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Pakistan is a country with no bounds to talent. From our kids to the veterans, the people who live here come up with ideas to make the country a better place, which is the sole purpose of social entrepreneurship.
A 10-year-old Pakistani girl is doing just that. She can be dubbed as the country’s youngest social entrepreneur because of the work she has been doing and plans to do for the rest of her life. Meet Zymal Umer, a 10-year-old who wants to find a solution to Pakistan’s immense waste problem.
“This is a situation you can find across all of Pakistan – these bags are not biodegradable and people carelessly discard them. They don’t really think about recycling,” Zymal told the BBC. “If people just thought for a moment before dumping their rubbish then maybe they wouldn’t do it as it harms our environment.”
Zymal has introduced a product called the Zeebags, in a bid to reduce pollution and create general awareness on the issue. The little girl turns old newspapers into decorated gift bags, being sold to family and friends. The profits from the sales are then donated to various charities in the country. In a span of 3 years, Zymal has grown her business up to selling 5 lakh worth of gift bags.
Zymal says she learned to make shopping bags from a Youtube channel, which slowly became her inspiration. Zymal is an entrepreneur who just doesn’t want her business to flourish but wants it to act as a social awareness campaign against waste and pollution.
Zymal further said: “It is hard to balance my schoolwork with running Zeebags, so I make them at the weekend or during the holidays with my cousins. My father and grandfather pay for my raw materials and if they didn’t help me, it would be very hard to keep my project going.”
Zymal’s Zeebags has won a number of different awards in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and The United States. Zymal says even though women in Pakistan are denounced for their work, she has not faced similar issues yet and is thoroughly backed by people who come across her business.
The 10-year-old confident entrepreneur said: “I want to become a businesswoman in the future and expand Zeebags through my website and showcase other people’s products, too. My biggest ambition is to grow my project not just in Pakistan but also globally!“
