40 Under 40 2021: Agha Zohaib, Mindshare

Agha Zohaib

Managing director
Mindshare
Pakistan

Hailing from a small town, little did anyone know that the shy lad who stuttered and had severe stagefright would grow up to become a frontrunner in the APAC media space. Starting off as a media planner for Mindshare Pakistan in 2006, Agha Zohaib has worked his way up to managing director through various roles at Mindshare and stints in Malaysia for Havas and Zenith Media.

With Zohaib at the helm, Mindshare Pakistan has been recognised in the Campaign Asia-Pacific Agency of the Year Awards with gold awards in two successive years (2018 and 2019). From day one, Zohaib’s objective has been clear: to make Mindshare Pakistan a true leader in every sense of the word. It was due to his future-ready approach that Mindshare embarked on a journey of transformation across various ambits like automation, gender equality, employee wellbeing, ecommerce, adaptive work approaches and recalibration of growth drivers.

At the height of COVID-19, two-thirds of Mindshare resources were impacted. Instead of letting COVID get the best of him, Zohaib took a proactive approach because he knew that a lot of people depended upon him. When he was needed, he didn’t shy away and operated in the capacity of an account director for a good eight months on key clients.

Zohaib has developed various best-in-class tools that have enabled 70% operation automation such as, Minstein (an automated planning system), M Budge (an AI tool for budget estimations), RPA (an automated release tool) and Nexus (a business suite for automated reporting), many of which became case studies across APAC. His proactive style and unique approach to problem-solving have also earned him a place in Mindshare’s  Global Data Council.

As a leader he is a firm believer in promoting diverse talent and empowering women in the workplace. It is because of his constant mentorship that the number of women has grown in the ranks. This concentration of female talent is not only a powerhouse within local corridors but has been regionally recognised as well with Young Achiever awards in the Agency of the Year Awards.