My top ten beliefs as a social entrepreneur

The list of top ten beliefs of Pakistani social entrepreneur Asher Hasan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Naya Jeevan, a social enterprise that offers affordable, high-quality health insurance and “value-added” services to Pakistan’s population of low-income workers.

    “I believe that all human beings have intrinsic value. Regardless of their ethnicity, religion, etc. For those of us who have faith we were all created by the same Creator and therefore should respect ALL of his creations (yes, even Donald Trump!).”

    “I believe in the resilience and endurance of the human spirit. If given the opportunity, the capacity and the tools, the marginalized can and will extricate themselves from poverty. It’s our job to provide them with an enabling ecosystem or get out of their way.”

    “I believe in socioeconomic justice. This belief drives my relentless desire to dismantle the de facto socioeconomic apartheid that is prevalent in many parts of the developing and developed world. Much of this ‘apartheid’ is the legacy of a post-colonial oligarchy that has tried desperately to hold onto power by exploiting and subjugating large numbers of the disempowered. I remember vividly how, as a child, I would be shell-shocked by the sight of kids my age begging on the streets of Mumbai or Karachi or working in Lahori or Delhi ‘havelis’ (mansions) as informally bonded child labor. The sheer disparity in my access to education, health and economic opportunity compared to these ‘Children of a lesser God’ made me intensely uncomfortable and more determined to tackle this issue head-on. To this day, I remain amazed at the general apathy of the elite and affluent in the developing world. Have they simply become desensitized by the teeming poverty that surrounds them or are they actually incapable of compassion? This is a question I am confronted with on a daily basis when I see a ‘squeegee kid’ peering through my windshield with ‘help save me’ written all over his face.”

Read full post on the social entrepreneurship section of the Huffington Post