Award-winning marketing leader Rifah Qadri has joined United Bank Limited as Executive Vice President Head of Marketing Digital Banking bringing 19 years of fintech and brand transformation experience.
By Imran Malik | Professionals & Achievers Desk | MediaBites.com.pk
One of Pakistan’s most accomplished and internationally recognised marketing leaders has taken her next significant career step.
Rifah Qadri, an award-winning marketing strategist with over 19 years of experience across fintech, technology, and consumer industries, has joined United Bank Limited (UBL) as Executive Vice President and Head of Marketing for Digital Banking, bringing to Pakistan’s largest private bank a depth of brand transformation expertise that few marketing professionals in the country can match.
A Career Built on Transformation and Impact
Rifah arrives at UBL directly from easypaisa digital bank, where she served in progressive leadership roles for nearly four years, most recently as Executive Director Marketing and Corporate Communications.
Her most significant achievement at easypaisa was leading the rebranding and repositioning of Pakistan’s largest fintech into a fully-fledged digital bank, crafting the brand strategy and 360-degree launch roadmap for one of the most consequential transformations in Pakistan’s financial technology sector.
But her easypaisa chapter is perhaps best defined by a single campaign that won awards and changed conversations. Her team created the Nikahnama campaign, a purpose-driven initiative focused on women’s financial inclusion and empowerment that won multiple industry awards and established easypaisa as a brand with genuine social values rather than simply commercial ambitions.
The campaign’s recognition confirmed what Pakistan’s marketing community had been observing for years: Rifah Qadri builds brands that win, not just commercially, but culturally.
The Career That Led Here
Before easypaisa, Rifah led marketing at foodpanda Pakistan as Head of Brand and Marketing Strategy, where she increased top-of-mind awareness by 21% and unaided brand awareness by 25% in just 12 months through a coherent, continuous brand strategy. She launched Pau-Pau, foodpanda’s beloved brand mascot, establishing it in the market within two weeks. She cracked foodpanda’s biggest strategic partnership with Coca-Cola and led the PSL 7 campaign that drove a 15% increase in app traffic and 12% growth in new customers.
At METRO Cash and Carry Pakistan, she spent over seven years in senior marketing roles, launching the brand’s largest-ever campaign that delivered a 15% increase in sales and 10% boost in footfall, while reducing marketing costs by 30% through data-driven innovation.
Her earlier career included regional marketing responsibility at Ecolean covering North Africa, South Asia and the Middle East, a product management role at AkzoNobel, and marketing leadership at Maple Leaf Cement Factory.
International Recognition — Pakistan on the Global Stage
Rifah’s professional standing extends well beyond Pakistan’s borders.
She is the first Pakistani to win the Courageous Client Award at the prestigious Caples Awards, one of the most respected international advertising and marketing recognition programmes in the world.
She served on the Cannes Lions Shortlisting Jury in 2025, one of the most coveted positions in global marketing, placing her among the industry’s international thought leaders who determine which creative work sets the global standard.
Education — Full Scholarship, Lahore School of Economics
Rifah holds an MBA in Marketing from the Lahore School of Economics where she studied on a full scholarship, alongside a BSc Honours in Economics from the same institution. The academic foundation reflects the analytical rigour and strategic discipline that has defined her professional trajectory.
What UBL Gets
UBL is Pakistan’s largest private sector bank with a massive and growing digital banking ambition. In Rifah Qadri, it has appointed a marketing leader who has already built one of Pakistan’s most significant fintech brand transformations, won international awards for purpose-driven marketing, sat on the Cannes Lions jury, and built high-performing teams that deliver commercial results alongside cultural impact.
Digital banking in Pakistan is at an inflection point. The competition for customer mindshare between traditional banks, digital banks, and fintech players has never been more intense or more consequential.
UBL just brought in one of the most experienced and most credentialed marketing leaders in the country to fight that battle.
Team MediaBites congratulates Rifah Qadri on this outstanding new chapter. The best is clearly ahead.
— Imran Malik | Professionals and Achievers Desk | MediaBites.com.pk | Sharjahnews.ae
