Zymal Umer is the youngest ever entrepreneur from Pakistan. She is the founder of an innovative social project dubbed Zee Bags. This is her story.
Zymal Umer – A Profile
The nine year old girl never liked cluttered surroundings or dirty streets of her hometown, Sargodha. When she was only six years old, she got an idea to use newspapers bags and sell them to assist needy children. The idea popped into her mind when a shopkeeper sold her something inside a newspaper bag.
She planned to help the underprivileged orphan children from SOS village, an orphanage consisting of 14 houses with 10 children and one nanny in each one of them. Her parents helped bring the idea to reality and before they knew it, they were venturing into a social entrepreneurship project.
Zymal sold her first bag for Rs. 70 and used the money to help an orphan girl named Sana. This encouraged her to put more effort into the project and start on a journey to help the deprived. She makes these bags at home using some old newspapers. Each bag is sold for the same price, i.e. Rs. 70.
However, sometimes people pay extra amounts to help her in her cause.
Zymal sells hundreds of bags and uses all of that money to buy things for the children of the SOS village. Her parents help her arrange special events for the orphan kids.
A Social Entrepreneur in the making
Despite being so young, she already has 3 years of social work experience. Zymal recently received the Prince Abdul Aziz Award for Children Pioneer / Ecopreneur Award in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She was also awarded TIE youngest entrepreneurship award and received a gold medal from the Federal Secretary of Education.
This little girl wants to make Sargodha a far more greener city. She wants the eco-friendly bags to have a two-fold effect by uplifting the living standard of the underprivileged people and help in decreasing pollution caused by plastic bags. The 9 year old has every intention of providing better education and health facilities for other kids who might otherwise find such services to be unaffordable.
Those willing to help Zymal with her project against illiteracy, poverty and pollution can make and sell similar bags in new and unique styles. More information is available at the Zee Bags Facebook page.
Featured Image Credits: Curcle.co
Behind every successful person is their family. I don’t doubt her efforts but apparently she has got a leverage. Her father is a well connected person :)
sahi kaha dost, but aap ready ho jao comments ke liye ke kisi ko appreciate karna seekho. This and that.. :-)
Appreciate karna kia hota hai bhai??
Kis baat ki appreciation.
Saara kuch Father ki wajah say hai he is well connected person. Ki hongi Efforts bachi ny lekin saary Awards us k Father ko deny chahiye he is the main reason behind her success, oh but wait his Father apparently has got a leverage of Grand Father abhi his Grand Father is a well connected person :D
Bhai main bhi wohi keh raha hon, but maine ek do bar aise comments kiye they tu mujhe kuch logon se yehi sunne ko mila tha ke aap kisi ko appreciate karna seekkho :-). Isi liye Kashif bhai ko pehle se aagah kar raha tha :-)
lol
HAAHAHH !
The idea is a millionaire idea. You can imagine the price of an amazing idea as Whatapps had a simple idea – providing messaging platform – but sold at 19 billion dollars! OMG! Almost half the total budget of Pakistan – 34 billion dollars. May Allah bless you more success in the future, Sister!
Kuch samajh nahi aai Aamir bhai, millionaire idea kaise? Thoda sa describe karainge? Newspaper ke shopper banana is a millionaire idea? I didn’t get that..
lol. Jio KMQ the great. yeh wohi Malala wala case tou nahi? jaisey us k peechey Ziauddin Yousafzai tha.
Nahi Ishtiaq bhai iskay case ka pata nahi, but waise hi in general lag tu yehi raha hai ke iske abu ke links set hain.
KMQ Jani mujhey pooray page main “this is a sponsored story” wala tag nazar nahi aya, kia tumhain nazar aya? abay us bachi ko entrepreneur ki spelling bhi nahi aati hogi aur yahan pe article chaap diye 9 year old youngest entrepreneur “from” Pakistan means youngest entrepreneur in world. Dekh lou KMQ fraud main kis hadh tak mahir hogaye hain hum log. khod sakhta story bhi bana daali. phir na kehna k Ishtiaq ne nahi bataya tha. hum ne agaah kar diya tumhain.
Literally yeh sponsored story wala tag maine bhi dhoonda tha but mila nahi. Aisa nahi ke story fake hai ya something but these are mostly all self claimed things. Is se pehle darzaon self claimed Microsoft certified bache aaye they market main, ab yeh new shuroo hua hai.
Baki rahi baat entrepreneur ki spelling tu sachi baat hai woh tu mujhe bhi nahi aati :-p
malala ka peechay us lobby thi ……….us ka baap nahi tha
Gul Makai k naam se articles usko Hillary Clinton ya John Kerry nai likh k detey thay Bhai, Uska baap Yousafzai likh k deta tha us k naam se, baad main phir usko USA walon ney adopt kar liya.
LOL!! Try to look beyond the four walls of your room, Brother! Imagine if a big company is made that collects all the newspapers from the cities or buys from the people then a person can get a big profit!
Jaisa aapka hukum Aamir bhai aaj se char deewari ke bahar bhi dekhonga. Lekin mazrat ke sath agar jaan ki aman paon tu arz karon jab maine 4 deewari ke bahar dekha tu gali ke corner par hi yeh paper bag banane wala dikha. Uski halat-e- zaar dekh kar tu mujhe kahin se millionare nahi laga woh. Lekin aap ki baat sahi hai woh natak kar raha hoga asal main tu millionare hi hoga because itna millionare idea jo uske pas hai. Dukaan tu bas logon ko ullu banane ke liye kholi hogi.
HAHAHAHAH…!!!
Bahar mat dekhna bhai, halaat kharab hain.
What if (Insha Allah) in near future people will buy only her bags and they’re used everywhere in the country instead of regular polythene and poor shoppers/bags?
WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook on a ridiculously high price because they want the next billion users (and their data).
Using WA as an example is like pricing the Koh-e-noor.
The kid has started a great thing, with her family and her combine effort I hope and pray that they’ll do GOOD for this country.
Since she has entrepreneur mind I hope she’ll start something new and help the poor and needy.
May Allah protect her and her family from ‘Mom batti wali qoum’, ‘Desi Liberals’, and all ‘those’ dramaybaaz people. (Aameen)
Aapka comment bilkul fair hai Ovais bhai and the best part is ke you also hope she will start something new and help poors. May be as per Aamir bhai she can make millionare company with this newspaper bag idea.
‘An idea worth millions’ is an old saying.
It’s the idea that gets millions.
Kudos to her! Nice to hear
Well Done Beta, Much Appreciated your work, Idea, and sharing of revenue with Poor Persons. GOD Bless You!
Respect for the kid and her family!
Since she has entrepreneur mind I hope she’ll start something new and help the poor and needy.
May Allah protect her and her family from ‘Mom batti wali qoum’, ‘Desi Liberals’, and all ‘those’ dramaybaaz people. (Aameen)
Please share the pic of newspaper bag which can be sold easily at Rs 70.Daily Newspaper cost is Rs 12 pages 16.old newspaper are much cheaper. Billionaire idea.
It’s important to note with respect to her story that an encouragement via your parents do count alot.. mashallah this kid have a long way to go.. Ameen
This girl must be appreciated and encouraged.Every father should learn to encourage and support his daughter in such nobel activities.
I am from America.For over 1 year I have followed many schools from Pakistan and groups helping children. I ma so impressed by the humanity in the school age children. Even today, I follow 2 teachers from different schools and their work. The children are so energetic and anxious to learn. God Bless the children and keep them strong.