Industrialist awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz for philanthropy

The federal government has conferred the coveted civil award of Tamgha-e-Imtiaz upon noted industrialist Zahid Saeed in the field of social service and philanthropy for his 29-year-long struggle to enrol out-of-school children in Sindh.

Saeed is the chief executive officer of the non-profit Green Crescent Trust (GCT), which runs a network of 166 charitable schools in the underprivileged parts of the province having an enrolment of 31,799 students belonging to destitute families.

Out of these students, over 14,500 are females. Families of some 2,000 orphan students studying at the GCT’s schools are recipients of a special assistance drive.

The GCT establishes its charitable schools mostly in such deprived areas of the province where there is no prior existence of any educational facility. The GCT also manages 1,400 water projects for the water-starved communities of Tharparkar.

Saeed is also the president of the Friends of Burns Centre, Karachi. In this capacity he is actively involved in fundraising to provide latest treatment to people suffering from burn injuries.