Sidra Iqbal

Sidra Iqbal is an internationally acclaimed young celebrity public speaker of Pakistan and has been a passionate debater since her school days. She held the honor of being the youngest finalist amongst 167 participants from all over the country at the Prime Minister's Shield 1999, the most coveted All-Pakistan Debating Championship.

In summer 2006, Iqbal was awarded a full scholarship to attend the International Relations Summer Program at the Oxford University, UK. After completing her research program, Iqbal returned to pursue her calling in television talk show production & hosting and has many hard-hitting productions to her credit. Recognizing her excellent presentation skills, creative firepower and solid teaching ability she has been recently recruited to head the Public Relations division at Ogilvy & Mather Pakistan.

In 1999, she became the first Pakistani to win the prestigious English Speaking Union's International Public Speaking Championship in London, UK. She emerged a winner amongst 58 participants from 28 different countries, an accomplishment for which, she was feted at the Buckingham Palace and awarded the winner's certificate by HRH Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh.

This achievement propelled her personal and professional growth. What followed was a globe-trotting episode of eloquently representing the Pakistani youth at a number of highly esteemed and power packed conventions and forums. Some these and their highlights are listed below:

July 2004 International Summer School for Young Activists 2004 in Wales, United Kingdom - Represented Pakistan as a Youth Delegate - Designed & conducted training workshops on Effective Communication Skills and Motivation for 200 International Youth Activists.

Mar 2004 First National Students Convention 2004 called upon by the President of Pakistan, Gen. Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad, Pakistan - Participated in this historic event as a National Student Delegate - Selected by the Governor House Sindh to be a part of the 25 member Sindh Youth Delegation to the event

Aug 2000 3rd Asia Pacific Cup English Presentation Contest in Fukuoka, Japan. - Winner of the 'Artistic Award' and $2000 scholarship money

Mar 2000 World Schools Debating & Public Speaking Contest in Nicosia, Cyprus - Finished as Finalist in Persuasive and Impromptu Speaking Categories

Oct 1999 United Nation's Millennium Young People's Congress in Hawaii, USA. - Participated as Pakistan's Youth Delegate. - Chosen as Spokesperson out of 400 participating Asian Youth Delegates.

Aug 1999 English Speaking Union's World Members' Conference in Sydney, Australia. - Participated in the Youth Forum as a Speaker and part of the ESU Pakistan's Delegation.

During the same while Iqbal made the rewarding transition to youth training. Her first training opportunity was at the British Council Karachi in 2000. She designed and executed the summer public speaking workshops called Speech Craft. In 2003, the same concept evolved into the bigger and better TCS Hyde Park Juniors. The popular training program and championship series enrolled and trained over 200 young participants in the art of public speaking and personality grooming.

In 2004, Iqbal's research paper and training proposal was selected out of 1500 submissions by the Ministry of Education, UAE. She was invited to lead a leadership training program for their global initiative "Women as Global Leaders" at the prestigious Zayed University Dubai. The following year Sidra was chosen to be one of the 20 International Advisors to this annual program.

Iqbal was also selected and invited by the Scottish Executive to the 3rd World Youth Congress at the Stirling University UK. The Congress was the largest youth congregation of the year with over 1500 youth delegates and activists from around the globe. Here she was popularly voted as the Spokesperson for Asia for the 400 Asian delegates to the Congress. Sidra conducted several trainings at this truly global forum and led the Asian delegation in the policy drafting proceedings. The policy paper drafted was later presented at the Scottish Parliament and the UN General Assembly

Her involvement with television media has further strengthened her illustrious public speaking background and her position as a youth activist.