AD discovery Workshop
Creative,engaging dialogues that advance advertising understanding.
By Panteion University Students.
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Adnan Mahmud
co-founder and CEO of Jolkona Foundation and geocko.
Speech at AD/PR Lab.
Introduction:
Immersing in that kind of business that is inspired by the motto “Entrepreneurship for good”, Adnan Mahmud develops versatile solutions, innovative approaches and charming reinventions through his two social enterprises Jolkona and geocko and proves to us that it’s not only nice, good, promising, full of hope and proud to create a socially responsible business;
It is, eventually, the only way that the creation of a business gains meaning; it is made not only for needs, but for Peoples’ Dreams..!
Human is the greatest wealth of a nation, the main instrument and the main objective of development. And Adnan wants to honor and inspire for even more great moments all those great and beautiful people with his 4-wings mission; Give voice to the voiceless. Provide hope where there is despair, Not rest until the issue takes rest, Uphold justice and equity.
Inside a world where everything seems to collapse, the current crisis might be useful because it can direct us to the redefinition of the essential.
And the Social Entrepreneurship, emerging as never in this tough conjuncture, comes and reinvigorates the wounded local and international scene.
After all it is the only one that can be mapped and defined with the sweetest word…Dream!
A story written for us..!
Listen to it!
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Video on demand
Who is considered a social entrepreneur?
Fuel for Thought
Drop by drop, a current of young philanthropy grows.
Adnan Mahmud
A persistent optimist with a mission to alleviate peoples’ problems through sustainable, equitable and measurable ways.
Being a great storyteller, besides an outstanding social entrepreneur, he recounted to us 4 stories; he introduced to us Wiclif, a person indoctrinated with individual ingenuity, passion and creativity, the Youth impacting Rwanda, full of persistence and passions, furthermore the great Joynal who offers medicine for all, welcoming another path of action and leading in this way a more fulfilling and purposeful life, and last but not least the story of his own lifetime and how he began to “think socially. act business”, when he saw the father of a dead boy passing in front of him in sorrow because he didn’t have money to bury his son, at a cemetery in Rwanda.
All these examples that nestle and pose the very essence of social entrepreneurship and its people, social entrepreneurs;
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Changing the world with
Innovation Apr.23, 2013
AD/PR LAB,Panteion University of Social
and Political Sciences.
Be the Change! Changing the world with Innovation.
A “holistic” – think big approach to the development of the innovative entrepreneurship
Adnan Mahmud
Adnan indicated to us that social entrepreneur is an aspiring person with flexible thinking who has built-in in his personal brand empowered stimuli soul and a great belief in human potential. This philosophy is embedded in his whole business value proposition, highlighting his entrepreneurial activity in an inventive social venture that uses entrepreneurial principles to bring about social value and impact.
He tackles the 360◦ difficulty of the circle of life in markets by covering and providing not simple entrepreneurial needs and goals, but something more…Dreams! They are the “big dreams” of all of us (unemployed people feel productive and useful again; social inclusion, disabled people acquiring a new value and meaning for their own lives and our lives too, protecting the environment in a mature, active and consistent way etc.) These “big dreams” are linked with a positive thinking, innovation and a strategy for action along with the market forces. In this way, the social entrepreneur exploits fully and creatively the insight that the world can change to more sustainable models and pathways.
Last but not least, sustainability for social entrepreneur is not a word, but a way of thinking.
He thinks big, he dreams big, he acts big and he offers big, he lives big!
All these examples are skillfully tuning with the most intractable problems of the world and epitomize, after all, a new challenge and a new opportunity for us and our countries to be loved again, not as a procedure but as a matter..
Examples that give to all of us new qualities and new truths to orchestrate our very life!
Adnan Mahmud
The social entrepreneur who chose to climb “the ladder that matters”, rather than the corporate ladder.
Having chosen to climb “the ladder that matters”, as he names his entrepreneurial activity, and “not the corporate ladder that society tells us to do”, Adnan orchestrates his entrepreneurial and social life with the never subsiding fear and with the simple knowledge that someday somebody might ask him the simple question too; “what did he accomplish in his life, with all those things offered to him” .
Adnan now ,having leaved the corporate ladder and Microsoft, produces a majestic body of work (Jolkona-his first inventive social venture that uses entrepreneurial principles to bring about social value and impact and geocko- how do we use technological tools for non-profit organizations to tell compelling stories) that, at every turn, encompasses the spirit and personality of the human race, the social solidarity and the optimism that we can change the world into more sustainable and happy models.
It is all about young people, brilliant people. It’s about sending out a message encouraging participation in the most intractable problems, encouraging an investment in culture, learning, people, “big dreams” and our rich and wonderful planet!
Be the Change!, Adnan called us for action, motivating us to make the difference, utilizing all those fantastic resources available to us.
Founder of Jolkona Foundation, Adnan Mahmud, talked about trends of online charitable giving to a group of graduate students of the Philanthropy Management class at the Athens University. Later that evening, Mr. Mahmud talked about innovation and social entrepreneurship
at the Panteion University Media and Innovation Lab.
Inspirational words from a "beautiful mind". Adnan Mahmud "Changing the World with Innovation". He changed his life and destiny. — with , ,
, and .
“Greece now needs you.”
Question posed by a student girl: “Do you think that the crisis can offer us more that it deprived from us?”
