Award-winning teenage entrepreneur Zakia is determined to improve access to information in braille for visually impaired students, and hopes to inspire other young people to embrace social entrepreneurship.
Sixteen-year-old Zakia and her team won Enterprise Challenge Pakistan in 2024 with their business concept of providing affordable braille books and transcription services for visually impaired school students. Zakia and her team are now using the prize money to progress their business, Roshni, in real life.
‘The skills and knowledge I gained from the programme were crucial in making Roshni a reality,’ explains Zakia. ‘Without these skills, I wouldn’t have been able to turn my vision into a successful venture that is now making a real difference.’
Enterprising ideas
Enterprise Challenge Pakistan is a national inter-school business competition aimed at developing young people’s entrepreneurship skills. A joint initiative from King’s Trust International and SEED Ventures, Enterprise Challenge Pakistan reached over 2,200 students in 120 schools in 2023/24.
The programme sees young people hone their business skills in school-based sessions, through coaching, mentoring and an online simulation game. Teams of teenagers then develop and pitch their own business ideas, focusing on initiatives with a positive social or environmental impact as well as profit-making potential.
With limited services for blind and visually impaired students in their area, Zakia and her team focused on an initiative to develop braille materials for local specialist schools, inspired by the belief that everyone should be able to access information and knowledge.
National champions
Having won the regional inter-school contest in their home province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Zakia’s team joined the other regional winners for the national finals in Islamabad, and were crowned Pakistan’s 2024 national champions. ‘Seeing my team’s hard work and dedication pay off, and knowing that we’ve created something meaningful, fills me with immense pride,’ Zakia says.
Now that the team are progressing their idea in real life, Zakia can really see the benefits of programme’s experiential learning.
‘The hands-on approach to learning and implementing a business with a team was incredibly valuable. It wasn’t just theory, we were applying it in real time, which made the experience so much more impactful,’ she explains. ‘From learning how to manage finances to developing a solid business plan, every aspect of the program prepared me to take on the challenges of entrepreneurship.’
Broad horizons and big ambitions
Zakia has always been an industrious student, but she explains that Enterprise Challenge helped her to broaden her horizons and look beyond her narrow focus on good grades, becoming a confident entrepreneur and leader. ‘Stepping out of my academic comfort zone and successfully launching Roshni proved to me that I could tackle challenges outside the classroom,’ Zakia explains.
‘I’m incredibly proud of Roshni and how it’s making a difference,’ she says. ‘Looking ahead, I want to expand Roshni’s reach to more visually impaired schools across Pakistan and eventually throughout the subcontinent.’
Zakia is now keen to encourage other young people to step out of their comfort zone and dare to pursue their ideas.
‘I believe in the power of innovative ideas and the difference they can make,’ Zakia explains. ‘If you have a vision, take the leap – it’s amazing what you can achieve when you believe in yourself and work hard.’