#5 - Nasrat Khalid: Founder (Aseel App), World Bank, Omid ID, Grants & Non-Profits

In this podcast episode, Nasrat Khalid, the founder of Aseel, discusses his platform, which combines the functionalities of Etsy and GoFundMe for developing and underdeveloped countries. Aseel aims to bridge the digital divide by providing artisans in these regions access to the digital economy, allowing them to sell their products directly to global consumers without intermediaries. Nasrat outlines three main challenges Aseel faced: supply chain issues, lack of fintech infrastructure, and low digital literacy. He emphasizes that his background, including work with USAID and the World Bank, positioned him well to tackle these problems. Aseel uses a unique three-sided marketplace model involving artisans, buyers, and local heroes facilitating transactions and logistics. This approach enables artisans to earn fairer wages for their work by eliminating multiple middlemen from the supply chain. Nasrat shares his long-term vision of scaling Aseel to impact global hunger and poverty by leveraging decentralized technology and building local infrastructure. He also touches on the challenges of operating in underdeveloped regions, including security and fraud prevention, which Aseel addresses through transparency initiatives like the Omaid ID card system. Despite these hurdles, Aseel has raised over $1 million in grants and partnerships, demonstrating significant traction and impact. Nasrat concludes by discussing the importance of purpose-driven work and Aseel's potential to transform the humanitarian and commerce sectors through innovative solutions that empower artisans and support underserved communities globally. Links: https://aseelapp.com/do-good Nasrat's X: https://x.com/NasratKhalid Nasrat' Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nasratkhalid/ Manav's Links: linktr.ee/manavgx