Adnan: “Of course yes. Absolutely yes. Greece now needs you. It does not need you in some 20 years from now..”
Today we are living in times of unprecedented challenges and everything changes like a breath. And the prevail law is: intense upheavals everywhere as a repercussion of the global economic crisis.
Like a man who survives from a severe accident and reevaluates the essence of his life, in a similar way the dramatic deterioration of the material terms of life, rearranges our collective priorities.
Alternative actions like social awareness and solidarity, protection of the environment, culture and education, social inclusion etc become hugely empowered, are now being heard with more interest and consumers will opt more for a an offered product or service that, besides the need usage, has inside cause-related actions and effects in this way a positive return into society.
At the same time, the times that social contribution, charity and help of any kind were the personal agenda of eminent and wealthy people or a state project, are gone for good.
Governments and the state have to identify, recognize and admit this weakness to offer social work and thus promote a set of economic policies that favor entrepreneurship for good.
There is a big vacuum. And there is a big vacuum at the time when the giving of others for many socially weak citizens id of cardinal importance for their very life. And this vacuum should be covered only by the emersion of that kind of business that drives the corporation to profitability by generating first and foremost social value, namely the social entrepreneurship.
After all, social entrepreneurship is a new challenge and a new opportunity for entrepreneurship to be loved again, not as a procedure but as a matter, as an essence.
I do know that each useful thing done people do embrace it and promote it. Governments and societies too.
It seems that the current crisis has many aspects. Not that obvious, not that negative. One of them? Realizations.
Conclusion
Today we live in interesting times concerning the social ecosystem; the greatest truth is that there is neither space for the recipes of yesterday, nor for the indifference of today.
Through the nowadays conjuncture of great crunches and compressions and our national melancholy, Social Entrepreneurship comes to remind us the charm of the feasible, the wealth that surrounds us and the people that define it.
It listens to the problems of our time and it transforms them in quality and creatively, touching the beat of the community life.And through its social physiognomy, it highlights the core essence and need of our time; Doing Good (social impact) while Doing Well (income generating), as Adnan wisefully told us.
Social and cultural actions that expand their idea of value and their value proposition, defining and counting their value not in business terms, but in human terms,are being added on a daily basis to the personal agenda of more and more citizens. At the same direction, Social Entrepreneurship erects a bridge communication; it helps those who desperately need help raise their voice regarding what is happening to them and the rest society to give not money and compassion, but heart and soul, dream and effort.
The routes of the theme of social action are proved to be many and inexhaustible.
The Social Entrepreneurship approaches only one of them. And it promotes and inspires the cultivation of creativity, maturation of social and cultural sensibilities, learning and civic engagement of all sorts, and even increased passion for life. This is the little hero that always gives us new passion and new energy; it gives us indomitable will to live forever.
But how can one choose between this much pain and so much of the same pain?
And even more from where to start with?
“And you know how to begin.
Just open your eyes. Open your ears. Open your hearts.”, Adnan concluded in his inspirational speech.
After all, the Social Entrepreneurship and Adnan, ambassador of it, help us think. Optimistically? pessimistically? Neither, just humanistically.
Speaker:
Adnan Mahmud
Greetings:
They do say that there are three reasons why some ideas can build momentum and why other ideas don't : happiness, meaning, and stories.
Adnan accomplishes all three of them.
How about you?
It is time we make a difference! It is time we make our ideas take flight, as Betty Tsakarestou always tells us to do. And it is also time we change the world, as Adnan inspired us to do!
In a breath, a big thank to Adnan Mahmud for all the inspiration and fuel for thought, Betty Tsakarestou for the organising, Eleni Alexaki ,Cultural Affairs Specialist at US Embassy Athens, for co-organising the great talk and discussion with Adnan and AD and PR Lab of Panteion University ,U.S. Embassy Athens,Zozeta Miliopoulou for designing the invitation,
Antreas Papazoglou for the video coverage and last but not least, all of you, our great audience.
Alexia Charoupa, writing on behalf of AD/PR Lab, Panteion University.
Talk About
Adnan Mahmud
Adnan shares the power of technology with the kids!
The Jolkona team during a visit to one of the schools.
Adnan Mahmud
Contact Info
Adnan Mahmud
Changing the World with Innovation
Τη διάλεξη διοργανώνει το Εργαστήριο Διαφήμισης και Δημοσίων Σχέσεων του Τμήματος Επικοινωνίας, Μέσων και Πολιτισμού του Παντείου Πανεπιστημίου, σε συνεργασία με το Πρόγραμμα Cultural Affairs US Speakers, της Πρεσβείας των ΗΠΑ.
Ο Adnan Mahmud υποστηρίζει πως οι μεγαλύτερες προκλήσεις που αντιμετωπίζει ο κόσμος απαιτούν να σκεφτούμε λύσεις δημιουργικές. Θα παρουσιάσει παραδείγματα καινοτομίας που εφαρμόζονται σε όλο τον κόσμο σε έργα ανάπτυξης. Επίσης,
θα μιλήσει για τον τρόπο με τον οποίο μπορεί να ενσωματωθεί επιτυχημένα η καινοτομία σε μια κοινωνική επιχείρηση.
Open your eyes.
Open your ears.
Open your hearts.
Adnan Mahmud