Pakistan for Acumen (PfA) did something different…the leaders of this newly-formed volunteer Chapter sought out an inspiring venue, T2F – The Second Floor in Karachi, PK – to host its event earlier this month. As a result, a group of curious and energetic students and professionals came together to learn about how PfA can spur conversation and debate about social entrepreneurship.

PfA arranged this event with the intentions of:

• Furthering dialogue/debate around social entrepreneurship by asking the questions: What does it mean? What does it mean from Acumen’s lens? What is the role of sustainability, social impact and scale? How can we find balance for the greatest success?
• Creating an opportunity to energize young professionals, students and entrepreneurs about social entrepreneurship as a career choice, and discussing the value this creates for the development of Pakistan.
• Getting more young professionals involved with PfA Chapter activities.

The event kicked off with a screening of Jacqueline’s video as featured on PSB NewsHour. The short clip provided good fodder for discussions about Acumen Fund’s work. Following the video, PfA shared a powerful presentation highlighting issues like ‘who are our social change agents?’ and ‘social business that serves the poor’. These topics resonated with me because they clearly articulate Acumen’s values of acknowledging entrepreneurs who, despite a variety of challenges, are still striving to create businesses/markets to serve the poor. The interconnectedness perceived by the participants was evident in the discussions that followed the session.

Sarah Dimson, an Acumen Fellow working with AMC in Pakistan, deliberated on how affordable housing has proved the potential for scaling the social enterprise sector. She talked about her personal experience of working with AMC, an emerging housing company that not only builds houses, but also communities! Her enthusiasm and the commitment with which she has accepted the challenge to work in the sector and this country strengthen the need for the chapter to come forward and start taking action.

“In my presentation, I highlighted how microinsurance as social enterprise is assisting low income families to get out of a poverty trap and augmenting the microfinance sector to expand and develop a new market. I shared my excitement that the enormous exposure to forums and opportunities, networking with the world’s top-most leaders, and invaluable source of knowledge about the sector, has helped me broaden my thinking. Excited about sharing my vision of creating future leaders for Pakistan, I concluded the presentation with an invitation to act by saying ‘Do you have any dream or plan to be, yourself, a change agent or be a part of the change? If not, join the Acumen Community; you will have one very soon!’”

I was extremely touched by the interest and quality questions after the presentations. The curiosity to have a metric for measuring social impact and the suggestion of a lab investment gave me comfort that the event had a leap-forward impact on the participants’ understanding of the sector. Questions like ‘how to measure the social impact,’ strengthen Acumen Fund’s efforts of developing the right metrics and tools to do so. The group itself was challenged, had the chance to unearth these kinds of queries, and is willing to contribute in developing such tools.

I had the opportunity to meet a few exciting folks from the business and technology sectors who want to do their part. Farhan Zaidi, an IBA graduate, invited me and Acumen Fund to hold such gatherings at his campus. Another group of gentlemen expressed their deep interest in the Fellows Program and Summer Internships as an opportunity to learn more about the space. I was amazed to see another passionate woman, Iqra Shaukat from the Association Internationale des Etudiants en Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (AIESEC), striving to bridge the divide between the developed world and Pakistan by offering an exchange program for youngsters across the globe. AIESEC is currently seeking networking opportunities, so their groups would exhibit greater diversity.

I hope this event will go a long way in advancing the discussion and bringing more people on board with Pakistan for Acumen, and the sector at large.

Zahoor Muhammad is an Acumen Fellow in the Class of 2010, working with FMiA in Pakistan.

The current wave of terrorism that the larger cities of Pakistan face lead us to assume that the insurgent elements pushed out of the Northwestern Mountains are now quite active in the plains and cities. It is true; some of these elements — including those who were pushed out of the highlands through military action — are currently taking refuge in urban spaces, generally in cities such as Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi.

No doubt, it is terrible and quite inhumane to kill civilians without any discrimination. But this seems to be the natural outcome of systemic brutality. Plains and cities are difficult to vacate and clean out of such elements immediately. That is why terrorist elements often find it easy to plan and execute dangerous attacks from cities. These types of attacks, however, are for two reasons starting to diminish. One reason is that these elements have lost much of their local sympathy with ever fewer allies throughout the county. The second reason is that people in Pakistan have accepted these problems as a fact — resigned themselves to understanding them as unfortunate but necessary stage that the country must go through. Both these reasons make me so hopeful about the prospect of a good future.

