PRAISE FOR "YES! Youth-Led Changemaking" "...Ali Raza Khan is an amazing world pioneer in moving society to this very different definition of success in growing up. He demonstrated how thousands of poor young people, of whom little was expected, could almost immediately, if challenged respectfully, create teams and substantial changes and profits. Does your daughter have this power? If you care for her or for your society, please read this book carefully." Bill Drayton, CEO Ashoka: Innovators for the Public - Ali Raza Khan has been pursuing a revolutionary idea for over 21 years - youth as a solution, not as a problem. He has demonstrated again and again that when young people are provided structured opportunities, they show the ability to transform themselves from victims to leaders, from at-risk to at-strength, from sheltered to shapers of society, and from service seekers to service providers. Recently, he experimented with an idea that points to a new understanding of the entrepreneurial potential of the marginalized youth. He engaged 5,950 of the most neglected, destitute, marginalized, and half-educated youth studying in the state-owned charity-based technical institutions in Pakistan, both boys and girls, in a four-week Enterprise Development Competition. What he wanted to prove is that these young people, despite living in the poorest families or neighborhoods and having very little or no education, can still turn their lives around if they are valued and trusted as equal partners in development. Each team was given a grant of approximately US$25, on the condition that if the young people were able to generate a profit, it would be donated to YES, and in the case of a loss, YES alone would bear it. He designed this model because of the strong resistance from parents and teachers to his offer of providing small loans without interest to young people, as they thought that the young people would not be able to pay back even a small amount of the loan if there was a loss in the business. His organization invested a total of US$34,900. After the completion of the competition, not to his surprise, the young people had actually generated a profit of US$29,000 from carrying out a wide range of need-based projects in their communities and had provided services to over 60,000 people of all ages. Their projects included, but were not limited to: health and first aid projects; skill development projects; peace-building projects; handicraft projects; sports projects; cosmetic projects; child care projects; female empowerment projects; jewelry projects; information technology projects; and grocery selling projects. Out of 1,190 teams, 926 youth teams, over 77%, were able to generate a profit, while 130 teams stood with no profit and no loss, and 134 teams suffered a loss. Many of the participating students continue to use their new found entrepreneurial skills and mindset to make a difference in their communities as well as create jobs and opportunities for themselves and other Youth, directly showing and experiencing ways out of poverty and despair through meaningful entrepreneurial contribution and self-efficacy. ----- The time is ripe for a new idea which provides an alternative vision of what is desirable and possible - a vision which may truly reflect what is missing and needed. We must provide at least one opportunity to every young person to explore their entrepreneurial potential. We must move away from crisis reduction programs to strength-based programs. We have a goldmine of talent in the shape of the young people in Pakistan and the world. They need not only education and skills, but also an opportunity to discover the champions within themselves. We must find new ways to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit, across the board, including the marginalized youth. This book provides a roadmap how to do it and gives specific advice and strategies on how to replicate the massive success of the YES Network.
About the Author: Ali Raza Khan is a social entrepreneur, author, activist, motivational speaker, coach, fellow of the International Ashoka network and the founder of YES Network Pakistan. After almost twenty years working with Youth, Ali has helped tens of thousands of young people start their own profitable ChangeMaking ventures and has enlisted the support of over 1200 educational institutions in Pakistan. Ali has been selected as one of the top ten social entrepreneurs from Asia. He is a 'Sauvé Scholar' of the Jeanne Sauvé Foundation in Canada and he has been a TEDx speaker. Ali holds a masters degree in political science. ----- Thomas Jakel is active as a serial-entrepreneur, coach, speaker and social leader. His businesses are in diverse fields from Education, Sustainable Sanitation and Outsourcing to Publishing and Digitalization. He has cycled from Germany to India on a bicycle, and has hitchhiked from Germany to Pakistan on a different occasion, both to raise funds for charity. The "YES Founders Foundation" he co-founded is dedicated to taking the YES Network Model for spreading the Changemaking spirit innovated by Ali Raza Khan to countries and communities worldwide.