Social Entrepreneurship: A trend, a movement, or something in between, a talk by Mehreen Shahid

On Wednesday, April 13th 2022, a talk was held at LUMS Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law on Social Entrepreneurship and its legal and policy aspects that impact organizations in Pakistan. The speaker Ms. Mehreen Shahid, an alum of LUMS and Oxford, a Forbes Ignite Fellow, and the founder of Safe Delivery Safe Mother, a nongovernmental organization combating maternal mortality in Pakistan, working towards providing reproductive care to even the most rate areas in Pakistan. The talk was organized and moderated by Ms Angbeen Atif Mirza, Assistant Professor of Law at SAHSOL and Director Center of accessibility and inclusion. Ms Mehreen began with an observation of how a core value for social entrepreneurs is the pursuit of impact over profit and observed that women make up 45% of social entrepreneurs globally. She further examined key drivers of social entrepreneurship, including the impact of social media in connecting us to global affairs in an unprecedented way. She went on to explore critical challenges faced by Pakistani nongovernmental organizations, including the difficulty NGOs face in acquiring a No Objection Certificate from the government. She concluded on a hopeful note, offering recommendations like the streamlining of the registration processes NGOs face, and the enhancement of policy reform.