Naya Jeevan ('new life' in urdu/hindi)

We would use the Elevate prize funding to conduct the following capacity-building activities as part of a women's entrepreneurship accelerator program in which our goal is to transform 10,000 female healthcare providers into Small & Growing Business (SGB owners): 

·       Business skills training on how to operate a high-velocity SGB while maintaining a distinctive edge

·       Optimising the customer journey & delivering a ‘delightful’ user experience (UX)

·       Pharmaceutical inventory & supply chain management for women-owned retail pharmacies (online and offline) – digitally linked to mega-distributors of pharmaceutical products nationwide

·       Self-defense training for SGB staff (especially last-mile female frontline health workers working in urban slums and rural villages)

·       ‘Soft skill’ building sessions such as mindfulness, meditation and breathing for low-income female brand activators.

As a TED fellow and TED speaker I get to do a lot of public talks - this one I gave at the Asia Society back in 2010 probably gives the best explanation for why I do what I do: https://asiasociety.org/video/...

In terms of 'my story', I don't think i could out-do this piece by TED: https://blog.ted.com/working-f...

This article by Forbes that featured the early phase of our work does a pretty good job of describing my vision and purpose: https://www.forbes.com/global/... 

I'm also a voracious reader, really fond of hurtling down alpine ski slopes at death-defying speeds, bathing in the hot springs of Esalen and cruising in the Caribbean.  Bali, Rio de Janeiro, Lago de Bellagio and Istanbul are my favourite destinations for spiritual rejuvenation (Miami/South Beach isn't too shabby either :-)      

In terms of next steps/goals, I'm transitioning from a 'doer' or 'thinker' to a 'capacity-builder' of others. I believe we can amplify the impact we've been trying to make over the past decade exponentially if we begin to focus on building the capacity of other entrepreneurs around us. This is why for the next 10 years at least, I will be focusing my energies and passion on enabling others around me to thrive, spread their wings and achieve their full potential. 

Women hold up 'Half the Sky' in Pakistan (to quote Kristof & Wudunn) yet are systematically excluded from socioeconomic opportunities, including the opportunity to own and operate their own small growing businesses (SGBs). This gender exclusion is not just restricted to women but also extends to the lGBT community - tens of thousands of transgender Pakistanis remain economically ostracised from the rest of the country.  This exclusion has had a massive adverse impact on Pakistan's economic growth and development and left it well behind countries in Asia-Pacific region who have invested in their women.

Over 2 Million women in Pakistan who currently operate informal 'micro-enterprises'  lack access to markets, business skills training, financial services, human talent development and tech-enabled processes and systems, i.e. the key inputs that are prerequisites for sustainable business growth.   

Naya Jeevan (‘new life in urdu/hindi) is a purpose-driven, Inclusive Fintech  whose raison d’etre is to enable  the ‘excluded’ to achieve their full  potential.  

Over the past 8 years, Naya Jeevan has capacitated over 60,000 women-led SGBs in multinational corporate value chains (e.g. retailers, distributors, smallholder livestock farmers, etc.) while providing comprehensive health insurance to over 300,000 lives who have been insured for the first time.

Through its mission of socio-economic inclusion of all members of society (including the transgender community and people with special needs), Naya Jeevan has introduced a paradigm shift in how many corporations practice business in Pakistan. Naya Jeevan has  established a culture of social protection of informal or formal workers in corporate value chains as the 'new normal'. This social protections includes health, life and disability insurance for both formal and informal workers in corporate value chains (including their spouse/partner, children and both parents).

What is perhaps most unique about Naya Jeevan's model is that it has enabled many large corporations such as Unilever to achieve a 'triple bottom line' that includes significant financial returns of 250% on the investments these companies have made into the health and wellbeing of their extended workforce. In other words, Naya Jeevan has been able to demonstrate that business can be a force for good and that a market-based approach to social protection is not only viable but is also sustainable, scalable and replicable. 

Naya Jeevan is now at an inflexion point where its impact can grow exponentially. With the support of a unique Pakistani government program, Naya Jeevan is embarking on creating 10,000 female-led SGBs in the healthcare industry in Pakistan – transforming a global network of female doctors, therapists, pharmacists, frontline health workers, nutritionists, nurses, midwives from workers (employed or unemployed) into autonomous, business owners.  

Over the next two years, over 2000 women-owned and women-operated healthcare venues (labs, pharmacies, diagnostic centers, SMART AI-enabled telemedicine clinics, health kiosks, mobile health stations, etc.) will be launched across South Asia.

The reason why we believe these steps will be successful is a) there is a supply-demand mismatch where supply exists largely in urban centers  and demand exists primarily in urban slums or rural areas. By integrating these female-led SGBs into the mainstream economy, we will be helping to correct these market failures, e.g. by enabling rural villagers to access authentic, medicines through a nationwide chain of retail pharmacies that will be launched in collaboration with our female pharmacist-led - SGBs.