Not just Hania Aamir: Meet the six other Pakistanis making Forbes history

If your social media feed has been flooded with posts celebrating Hania Aamir's inclusion in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2026, you're not alone.

The actress has become the face of Pakistan's latest Forbes moment.

But here's what many people are missing: Hania isn't the only Pakistani on the list.

In fact, Forbes recognised seven Pakistanis this year, spanning entertainment, artificial intelligence, science, entrepreneurship and social impact — a sign that young Pakistanis are making their mark far beyond the world of celebrity.

While Hania earned her place thanks to her rapidly growing international profile and upcoming role in Netflix's first Pakistani original series, six other Pakistanis were recognised for achievements that are just as impressive.

One of them is filmmaker Saman Kamran, whose work has quietly been collecting international recognition.

Her film Gandhara: Land of Fragrance was officially selected for the Cortomontagna-Premio Leggimontagna festival, while her 2024 collaboration with New York-based artist Wong Kit Yi, The Bed She Made, explored themes of fertility and ecological collapse across Asia. The same year, her stop-motion music video for Pakistani grunge band Skehlaaj's See Through the Sin won Best Music Video at the Film Tuition International Festival.

Then there are the tech entrepreneurs.

Muhammad Furqan Karim Kidwai and Sarfraz Shahid Hussain were recognised in the Finance & Venture Capital category after building Singapore-based Plouton AI.

The startup focuses on a problem most businesses hate: repetitive finance work.

Their platform uses AI-powered agents to automate invoicing, payroll processing, reconciliations and other finance operations. It integrates with tools like QuickBooks, Xero and Microsoft Excel, helping mid-sized companies modernise their financial systems without investing in costly enterprise software.

Kidwai reportedly identified a major gap in emerging markets, where finance teams still rely heavily on spreadsheets, emails and manual workflows. Forbes recognised the duo for turning that observation into a scalable business backed by Antler Singapore.

Another name making Pakistan proud is Syed Ismail.

In 2021, Ismail co-founded Karachi-based startup Saraaf with the goal of modernising commodity sourcing across South and Central Asia. His platform is designed to help businesses trading commodities such as cotton and onyx by providing real-time pricing, shipment tracking, digitised contracts and integrated communication tools.

In an industry that still relies heavily on traditional processes, Saraaf is attempting to bring transparency and efficiency through technology — something Forbes viewed as significant enough to earn Ismail a place among Asia's rising innovators.

Then comes one of the most academically accomplished names on the list: Maheera Ghani.

Ghani completed her PhD in Materials Science at the University of Cambridge in 2025 and is now conducting postdoctoral research focused on ultra-thin semiconductors — an area expected to play a major role in the future of electronics and advanced technologies.

But her impact extends beyond the laboratory.

She also leads WinSci Pakistan, an initiative dedicated to encouraging girls and women to pursue careers in science. Her work earned international recognition last year when WinSci Pakistan received the Nature Inspiring Women in Science Award, presented by Estée Lauder Companies and Springer Nature.

The final Pakistani on the list is Fahad Shahbaz, who was recognised for social impact. Shahbaz founded the Youth General Assembly in 2015 when he was just 18 years old.

The initiative provides young Pakistanis with a structured platform to engage in governance, policymaking and leadership. Its flagship programme is a 96-member youth assembly modelled after Pakistan's National Assembly and the UK Parliament, where participants debate policy issues and formulate recommendations. His efforts have already earned him the Diana Award and a place in the Pakistan chapter of the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers Community.

Together, these six names paint a very different picture from the one dominating social media.

Yes, Hania Aamir's inclusion is a major achievement. But Forbes didn't just recognise a Pakistani celebrity.

It recognised a filmmaker telling Pakistani stories on international platforms, entrepreneurs building AI and trade-tech companies, a scientist conducting cutting-edge research at Cambridge, and a youth leader helping shape the next generation of policymakers.

That's what makes this year's Forbes list such a significant moment for Pakistan. It's not one success story. It's seven.