My stand on this situation, I repeat, is that the earlier it comes, the better it is! People have not seen or really observed the true face of extremist elopements and the subsequent miseries until quite recently. It might have grown into a size that could have never been controlled by future generations. And this is why I see it as an opportunity. As a nation, we are gaining the strength to be able to prevent, discourage and disenfranchise extremist elements in our society. Pakistan is also ever more capable of absorbing the extraordinary physical and emotional shocks of terrorist action, to know how our friends and enemies will develop an infrastructure to fight such insurgency, develop tools and equipment and, last but not the least, become responsible citizens, true Pakistanis.

There are number of other reason to believe that this country is facing the “climax” of terrorist action, in advance of its approaching end. Our media has developed enormous strength – in terms of the freedom and education of its citizenry – and to an extent that even recently the nation could not have imagined. Real time information resource-sharing by the media is resulting in making our politicians and public servants more responsible, with the pubic better educated.

Take as an example the sense of freedom and of responsibility that our judiciary is currently exhibiting! The Judiciary is even discussing corruption cases against a sitting government and a controversial President! How amazing and hopeful this is!

And look at the Pakistani Army! Are they not doing well themselves? Getting any number of martyrs and atrocities on daily basis; still focused, committed to their business and remaining on the front; not de-stabilizing the democratic government nor taking any stake in judicial activism. Is this not positive and hopeful too?

My hopes for the future of this country strengthen when I see boys and girls receiving equal education in the remotest and most far flung University, the University of Malakand, which is located in Lower Dir district. For those who know this geography, it goes without saying that this is indeed the epicenter of militancy and extremism; where until very recently, even schooling for girls was banned outright.

Despite the ongoing problems, I am at heart an optimist, and I am encouraged as I see huge number of youngster in my area working for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which were so recently considered un-trustworthy agents of the west (and in particular America) with employees stigmatized. Pakistan is changing and finally realizing its potential. The path ahead is rocky, but it is ours and it is hopeful.

Ariane de Bonvoisin is the CEO and founder of First30Days, a New York City-based media company focused on guiding people through all types of changes – whether personal, professional, social or global. The company, which launched its website in February 2008, currently features 60 life change subjects, including those relevant to our times such as losing a job, selling a home, starting a business, dealing with depression, smart investing, reducing debt and living frugally.

Last week, the 2010 class of Acumen Fund Fellows had an interesting session with Ariane during which she oriented us to the dynamic of change and the Nine Principles of Change.

I come from the Northwest Province of Pakistan, one of the most conservative, tribal and religious parts of the world, which has passed through its most critical phase of enormous change during the recent internal conflicts that left remarkable footprint on our personal and social lives. For me, it was incredible to analyze the way I coped with that change!

While going through the nine principles, I felt that situations and resulting pressure are mostly common to all. In fact at times, I felt that she was analyzing my own personal experience with change — especially when she deliberated on the very first principle: “People who successfully navigate change have positive beliefs.” Though keeping positive beliefs is pretty much challenging in distress, I believed that I could make it, and there was good in the change to come; this helped me mitigate the substantial stress that I had to experience created by militancy and extremism, severe internal conflicts and displacement of 4 million people.

Believing something good can come out of anything has helped me embrace the most unacceptable and bitter fact of getting displaced and leaving our homes without retaliating, which is not normal in our culture. This has helped me accept switch-over in my career as well. That’s why I am quick to accept her second principle “People who successfully navigate change know that change always brings something positive into their lives,” and her third principle: “People who successfully navigate change know that the quicker they accept the change, the less pain and hardship they will feel.”

“Creating a change support team” is the eighth principle, and the one I liked most – looking for people surrounding us most of the time, trust them and being open to them have been of the tools that helped me manage stress during the change! It is about finding options and getting the best out of one’s immediate environment. It has always given me the strength to be firm in my beliefs and actions during change.

To me, Ariane’s message was:

I believe anyone can change. I believe there is always something good that will come from a change, even if you can’t see it right now. I believe that when we stop resisting the changes we are going through and simply embrace them, we realize that life is on our side. I believe that we all have a part of ourselves that doesn’t change — and, when we find that part within us, whatever change we are going through on the outside becomes easier.