To Asian Youth:FIND THAT "RIKSHAWALA" TO BE YOUR ROLE MODEL...NOT BILL GATES.

FIND THAT "RIKSHAWALA" AS YOUR ROLE MODEL NOT BILL GATES....

(And For Those Who Dont Know What A Rikshawala Is, He Is A Cart Pusher Who Transports People Through Extreme Hard Work everyday. )

As i come close to wrapping up my trip visiting and meeting the young and the brilliant people of Lahore and Islamabad, One thing which is repeatedly coming to my mind is what my favourite women's clothing designer of all times, Coco Chanel said in her interview in Paris once, " The most courageous act is to think for yourself"... It was so simply said but not so easily understood by the coming generations after her. What she meant, I think, was to make your own decisions and own them rather than always looking for leaders who will take you to your desired destination, become one yourself. In these days of FASHIONABLY training the youth by "MENTORING" them and "TRAINING" them and teaching them the "LIFE SKILLS", we the elders are forgetting one thing, that is, we are making them more and more dependent on others for guidance. We are not teaching them how to FISH but we keep GIVING THEM A FISH every time they come to us when they are hungry.

We are teaching them to actively look for "Role Models" and replicate their lives. No genius has ever come from doing exactly what the person who you look up to has done. You need to look at someone's life, get inspired and think on your own. You need to stop looking for inspiration across the Atlantic In Silicon Valley. Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bazos or any other Entrepreneur from the west IS NOT YOUR ROLE MODEL because they have lived their lives much more different than you live in Pakistan. They have never faced the problems you faced growing up here. Their ideas got funding which you will never get in Pakistan because there is NO RISK CAPITAL of that magnitude here. Stop looking at people's NET WORTH making them your role model. Role Models are their for you to learn life lessons from, to observe their character in difficulties, their tenacity in hard times, their positivity in distress and their resilience in achieving their goals. A Rikshawala in Pakistan has more resilience than an Entrepreneur from the west. Why ? Because the Rikshawala gets up every morning knowing that he will NEVER GET RICH or famous YET he forges on everyday to support his family despite of all the negativity surrounding him. A would be Entrepreneur from the west is weaker than him because he lives on the hope of GETTING RICH one day, By design or by the default of his business, getting some or a lot of fame, lives in absolute HUMANE CONDITIONS with the GREATEST OF CIVIL RIGHTS and basic necessities of life like Healthcare and Education.

For you to become a great ENTREPRENEUR, You do not need to learn the case studies and financial models or budgeting or even marketing, all this you will learn as you go BUT what you need to learn is how to become THAT PERSON FIRST who can BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR LATER. You need to learn to develop a MINDSET of NEVER GIVING IN, Keeping positive, having hope, getting inspired and constantly taking action. Forget about these competitions that teach you nothing and these conferences about entrepreneurship where they are more interested in bringing "BIG NAMES" so they can get sponsorship dollars thus being able to sell tickets. These things are not going to CREATE THE FUTURE LEADERS because leaders are created by EXAMPLE and not ADVICE. Look around for examples of inspiration...you have plenty of them. Start from your family where your parents, chances are, have raised you on a limited salary, sacrificing their wants for your future. And that is one quality every entrepreneur MUST HAVE, sacrificing his today for the dreams of his tomorrow. Stop looking at the negative side of Pakistan, because you are only looking at what can give you an excuse to FAIL... so you can immediately say that you failed because of the country and its culture or its lack of opportunities or funding or whatever... This same country has RAISED YOU till this age where you are capable of at least DREAMING about your future, I can show you many countries where children die in majority before they even reach teenage years.

Coco Chanel also once said to a girl who was asking her for advice as to how she can look like Chanel Models in the magazines... Coco Said " You will never look like the girl in the magazine because the girl in the magazine does not even look like the girl in the magazine"... How True it was. So stop looking for inspiration in People you will never meet from the west, can not ever ask questions as to how they did it, will only know half truths about them from books and shows on the television and in the meanwhile you will lose out on THE REAL ROLE MODELS amongst yourselves, the Common People Of Pakistan. The Mazdoor,(Labourer) The Kissaan,(Farmer) The Mochi,(Blacksmith) The Tandoor wala (BreadMaker) Making Roties In the dead of summer heat and many others. These are the ones who are in your reach the ones you can interact with, the ones you can talk and visit over and over again and if you dont like the one you meet today... you have Hundred and Ninety Nine Million Nine Hundred And Ninety Nine Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety Nine More.... If The Government Of Pakistan's Population Consensus Is Accurate...LOL.