Aman Foundation is a not-for-profit social enterprise mainly focusing on health and education, and has been operating in Pakistan since 2008. Under the umbrella of Aman Foundation, there is Aman Health which operates the only life-saving ambulance service in Karachi that has made 840,000 plus emergency interventions, a TeleHealth service which offers free of cost medical advice via telephone, under the Aman Community Health Program (ACHP), a door-to-door medical facility in some of the most underserved parts of Karachi catering to 100,000 people. This is part of a unique eco-system developed by the Aman Foundation.
Under the Foundation’s education initiative, Aman Tech stands as the largest skills development and vocational training institute in Pakistan. Till date, a total of 6,700 students have graduated from the foundation with a job placement rate of 74%, the highest in the industry.
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Speaking to IDG Pakistan is Malik Ahmad Jalal, CEO Aman Foundation; who is a Chartered Accountant by profession and has over 15 years of work experience here and abroad. According to Jalal, at Aman Foundation other than technical skills they are focused on life skills as well
“I call it discipline, empathy and collaboration. It is important to be good citizens. We focus on those values and qualities that every individual should have to be a professional and ethical human being and the feedback we receive from the industry for our students who are employed has been very positive.”
Speaking about Aman Foundation’s flagship product, the Aman Ambulance service, he said, “We started off with ten ambulances, now we have a network of 80 ambulances across Karachi. The Aman Ambulance Service is the only life-saving ambulance service operating in Pakistan with I/O certified paramedics and doctors on board. The ambulances are equipped with life-saving medical equipment and medicines which allow the paramedics to monitor the patient’s condition and even administer drugs to the patients if they are in a life threatening situation and stabilize them en-route to the hospital if needed, as traffic in Karachi can be a big challenge.”
He also added, “Aman ambulances have delivered over eighty babies since 2009 on the roads of Karachi thereby saving the lives of both mother and child.”
The Aman Foundation has also partnered with the Govt. of Sindh under the public/private partnership mechanism to operate the Ambulance Service in the Thatta and Sujawal areas.
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Speaking about Aman Foundation’s partnership with the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) he said, “We are very proud of our partnership with IBA, which has done a great job of delivering on world class higher education system. To support our universities, Aman built the Aman Tower at the IBA city campus followed by the Center for Entrepreneurial Development, at the main campus.”
Speaking about what the future holds for Aman Foundation, Jalal said
“We continue to focus on vocational training, especially on vocational training programs for women so that they can work from home to make their livelihoods. We also intend to leverage our deep operational experience in health and education to provide thought leadership and research to improve policy making.”
“Anything that leads to institutionalization is a good practice, whether it is a corporate entity, a government entity or a social enterprise. Institutionalization means relying less on human beings and more on processes and systems that deliver value or a service over a long term. So the best practice is to have a process based, institutionalized approach. ” he said speaking about some of the best practices at Aman Foundation.
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Aman Foundation realizes that in order to solve the social problems in Pakistan, one needs to have the best people and to retain and motivate them in order to get the best out of our members.
Sharing his personal interests, Jalal adds on how big a tech and digital enthusiast he is. Active user of social media network, Twitter and utilizes the platform as a source of information and sharing of ideas and viewpoints. He confided that he has a healthy race with his wife, who is also the founder of a social enterprise working for the empowerment of women, for active twitter engagements; and admits that he has some catching up to do!
Interview conducted/edited by: IDG Pakistan
