Social entrepreneurship alien to Pakistan

The development of social entrepreneurship since the last decade has steered social innovation and initiated sustainable and scalable solutions in numerous parts of the developing world. Social enterprise, a relatively alien notion in Pakistan, is quickly getting a foothold in many areas of development.
Unswerving lack of investment in Pakistan’s public sector has stimulated local business influential to invest in ideas that confront issues for instance water and sanitation problems along with those that can tackle its energy and environmental concerns.
This promising development is the focus of a new “Opportunity Pakistan Report” conveyed by I-genius, an initiative espousing social entrepreneurs worldwide. In the face of the prevalent social, economic and political challenges in Pakistan, new social enterprises are evolving in the country to shape impetus for development, investment and innovation.
“Pakistan is a land of opportunity”, asserted Shivang Patel, commission coordinator of i-genius. “Despite media attention in the west on all things bad in the region we found a country progressing through slow but significant positive reforms”.
A rise in the number of young entrepreneurs in fields such as health, education, consumer technology and environment is arising, with young people from far-flung areas of Pakistan emanating with innovative ideas and social business ventures which have a social impact and to lessen the country’s dependence on aid. SRE Solutions is an example of an efficacious social enterprise in Pakistan that proffer renewable energy solutions by giving solar replacements to kerosene oil-based lanterns in Pakistan’s energy-deficient areas. Pharmagen Water is another social enterprise that has received financial support from the Acumen Fund. It intends to offer cheap clean drinking water to the economically weaker populations.
The thrilling part about the advancement of social enterprise is that businesses all over are creating businesses with philanthropy and significant societal elements at their core. However, in Pakistan, several foreign funded development projects do not go further than crisis management. What is more likely to get results is incentivizing the nation’s base economies that can be run on sustainable social enterprise models and assist it to escape from the vicious cycle of aid dependency. Social entrepreneurship is certainly the way forward!