Nestled in the academic block at LUMS, is a laboratory like no other. Despite being located next to academic offices, the sign at the entrance of this “Social Innovation Lab” (SIL) proudly declares that visitors aren’t likely to find academic assistance or teacher’s assistants – so one questing for those should quickly move along. What they’re offering – besides an impressive selection of teas – is a place for enterprising individuals to experiment on different ideas to create positive change in the socio-economic landscape.
Pakistan Today sat down for a cup with the co-directors of SIL – Saad Idrees and Maryam Mohiuddin to talk about the experiments the ‘mad geniuses’ are cooking up behind closed doors.
Sometime in 2010, a group of students came together hoping to create a positive impact on their society. They were also, however, mindful of certain ground realities and expectations that were placed upon them- primarily those associated with choosing a career and establishing their place in the “practical world”.
“’What are you going to do?’ our parents would ask,” recounted Maryam Mohiuddin, one of the members of the original group. “We’d tell them, ‘well, we want to do something meaningful.’ And they’d say, ‘what, will you start an NGO? What kind of a career is that?’”
They had to find a way to, as Maryam put it “do good and make money” and started a magazine called “Literaty Pakistan”, which they hoped would help start “a youth movement of sorts”. While they were discovering new stories and ideas, one in particular caught their attention – social entrepreneurship; creating for profit businesses whose primary motive would be creating social impact. Still students, they started looking around, wondering if they could also create a positive impact working in this way, and realised the answer had been under their noses the whole time.
“We were students, and we’d travel everywhere in rickshaws and because of that, we actually became friends with the rickshaw wallas,” explained Maryam, “and they’d often come to us for loans, asking for just Rs 1,000 or 2,000. So we asked them why that happened. And they told us about their problems.”
The problems boiled down to two things: lack of health care facilities and variable incomes because of no return business. Maintenance of the rickshaws was also a problem, since there weren’t specific reliable mechanics they could take their vehicles to. Combined, these factors created huge financial problems. So the students decided to do something about it.
“We actually did two things: we talked to a local health care provider in hopes of getting them health insurance – which would cost about 2 dollars a month – and we decided to make them business cards.”
The cards, Maryam explained, had the drivers’ NIC numbers, their names and contact details – as well as the Literaty Pakistan logo.
“We were basically saying, you know, that these are our authorised drivers and that you can trust them and call them up when you need them.”
While the idea wasn’t a complete success – the plan to get them health insurance fell through when the service provider refused – the students didn’t give up.
“We were also researching about social entrepreneurship and looking at models around the world – and at home,” said Maryam, “and as a result, two things happened.”
“We published a book – a handbook on social entrepreneurship, which was a guide with 5 different models operating at that time as examples. And while we were doing this, the second thing happened – which was that people started coming up to us and asking if we could help them out with social entrepreneurship projects of their own, which we did. And that made us realise that yes, this is something we can do. So when we published the book, we added a two page form at the end. And during promotions and info sessions at different schools and colleges, we’d say ‘if someone has an idea they’d like to work on, fill in this form and get in touch with us’- and they did!”
The team still had some things to work out though: they didn’t have funding and they didn’t have a workspace to hold sessions or workshops. But in 2013, their project was one of the 8 selected for a grant by the Talloires network at Tuft University – a network spread across 370 universities in over 70 countries. They also got a partnership with LUMS, which, as Saad explained, became the site of their first set up, the first “Lab”.
“We called it a lab because that’s kind of what it is, a laboratory. People come here, they experiment with their ideas, build prototypes, try them out, find out what’s working, what isn’t and then try again. Some ideas don’t work, or the teams take a break, pause, go on hiatus, and some do. Some become very successful.”
Since its inception, the lab has incubated 57 projects – and that’s not including the 12 projects in the current cycle, added Saad.
“We’ve started a seasonal operation in Hunza, where we’ve quite successfully worked with the Karakoram Development Association to incubate 15 social entrepreneurship start ups,” Saad said. “We’ve also partnered with ‘Helping B’, to set up operations in London, and we’ve helped incubate 7 projects there. So, you know, we’ve had some success, learnt a lot and we’re trying to feed that back in to the global eco system.”
While not all projects have been successful, there are success stories. Stories like Ravish, a social enterprise working towards empathy and tolerance among the younger generation with oral history projects, and using technology to bust myths and preconceived notions, changing world views and broadening horizons. In one such session, Mariam recounts, a student refused to skype with their Indian guest because he’d heard India had banned the azaan. “What are you talking about?’ the woman laughed, ‘I’ve woken up every morning for 25 years to the Fajr azaan!’”
“Turr Lahore”, Maryam laughs, “is one of my favourites. When they originally came to us, I thought – what, these burger bachas are going to take walking tours? But they’ve done more than that.” They’ve touched thousands of lives as their “turrs” take tourists through the nooks and alleys of the walled city of Lahore in rain, cold, at Muharram and Sehri as they bridge gaps between classes.
“Slowly but surely, they’re changing the social economic landscape of the whole city.”
SIL has also started operating as a consultancy – their first project was for the AKRSP in 2014 – and that’s helping them, not only in financing their activities, but also in their move towards sustainability. While the original team might not be around in its entirety, the new faces stepping in to fill their shoes are no less amazing – they’re graduates from Berkley and Columbia, they’re computer scientists and former students of law, human rights and psychology. And one, as Maryam pointed out with pride, is a former incubatee himself, now the Director of Monitoring and Evaluation.
Maryam also shared their most heartwarming success story.
“This all started with a magazine and a rickshaw. One of the rickshaw drivers would learn English from us as he took us around the city. He got interested in the hatchery, became a part of it. We incubated his project, and today, his tourism business – Lok Savari Adventures – takes foreigners on special tours, and is partnered with AISEC!
“In a way,” she laughed, “we’ve kind of come full circle!”
