[6][7] His maternal grandfather Dr Abdul Waheed was a diplomat who represented Pakistan at the League of Nations and was also the managing director of the Ferozsons publishing house while his maternal grandmother Saeeda Waheed was a Pakistan Movement activist and social worker.
[9] He then studied at the University of Cambridge in 1989 and 1990, earning his Master of Philosophy degree in International Relations, his thesis being The World Bank’s Changing Relationship with Pakistan 1950–1990.
[12] From 1990 to 1994, while studying law, Iqbal worked as a business executive in Pakistan's private sector.
[9] Iqbal specialises in mergers and acquisitions, privatisation, corporate and project finance (particularly in the power sector), financial institutions, investment management, joint ventures, energy and petroleum, asset finance, information technology, telecommunications and software development, and corporate restructuring.
[13] Between 1997 and 2004, he worked for two international law firms, Sullivan & Cromwell and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.