For our final episode of this season, we have an extremely special interview with Mr. Faisal Edhi and Ms. Bllquis Edhi of the Edhi Foundation.
Of course, this is one organization that needs no introduction, founded by Pakistan’s most beloved humanitarianist, social entrepreneur, and role model, Mr. Abdul Sattar Edhi, who dedicated his entire 88 year life towards the development of this country.
He started with just two paisas that his mother would give him each day, and from this small beginning, eventually opened a 24-hour dispensary in Mithadar, Karachi, where he would sleep on the bench in order to serve patients. Eventually he saved enough to purchase an ambulance, one of only 2 or 3 in the entire province, and drove through out all of Sindh responding to emergency calls.
From there, he kept working and over 60+ years developed the largest NGO in Pakistan, with nearly 2,000 ambulances, 350 fully serviced health centers, over 3,000 employees, nearly 50,000 midwives or nurses trained, and becoming a compass to hundreds of millions just through the way he lived his life.
And although he passed away in the holy month of Ramadan in 2016, his vision and work lives on, specifically through the leadership of his son Mr. Faisal Edhi, and his wife and partner, Ms. Bilquise Edhi.
Ms. Bilquise, of course, has been supporting him since the very early days, not only working alongside of him day in and day out, but also bringing a light in a world that Edhi sb said was often full of darkness.
And together they raised their family, including Mr. Faisal Edhi, who learned alongside Edhi sb as a child, worked along side him after finishing his higher studies, and with Ms. Bilquise has helped succeed the Foundation after Edhi sb’s passing.
Although it’s a bit long longer than usual, we wanted to share as much richness from this conversation as possible.
Together, Ms. Bilquise and Mr. Faisal Edhi share Edhi sb’s belief that the only way to change society is through our work, they share his hope that bad things happen quickly but eventually fade away while change comes slowly but lasts for a long time, and they share his conviction that we each have a role and responsibility to play in bringing about the long lasting change that the world so desperately needs.
*Building Pakistan is brought to you by the team at Amal Academy (amalacademy.org), with support from +Acumen (plusacumen.org) as our distribution partner. Illustrations and production editing are by Awais Farooq (Amal Academy). Music is provided by Danny Roberts (dannyroberts.com), Lydia Cole and Ryan Baxley.
All content for Building Pakistan with Benje Williams is the property of Amal Academy and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
For our final episode of this season, we have an extremely special interview with Mr. Faisal Edhi and Ms. Bllquis Edhi of the Edhi Foundation.
Of course, this is one organization that needs no introduction, founded by Pakistan’s most beloved humanitarianist, social entrepreneur, and role model, Mr. Abdul Sattar Edhi, who dedicated his entire 88 year life towards the development of this country.
He started with just two paisas that his mother would give him each day, and from this small beginning, eventually opened a 24-hour dispensary in Mithadar, Karachi, where he would sleep on the bench in order to serve patients. Eventually he saved enough to purchase an ambulance, one of only 2 or 3 in the entire province, and drove through out all of Sindh responding to emergency calls.
From there, he kept working and over 60+ years developed the largest NGO in Pakistan, with nearly 2,000 ambulances, 350 fully serviced health centers, over 3,000 employees, nearly 50,000 midwives or nurses trained, and becoming a compass to hundreds of millions just through the way he lived his life.
And although he passed away in the holy month of Ramadan in 2016, his vision and work lives on, specifically through the leadership of his son Mr. Faisal Edhi, and his wife and partner, Ms. Bilquise Edhi.
Ms. Bilquise, of course, has been supporting him since the very early days, not only working alongside of him day in and day out, but also bringing a light in a world that Edhi sb said was often full of darkness.
And together they raised their family, including Mr. Faisal Edhi, who learned alongside Edhi sb as a child, worked along side him after finishing his higher studies, and with Ms. Bilquise has helped succeed the Foundation after Edhi sb’s passing.
Although it’s a bit long longer than usual, we wanted to share as much richness from this conversation as possible.
Together, Ms. Bilquise and Mr. Faisal Edhi share Edhi sb’s belief that the only way to change society is through our work, they share his hope that bad things happen quickly but eventually fade away while change comes slowly but lasts for a long time, and they share his conviction that we each have a role and responsibility to play in bringing about the long lasting change that the world so desperately needs.
