A Candid Conversation with Sumayya Barikah
on
Entrepreneurship and Social Impact.”
1- Background and Journey:
I began my journey as an entrepreneur in 2017 while pursuing my Bachelor of Business Administration degree. I started a real estate business because it required no investment and could be started from scratch. Initially, I faced several obstacles and challenges, but I persevered and overcame all the roadblocks and achieved success.
The most exciting moment in my entrepreneurial journey was when my business gained recognition in the market. We successfully brought onboard multinational companies and achieved our targets.
2- Leadership & Advocacy:
It is possible to balance business and social work if you remain dedicated to your goals.
Entrepreneurship is a wonderful way to create job opportunities and bring benefits to the community. Speaking of Corporate Social Responsibility, our company sponsors a variety of CSR Initiatives that benefit our countrywide community, such as supporting local businesses, setting up medical camps in less developed areas, and providing awareness and training programs that improve the lives of our employees and the community at large, helping them learn new skills and become more productive members of society.
3- Collaborations and Initiatives:
The aim of supporting local businesses is to promote the products of our country and reduce the need for imports. This initiative has tremendous benefits for our economy as it helps to keep money within the country. By supporting local businesses, we can ensure that our economy thrives and our country prospers.
I am actively involved in contributing to the Saman e Shifa Foundation and the Pakistan Business Group. My main focus is to bring together all the business people under one platform. This way, they can promote their businesses and benefit from each other’s expertise. The Saman e Shifa Foundation aims to unite manufacturers in Pakistan to create medical devices that are currently imported at high costs. By producing these devices locally, they can be made available at reasonable prices. I am proud to play a role in this foundation by bringing together such manufacturers and connecting them to this platform.
4- Personal Commitment to Community Well-being:
I strive to raise awareness and help people improve and transform their lives. Whether it’s by addressing women’s health issues, providing career counseling, promoting accident prevention and recovery, offering coping skills training, organizing medical camps, providing free treatment and medications to the underprivileged at our charity clinics, or providing small businesses to individuals, my ultimate goal is to empower people to become self-sufficient so that they won’t have to rely on others for help. My mission is to make a positive impact on people’s lives in any way possible.
Our fundraising efforts have enabled us to help the deserving ones by providing employment opportunities, paying medical bills, opening and operating two charity clinics, organizing medical camps, awareness and training sessions, distributing groceries in masjid and madrassah, conducting Ramzan drives, winter clothes drives, and much more. We have accomplished all this through the support of our donors and other social workers who help us in raising funds for daily cases.
5- Philosophy and Words of Wisdom:
I have faced numerous failures and downfalls in my life. For instance, when I decided to start a business, I encountered several setbacks. At that time, I was in a situation where I needed to become financially independent as soon as possible. Despite everyone telling me to give up and find a job instead, I had two things that kept me going: self-belief confidence,
and faith in Allah. I have always been able to learn from my failures and challenges, which is why I believe that it is crucial to face difficulties in life to succeed and make progress. You should always have faith in yourself and in Allah, and stay consistent in your efforts. If you know what your goals are and work towards them with determination and faith, you will eventually achieve success in both your personal and professional life
1 Comment