Ali Siddiq
64% of Pakistan's roughly 250M people are under 30, yet youth unemployment among degree holders exceeds 30% and is rising. Employers consistently report that graduates lack workplace skills: communication, problem-solving, initiative, adaptability.
BIG IDEA
Skills training for the modern economy
Watch the pitch
The mission
Get underserved Pakistani university students into meaningful work.
How it works
A three-month experiential career-prep fellowship: repeated, scaffolded practice of real professional behaviors with structured reflection and feedback in a supportive peer cohort. Now being embedded as a for-credit course in public-sector universities, delivered by university faculty whom Amal selects, trains and coaches.
The dream
Seven years: embedded in all public-sector universities in Pakistan. Fifteen years: university-embedded career prep scaling in dozens of countries. Doer and payer at scale: government, through existing university budgets.
Potential for impact at scale
Read against four questions, in the context of the organisation’s stage: is the impact good enough, is the problem big enough, is the model simple enough to deliver at scale, and is it cheap enough for whoever pays at scale.
Good enough · impact and evidence
81% of job-seeking Fellows start work within three months of the program, with 1.5 to 2x improvements in key skills and mindsets.
Big enough · addressable market
Every public-university graduate in Pakistan; the model has run continuously since 2014.
Simple enough · to deliver at big scale
University faculty deliver it themselves after Amal's training and coaching, so the organization does not have to grow with every new cohort.
Cheap enough · for payers at scale
$300 fully loaded per Fellow today in direct delivery; $75 at scale, most of it absorbed by existing university staff budgets.
So far
- 16,000 Fellows graduated (2014 to 2026)
- First university-led, for-credit pilot launches Fall 2026
- 2 to 3 additional universities being lined up for an expanded 2027 pilot