He served at various high-level government positions including Punjab Rural Support Program (PRSP), a rural development and microfinance initiative by government of Punjab for seven years. The program aimed at social mobilization, community organization and provision of financial access to the poor. Concluding that an alternative method is needed to cater to the needs of the poor, he decided to resign from the civil services and dedicated his life to the mission of creating a poverty-free society. He resigned from Civil Services in 2003 and founded Akhuwat the same year. He has been its CEO and main driving force since beginning.

Dr. Saqib serves as the Executive Director of Fountain House – a 500-bed institution providing treatment, rehabilitation, and support services to both indoor and outdoor patients. He is voluntarily serving many civil society organizations in the realm of education, health, disability, banking and finance. He is also on the board of a commercial bank and a few public universities i.e. Fatima Jinnah Medical University, Lahore.

Besides his pro-bono services, Dr. Saqib regularly provides consultancy to various international development agencies including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Labor Organization (ILO), UNICEF, World Bank, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), USAID and Foreign Common Wealth and Development Office (FCDO, previously DFID) and different public sector organizations in Pakistan.

His areas of expertise include governance, poverty alleviation, social development, microfinance, rural development and educational reforms in Pakistan. His remarkable achievements in restoring human dignity to Pakistan’s most vulnerable communities have earned him many awards and accolades nationally and internationally including “Ramon Magsaysay Award 2021”, popularly known as “Asia’s Nobel Prize”, the Islamic Economy Award by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Thomson Reuters in 2018. He is also the recipient of the Social Entrepreneur of the Year award for 2018 by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Schwab Foundation and Commonwealth’s 31st Point of Light award by Queen Elizabeth II in 2018. He has also been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, in 2014 by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, and Thomson Reuters, for his efforts to promote Islamic finance. The President of Pakistan bestowed on him Sitara-e-Imtiaz (2011) and Hilal-a-Imtiaz (2023), two of the most coveted civil awards of Pakistan.

In recognition of his significant contribution towards the betterment of mankind, Rotary International, presented him with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” in December 2022.

The President of Pakistan appointed him Chairperson, Benazir Income Support Programme which is one of the largest social safety and welfare programs in the world where he served from September 2023 until May 2024.

In addition to his MBBS degree, he holds a Master's degree in Public Administration from The American University, Washington D.C., USA. He is the author of ten books and has spoken at the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN-ECOSOC), Harvard University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, and other prestigious institutions around the world. He is among those few Pakistanis who have been nominated for the “Nobel Peace Prize”.