HELSINKI: Shahzaib Malik is a full time entrepreneur and CEO of three companies in Finland and aims to open doors for Pakistanis to do business in Finland with Finnish companies.
Leading News recently held the following interview with Shahzaib Malik, who moved to Finland in 2012, to know more about him, his journey, struggles, aims and targets in life.
LN: What are your past and current active services which you are performing for the Pakistani Community?
Shahzaib Malik: I hold an International Business Management Degree from Finland. By profession I am a full time entrepreneur and CEO of three Finnish companies. Our main aim is to convince and motivate local Finnish companies to do business with internationals. With the help of this platform I am opening the door for Pakistanis to do business in Finland with Finnish companies. I am trying to build a bridge between two nations. Finland is facing a shortage of young labour and Pakistan has a surplus of skilled unemployed labour.
Recently, we created a non-registered Pak-Fin Entrepreneur Association. The main goal is to build a network of Pakistani entrepreneurs living in Finland, so that we can help each other grow businesses and highlight the soft image of Pakistan in Finland. We want Finland to see the great talent and potential of Pakistanis.
Apart from this, I am the owner of a cloud kitchen franchise in Lappeenranta. I am also running an electric car fleet company for the fast food delivery industry as well.
In my social life, currently I hold a reserve seat as deputy chairman of the Sports and Culture Committee in Lappeenranta City Council for the term 2021-2025. This achievement was only possible with 100 percent support of my local Pakistani community and other nationalities as well. I am humbled to tell my story; I got the highest votes as a foreign-born candidate in local municipality elections in 2021.
From 2019 to 2021, I was a founding board member of the first official cricket club in South Karelia, Finland. Our cricket club is registered with the Cricket Finland Association. From 2022, I am the official sponsor of Saimaa Cricket Club Ry. In 2021, I helped in the promotion of cricket clubs locally among South East Asians and got them government grants for sport activities for immigrants.
LN: What inspired you to pursue your interest in social services and what motivates you to continue doing this work?
Shahzaib Malik: Firstly, helping others is a strong human instinct in me. Secondly, when I came to Finland I found that we lacked a lot of basic opportunities for students and expats. By grace of Allah, I became capable and pioneer; I changed the scenario and left a positive impact 
in the society. At first, it looked impossible due to limited resources and lack of fluent Finnish language skills. However, I got support from the Pakistani and Muslim community and because of their unity, I succeeded to get the seat of deputy Lappeenranta town hall. Due to this continuous support from the community and positive results from my struggle kept me active to pursue my interest further in social services.
LN: Can you describe a time when you faced a challenging situation while providing or performing social services?
Shahzaib Malik: Of course, it was very difficult and hard to bring Pakistanis together on the same page, especially with different backgrounds and different mind-sets. But I am very thankful to locals from Pakistan, India, Turkey, Morocco, Kurdistan, Nepal, Russia, Vietnam, Iran, Finland, Arab and African nations who voted for me and showed their confidence in me.
Social life also has negative effects such as feeling pressure to fit in, comparing oneself unfavourably to others, becoming overwhelmed, facing conflicts in relationships, and being negatively influenced by social media.
LN: How do you collaborate with other organisations or community members to address social issues and improve access to resources?
Shahzaib Malik: My approach is to foster collaboration, inclusivity, and synergy with other organisations and community members to tackle social issues and create positive change in our society.
Personally, I provide time, my resources, my strong network support and my energy in bringing Pakistani people together and also local Muslims. I collaborate with other organisations and community members to address social issues about Pakistanis and improve access to resources by partnering, engaging with the community, sharing resources, advocating for change, collaborating on projects, and promoting volunteerism and skill-sharing.
In the past I collaborated with the Cricket Finland Association and invited them with the help of university staff to Lappeenranta to build a cricket club in 2018.
LN: How do you stay up to date with current trends and best practices in social services, and what steps do you take to continually develop your skills and knowledge?
Shahzaib Malik: We are living in the social media era, staying up to date is very easy, but also never believe everything you see or read on the internet. Please do your proper research before having any point of view.
I stay updated in social services by continuously learning through workshops and conferences, networking with professionals, reading industry publications, seeking supervision and mentoring, reflecting on my practice, and participating in specialized training programmes.
LN: While looking into Pakistani infrastructure for social services, what is your opinion and how can we improve it?
Shahzaib Malik: In simple words, Pakistan can learn from Finland about having the structure of any organisation and doing it in a properly documented way and possible to audit any time.
I suggest, in Pakistan, we should also have a trend of registering any association for any purpose and remove as many as possible flaws in our bureaucracy. People should live with relief and they must have access to all social services in Pakistan. Only education of our young generation is the solution to all root causes.
To improve Pakistani social services, key steps include increasing funding, enhancing infrastructure, strengthening governance and accountability, improving human resources through training and capacity building, promoting public-private partnerships, empowering communities, raising awareness and advocacy, and implementing robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. These measures aim to enhance accessibility, quality, and effectiveness of social services for the well-being of Pakistani citizens.
