Personally, I am an individual dedicated to leaving a positive impact on the world by using business as a tool. I believe that my greatest achievements have come when I am out of my comfort zone. Therefore, I have made a commitment to expand my boundaries constantly. I also believe that the main purpose of business is for it to be used as a tool to benefit the communities that we operate in. My aim is to leverage the strengths of the private sector to create sustainable social enterprises that make a tangible and measurable impact.

What is your personal definition of sustainability?

I personally believe that sustainability is when we strive to achieve addressing multiple human needs instead of one at the expense of others. It is when we are able to have equal decision making that leads to some sort of tangible impact in the immediate, short and long term. Sustainability means creating social impact that not only lasts during my lifetime but for generations to come. I think it also means how to give people the right tools to improve their own lives instead of them depending on welfare and other benefit systems.

What role do you see sustainability playing in your professional career?

For me, I have dedicated the rest of my life in the service of others. The main goal that I have defined for my life is to have as much of a positive impact with the limited resources and time that I have on this planet. Therefore, sustainability will play a key role in every single part of my professional career. One of my goals is to start a social enterprise in the future that can leverage the strengths of the private sector to create as much social impact as possible. Therefore, sustainability will play a crucial role in my career personally. When I ask myself what kind of company do I want to work for in the summer and full time, it always comes back to the point that it has to be in a company where I truly feel like I am making some sort of impact and improving the lives of people within the communities that the company operates in. Therefore, striving to addressing multiple human needs, which is my personal definition of sustainability, will always be an integral part of my professional career in the immediate, short and long term.

What sustainability projects have you been engaged in?

One of the sustainability projects that I have been engaged in has been when I volunteered in my first two years at an after school elementary program, we ran bi-weekly presentations on how elementary school students can help the environment in their day to day lives. For example, we had an initiative where no student could use a plastic bag for two weeks and instead use reusable bags. This initiative got students excited as it was designed as a competition.

Another project that I have been engaged with in the past was when I was the president of the student council during high school. One of the events that we ran was the Green Marathon where we raised money from high school students who enrolled in a half marathon and for every kilometer that they ran, our sponsors would donate money to a positive cause related to the environment. We donated over $3000 to the wildlife society in Dubai (my high school was located there) which aims to converse biodiversity and tackle climate change.