*Building Pakistan is brought to you by the team at Amal Academy (amalacademy.org), with support from +Acumen (plusacumen.org) as our distribution partner. Illustrations and production editing are by Awais Farooq (Amal Academy). Music is provided by Danny Roberts (dannyroberts.com), Lydia Cole and Ryan Baxley.
E06 Building Pakistan with Ms. Sultana Siddiqui (HUM Network, Founder/President)
Building Pakistan with Benje Williams
51 minutes 39 seconds
8 years ago
E06 Building Pakistan with Ms. Sultana Siddiqui (HUM Network, Founder/President)
Ms. Sultana Siddiqui is the Founder and President of HUM Network and Moomal Productions.
She started HUM in 2004 with a 24-hour entertainment channel, HUM TV and has grown it into one of Pakistan’s fastest-growing entertainment companies, adding channels like HUM Masala, HUM Sitaray, eventually HUM Films, several magazine productions, and are now working to launch HUM News.
In 2016 alone they brought in over $34 million in revenue, and are one of the only entertainment companies publicly listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange.
Her career is fascinating for many reasons, and of them is how she has found a way to marry her artistic and creative passions with her entrepreneurial skill. She initially started as a producer for PTV in 1974 and eventually realized a need and opportunity to create quality content or shows for the channel. So she launched Moomal Productions, where she produces and often directs award-winning shows like Yeh Zindagi and Doosri Dunya and more recently Zindagi Gulzar Hai
One of the secrets to her success seems to be a skill of both identifying and then bringing out the best in people, and she used this to introduce some of the country’s most talented actors, such as Mahira Khan, Fawad Khan, and Kubra Khan.
What’s fascinating is how she has done all of this this initially as a single parent, how she has used her platform to help stir the conscience and actions of a nation through the messages in her shows, and how she has become a shining role model for women and men, kids and adults, entrepreneurs and artists, and so much more.
*Building Pakistan is brought to you by the team at Amal Academy (amalacademy.org), with support from +Acumen (plusacumen.org) as our distribution partner. Illustrations and production editing are by Awais Farooq (Amal Academy). Music is provided by Danny Roberts (dannyroberts.com), Lydia Cole and Ryan Baxley.
Building Pakistan with Benje Williams
For our final episode of this season, we have an extremely special interview with Mr. Faisal Edhi and Ms. Bllquis Edhi of the Edhi Foundation.
Of course, this is one organization that needs no introduction, founded by Pakistan’s most beloved humanitarianist, social entrepreneur, and role model, Mr. Abdul Sattar Edhi, who dedicated his entire 88 year life towards the development of this country.
He started with just two paisas that his mother would give him each day, and from this small beginning, eventually opened a 24-hour dispensary in Mithadar, Karachi, where he would sleep on the bench in order to serve patients. Eventually he saved enough to purchase an ambulance, one of only 2 or 3 in the entire province, and drove through out all of Sindh responding to emergency calls.
From there, he kept working and over 60+ years developed the largest NGO in Pakistan, with nearly 2,000 ambulances, 350 fully serviced health centers, over 3,000 employees, nearly 50,000 midwives or nurses trained, and becoming a compass to hundreds of millions just through the way he lived his life.
And although he passed away in the holy month of Ramadan in 2016, his vision and work lives on, specifically through the leadership of his son Mr. Faisal Edhi, and his wife and partner, Ms. Bilquise Edhi.
Ms. Bilquise, of course, has been supporting him since the very early days, not only working alongside of him day in and day out, but also bringing a light in a world that Edhi sb said was often full of darkness.
And together they raised their family, including Mr. Faisal Edhi, who learned alongside Edhi sb as a child, worked along side him after finishing his higher studies, and with Ms. Bilquise has helped succeed the Foundation after Edhi sb’s passing.
Although it’s a bit long longer than usual, we wanted to share as much richness from this conversation as possible.
Together, Ms. Bilquise and Mr. Faisal Edhi share Edhi sb’s belief that the only way to change society is through our work, they share his hope that bad things happen quickly but eventually fade away while change comes slowly but lasts for a long time, and they share his conviction that we each have a role and responsibility to play in bringing about the long lasting change that the world so desperately needs.
*Building Pakistan is brought to you by the team at Amal Academy (amalacademy.org), with support from +Acumen (plusacumen.org) as our distribution partner. Illustrations and production editing are by Awais Farooq (Amal Academy). Music is provided by Danny Roberts (dannyroberts.com), Lydia Cole and Ryan Baxley.
