opportunity to create outright scams and frauds. We have all seen the various non-blockchain businesses changing their trading names to add the magic word and see their stock prices rise. I believe this will all fade away once the regulators catch up and alongside the non-sophisticated ICO investors or contributors get burnt. Though amongst the noise, there are genuine players of course.”

“Fundamentally, I see blockchain as an enabler. It is still early in the technology’s lifecycle, but once the technology matures, it can and will revolutionise lives. I hope that the blockchain will do what the internet did for information and prove to be the empowering tool that helps decentralise the world’s wealth and resources.”

Javed’s work at Humaniq is only one part of his current workload; he is also the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of two companies, Zisk Properties and JKCoach. Javed takes a moment to talk us through his history with them, “I founded Zisk Properties in 2014. Zisk is an innovative property investment business, focusing on providing investment options to people with insufficient savings or a lack of financial understanding to have a more secure future and even get on the property ladder through small steps. It already has a lot of traction, with hundreds of customers and managed to significantly outperform property markets with a weighted average return of just under 20% p.a. since its inception. Having successfully received our UK FCA registration recently, we are in the process of launching in the UK and are already in discussions to launch in UAE by end of 2018.”

“JKCoach was founded several years ago, and is an educational institute that provides coaching, tuitions and diplomas to Pakistani students with the aim to raise the education standards. By end of 2018, we will have over 500 students, with an ambition to expand into the rest of Pakistan and to be able to offer free but quality education to children from families below the poverty line in 2019.”

As you can imagine, being on the executive team of three companies results in a hectic work schedule. For Javed, this is just par for the course, “Busy probably would be an understatement. I am involved in most aspects of the ventures I am leading. Fortunately, having a great team that I can rely on helps a lot. For me, there is no average workday, as each one is very different to the previous one – the only thing that is constant is the number of hours that I am working each day!”

“What I do on any particular day depends on the ongoing projects and work-streams. Example; the past month I have been travelling significantly to speak at or be a panellist at conferences, lead a fundraising round, interviewing and hiring for new roles and spending time with our dev guys for launch of Zisk’s new web platform.”

Javed continues, bringing the interview to an optimistic close; “I am a firm believer in giving back to society – this is why I was initially attracted to Humaniq and precisely why I started Zisk Properties and JKCoach.

“In addition to this, I love technology because either a smartphone or a tablet has become a companion as information is instantly available. Financial services, like money transfers, are more accessible and cheaper. Medical advancements mean a better quality of life and improved longevity for those affected with disease or involved in accidents, and so on. As such, let us all work together to leave a part of us behind through our creativity, fostering new technologies, and not being afraid of challenges – all the while remembering to share happiness, be kind and forgiving to humanity as well as all that is around us.”

Company Details 

Name: Javed Khattak

Web Address: www.linkedin.com/in/javedkhattak

Roles:

CFO of Humaniq

Co-founder & CEO of Zisk Properties

Co-founder & CEO of JKCoach

Investment Director at Stratamis