Threads of purpose: Aqsa Shoro’s journey to balance profit and passion

What is it about?

Indus Artisans Market (IAM) gave Aqsa Shoro a chance to learn about social entrepreneurship in its rawest form, the way social entrepreneurship is often in rural Pakistan. IAM has been started by Aqsa a young social entrepreneur to support women artisans as she created its platform to reach out to the global markets and provide them with fair economic opportunities. A case study would help to understand the challenges being faced by Aqsa while she is trying to scale her business without compromising her commitment to social mission embedded at the core of the business. This case serves to analyze the balance between profitability and social impact that Aqsa walks as IAM continues to grow. The obstacles of doing work in resource constrained settings, conservative rural areas where women have limited control in managing communication, and when high quality materials are difficult to obtain, product consistency is challenging, and logistics are considered. Aqsa had one side of the equation where they can put their effort toward scaling operations to fulfill the ever increasing demand, while the other side was maintaining a community driven approach to ensuring that IAM does not lose sight of its core social values. The dilemma lies in choosing to pursue growth strategies that may detract from the social mission or stick with current growth that is very personal and worryingly stable. This decision is a defining moment for IAM, because it dictates the coming steps of the organisation and of Aqsa's commitment to use her skills to empower rural artisans in a sustainable way. This case was created to demonstrate the significance of environmental scanning and strategic decision on balancing business growth with social impact.

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