Young Difference Makers: Saad Bin Asim Zubairi and his journey of Learning, Empathy, and AI

What if a ten-year-old’s love for maths could spark a career that blends finance, empathy and AI for social good? We sit down with Saad Bin Asim Zubairi of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan to unpack how curiosity, grit and global perspective can reshape what a chartered accountant does today. From finding the profession at an education expo to thriving in multinational teams through geopolitical turmoil, Saad shares concrete ways leaders can protect psychological safety while raising standards.

The conversation dives into the shifting toolkit of modern finance: automation, data analytics, and generative AI alongside audit and controls. Fresh from a One Young World workshop, Saad explains how he built a demo app for the Sustainable Development Goal of quality education in under an hour, proving that non-coders can prototype impactful solutions with GenAI. We reflect on powerful moments from the summit, including insights from Queen Rania and Nobel laureate journalist Maria Ressa, and why combating disinformation and online hate is now a core leadership duty, not a side issue.

Mentorship sits at the heart of Saad’s approach. He outlines practical steps for young CAs to balance study and work, use AI responsibly, and move beyond rote tasks into analysis, advisory and product thinking. The result is a roadmap for lifelong learning that keeps you valuable in a changing market while staying rooted in ethics and empathy. If you care about building a career that matters—and tools that help people—you’ll find real takeaways you can apply this week.

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Transcript

A Learner’s Mindset

Saad Bin Asim Zubairi 0:00

I'll forever be a learner. That is something that I learned as well during the summit that all these leaders with all this experience that they have, they still are curious to learn. Hi, I'm and I'm representing the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan. I was always a maths kid. Maths was one of my favorite subjects. So uh while growing up, I actually stumbled upon it because uh one of my dad's friends he came across, uh visited our house. He asked me, uh, you know, young man, what do you wanna become when you grow up? So um I had no clue at that time I was 10 years old. And uh he told me, he said, Okay, tell me what's your favorite subject. Instantly I was like, Maths, that's my favorite subject. I knew that for sure. So he said, Okay, well, I'll help you out. If you like maths, why don't you try doing chartered accountancy? And I said, What is that? I had no clue about it. Um, but that just invoked the curiosity in me to find out more about what this profession is about and if it's aligned with my interests, maybe I can take a look at it. Um and I started visiting expos, started Googling it. Um I met a couple of institute representatives at an education expo held in Islamabad. Uh that's when I got introduced to the institute itself. And uh when I talked to the representatives there, um it really piqued my interest. So uh that's how I started off uh in this direction, and um I chose finance uh as my subjects in O levels and A levels uh that aligned with my interests as well, and uh that really helped me along in my CA journey. I think uh CA as a profession is constantly evolving. It is not the same uh when I started it off. Um especially that's something that uh I am finding out at this summit as well. You know, with AI coming in, drastic changes going around. Something that I've realized uh as a chartered accountant is it has given me a base to kick off from. With the evolving market that we have right now, I think uh a lot of skills needed to need to be added to my career as well in order for me to become more competitive in the market and uh make a lasting impression the uh in this profession. I went through around three rounds of interviews. It was in uh it was a difficult process, a cumbersome one, I my dad. Uh but the thing is that what I learned is uh basically my experience is uh I have a a very uh multinational experience. I worked in diverse environments. Previously I was working for a telecommunication group. I had team members from a lot of different countries, which included Russia and Ukraine as well. Um that's when the war broke out between Russia and Ukraine. Uh, my experience uh it actually was a lot to do with how to be compassionate and empathetic towards team members who come from different diverse backgrounds, right? Um, with the current world uh going into this global crisis, whether it's Russia, Ukraine, Pakistan, India, Iran, Israel, whatever you call it, um, I think what we need to do in our professional lives is we need to be compassionate and empathetic towards the professionals that we are working with. Um so that is something that uh maybe that also contributed to my selection. Also, uh I take some time out to mentor my uh you know my peers as well as my juniors. Um that is something that I'm really passionate about because uh when I became a chartered accountant, it was a long and arduous journey. It involved a lot of discipline, it involved a lot of uh late nights. Um so I think the young people that are becoming chartered accountants, uh, they need to really struggle juggling their work and their personal lives. That is somewhere that I think I can come in, given my two cents to them. Uh, I've seen it help them in their journeys, and I feel that is my way of making a little contribution to making their journey easier. Welcome to One Young World. A couple of things that really stood out to me was the speech given by Queen Ranya at the opening ceremony, the work of Maria Risa. I've been following her work, I'm a huge fan of her, her journey is inspirational. She's talked about uh, you know, the disinformation that's spewing across the social media platforms these days. I'm personally an advocate for you know standing up to it because uh I've gone through it as well. I've seen in the past conflicts that our countries have been through, that this hate over social media platforms is spreading like wildfire. That is something that we need to, as young leaders, we need to step up and stop at all costs because otherwise the world is just gonna go into a spiral if it already isn't. One of the key things apart from this is uh AI. These are the acronyms I think that we can't get away with in this day and age. AI is constantly evolving our work culture, our daily lives. I just attended my workshop and it was basically mastering AI for good. It was done by KPMG. I think that really made me realize what I'm capable of. I ended up building a demo app in less than an hour just by using Gen AI. It was an app related to one of the SDGs quality education. So that was something very inspirational for me, you know. Developing apps, uh, that is something that uh a layman is capable of now. You don't need a very elaborate coding experience to get into it anymore. I think this is one of the key takeaways that I can take back home. I want to work and be a part of a project that you know, uh, first of all, uh has something to do with standing up to hate that's spreading across social media, and secondly, I want to coach my juniors and the young CAs that are coming in uh in leveraging this AI to develop their skill set. During the summit, I've seen a lot of uh professionals at the sea level uh you know giving a lot of very inspirational speeches. I in 10 years' time I hope I can be one of them. Uh it was truly inspiring to see all these uh famous faces listen to them talk on the stage. I plan to be with a multinational organization and I want to take my skills and develop myself. I think I'll forever be a learner. That is something that I learned as well during the summit that all these leaders with all this experience that they have, they still are curious to learn. That is something inspirational for me, and I feel that I would be one of them as well. Constantly keep on evolving, uh learning new skills, etc. I in 10 years' time maybe I'd be I'd want to head an organization that is making some sort of positive impact. You know, I think that that is something that that would be my way of giving back to the world. The change doesn't come from one, you know. Uh we collectively are a power. I experienced it, I felt it, it resonated throughout the crowd. There was huge energy in the room. I've met uh people from very diverse backgrounds, from very different countries, from the very different regions, very different professions. And uh the impact that they are creating at each and every level, I I think that's truly inspirational. That gives me a lot of hope. You know, having these platforms in place for young people like us, I think that's uh that's truly uh an avenue that uh maybe I never had at the start uh when I started this profession. Uh being a part of it is truly inspirational for me. And I think One Young World can make a huge impact, and being a part of it, I plan to come back sometime, maybe, be one of those inspirational speakers on the stages, and uh you know narrate to them how my journey began and how I ended up making a positive impact in the world.