Kidprenuers 3.0! Transforming Young Lives.

“Miss your office is too small,” one of the Kidprenuers participants comments trying to edge into my office that is cramped to the hilt with students. One group is sitting with Sir Amjad at his PC working on their prototype research; another is sitting with Engineer Ibrahim Huzefa working with an Arduino breadbox on the model of their product. One group is standing around my table practicing their pitch for their business plan and syncing it with their PPT for the umpteenth time while I time them.

It’as been a week and the frenzy of the upcoming Kidprenuers organized by Tijarat Rabeha is in full swing. It’s a time when we, the mentors, breathe business ideas, allow students to go to the market during the working day, have online chats and Zoom meetings late into the night and spend major lessons helping students practice their pitches before various peers as well as business leaders and consultants like Sh Zoeb Haidry.

It’s been three years since Kidprenuers was initiated and the kids have come such a long way. In year one we had to feed in ideas to the students; by year two they had the hang of it but we were still helping them fill their business idea forms and shaping their ideas.

Yet, this year was phenomenal! Badri High School was the last to have their three-day training on the business model canvas by M. Moiz Kapasi and these young entrepreneurs were so ready that they had 20 business ideas ready even before the training began. They filled in their own submission forms—a tricky, lengthy task it was—within 36 hours and came up with original, environment-friendly ideas which they smoothed out with their mentors.

And what to say of the inspiring mentors—each one took up their group with a fierce sense of belonging, going to Empress Market with them, scouring the cooperative market, arranging meetings with electricians, staying until 4 pm to ensure the prototype worked.  Parents went out of their way helping the students do market research and setting up meetings with professionals. The bottom line—it was such a rich learning experience where all three ends of the triangle came together.  

I thrive during these days—with an opportunity to directly interact with the students, laugh at their crude jokes, take in their jibes. I love my office packed with these energetic minds. The years strip away from me. The only reminder that I’m not a teenager like them is the high pressure medicine and balm on my desk. My teachers know this is no time to mess with me. I am a person consumed.

Yesterday night when I saw the five finalist teams from BHS on stage at the Al Jamea Auditorium I could feel their hearts pounding in mine. Their knocking knees I could feel beneath my seat. I was transported to my first elocution at Mama Parsi in Grade 1, my knobby clanking knees, my sweating palms all came sweeping back. I remembered how my father had pushed me every single year to face the audience and I know I got my public speaking skills thanks to those opportunities. I tell these students that:

“Let no one know you are nervous! That’s bravery!” I egg them on.

“Project your voice from your throat not your cheeks! Your voice box is here,” I holler as I jab my index finger below my Adam’s apple area.

“Find a friendly face in the audience,” I cajole.

Last night when we won the first and second prize making a collective amount of 1, 25,000 PKR–all of us were on a high that will last us a week atleast! All million dollar smiles, taking pictures onstage with massive cheques and hoisting their trophy with their teachers and families.

A big thank you to Tijarat Rabeha for making such events happen—they transform these students’ lives. One of the shyest boys was on the winning team! One of the girls on the finalist teams is the quietest in class. The runner-up team had girls who usually take a back seat in class. This is the power of teaching life skills!

But the biggest gratitude and prayer is for Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS—for His foresight, for His vision for unearthing an entrepreneur in every child. The kind of trainings TR is conducting free of cost for Imani schools is worth a fortune. Kudos and cant wait for Kidprenuers 4.0!

Amate Syedna TUS

Maryam