Naeem Kandwal
Success isn’t defined by age, class or gender, but by hard work, determination, and endurance. It is the reality that the battle of sexes has dropped quite a bit in recent years, but doesn’t mean that women have it any easier when trying to start up their own business. In fact, there is more pressure on them when beginning a business. Some enthusiastic women resist this pressure, they succeed and become role models for others. Mariam Nusrat is one of them. She is a great example of women Empowerment. Mariam is a highly educated girl. She has two Masters Degrees, an MA in International Development from George Washington University, USA (2015) and an MSc in Economics from LUMS, Pakistan (2010). She is the Founder of GRID – Gaming Revolution for International Development, a tech start-up that aims to unleash the power of video games to educate, engage and empower people for positive behavior change. Mariam is on the Forbes Next 1000 List and a recipient of the Clinton Global Initiative University Honor Roll Alumni Award. She has presented GRID at several high level forums including, two sessions moderated by President Clinton at CGIU Meetings and two Tedx events. Since its launch GRID has received extensive media attention with articles in Huffington Post, Washington Post, Daily Mail UK, Yahoo News and other mainstream news channels and was included in the DC Inno 50 on Fire companies. When i asked about the GRID, she said:”I founded GRID at the age of 28 with an aim to unleash the power of video games to educate, engage and empower people. Having grown up playing games such as Sim City, I knew games leave an impression on our brains that transcends the boundaries of the virtual world. I wondered to myself, if games on building cities can teach urban planning, can games focusing on environmental awareness promote climate action, those about women’s rights promote equality or those building humane education improve animal welfare?”.The vision or mission clearly states the direction of an organization. Undoubtedly, Mariam’s mission is revolutionary. When I asked about her mission, she said: “At GRID, we are changing how video games are created & used. Video games are powerful communication tools, the impact they leave on our brains far transcends the virtual boundaries in which we play them! There is an opportunity to leverage this power for a purpose beyond entertainment. Problem we are solving: Making video games is costly, complicated and clunky!”. When I asked, what do you say about the Track record? she said: “For the past 7 years, we’ve been building low-cost mobile games to inspire positive behavior change. Under our not-for-profit arm, we developed 8 portfolio games, in 4 languages. We have created games on reproductive health, climate change, health pandemics, animal welfare and STEM learning. Some of our games in the pipeline raise awareness on child abuse, financial literacy and skills for the future”.When I asked about the Breshna, she said: “Under our for-profit arm, we’re building Breshna, a platform that creates video games with no-code, at low-cost & lightning speed! Breshna empowers anyone, with no coding or design experience, to create their own video games for educational, marketing and training purposes! Whether it’s a teacher making a history quiz, a not-for-profit leader making a brochure on animal compassion or a founder making a pitch deck, they can all leverage Breshna to create fun and interactive video games to engage their audience. The word “Breshna” means lightning in the Pashto language, the Founder’s mother tongue”. When I asked, What’s your plan for the future? she said: “Our vision is to unleash the power of video games for positive change! We are launching Breshna on July 15th with a game jam that anyone around the world can participate in for free! https://t.co/3iqS43iD8o. We are building in public, with our community and for a mission that inspired us! We welcome all readers to join us as we change the world, one game at a time!”. When I asked, what message would you like to send to aspiring game designers, she said: “The video games industry is undergoing a massive transformation, in terms of how video games are created and used. The barriers to making video games are being significantly lowered with the advent of the low-code/no-code movement. Simultaneously, video games are being deployed for purposes beyond entertainment. I would encourage aspiring game designers to explore these trends and explore opportunities to unleash the power of video games in innovative ways!”. Undoubtedly, Mariam is a revolutionary figure. She has revolutionized the lives of the young generation. She is a great example of women empowerment. She is a role model for young generation. She is a valuable asset of our nation.
