⭕️ If You Want to Help Someone, Shut Up and Listen

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Hey my friend,

I want to share a story with you this week—one that completely changed how I approach leadership, social impact, and honestly, life.

But before I dive in, let me ask you this:

Have you ever tried to help someone, only to realise later that you might have made things worse?

That’s exactly what happened to me when I started my first project at 15.

It was supposed to be a success story. I had done my research, built a solution, and helped 22 people. I felt like I had made a real impact.

Until one year later… when I realised I had actually contributed to the problem.

read time: 6 mins

Opportunities This Week

If you’re looking for more opportunities, check out our living document of more opportunities here.

🚀 Help Me Inspire More Students + Earn A Reward!

I need your help! From March 15 – May 15, 2025, I’m launching a 27-city, 5-country speaking tour—visiting schools, universities, and conferences to empower young people with leadership, mental health, and social impact tools.

💡 Do you know someone who hires speakers for schools, universities, or events?

If your referral leads to a paid speaking engagement, I’ll send you a reward (details in the link) as a thank-you!

How It Works:

✅ Introduce me to a decision-maker who books speakers (principals, student leaders, event organizers).
✅ Use the copy-paste email (linked below) or introduce me via LinkedIn, WhatsApp, or another method.
✅ If your referral results in a paid gig, you’ll get a reward—no limits, more referrals = more rewards!

Who Can You Refer Me To?

🎤 Schools – Principals, student engagement teams, counsellors
🎤 Universities – Student life, wellness, career services, leadership programs
🎤 Event Organisers – Conferences, summits, and keynotes

Let’s make an impact together and bring these talks to more students worldwide! 🌍

📩 Click here to grab the referral details + email template

Got a referral? Hit reply or DM me! Let’s make this happen. 🚀

The iPad That Wasn’t So Revolutionary

Back in school, I had to complete a personal project—basically, a long-term assignment where we could tackle any issue we cared about.

At the time, I had just watched a documentary about a social entrepreneur in India who had created an affordable menstrual product for women who didn’t have access to them.

Now, growing up in Tanzania, in an Indian-Muslim household, periods weren’t exactly a topic we talked about. But something about that documentary made me curious.

So I did what any logical 15-year-old boy would do—I called my mom.

And that’s when I learned something that hit me hard.

She told me that when she was younger, she didn’t have access to menstrual products either. She had to use old rags, cloths, and other unhygienic materials, making something that should be normal feel shameful.

For the first time, it wasn’t just a documentary. It was personal.

So, I decided to do something about it.

The iPad (Yes, That Was the Name)

I designed my very own reusable menstrual pad and, in my 15-year-old marketing genius, I called it The iPad.

Yes. You read that right. The iPad.

But here’s the wild part—it actually worked.

I partnered with a local tailor, stitched together the product, and distributed it to 22 menstruators in a local community.

I thought I had disrupted the industry. I thought I was a changemaker.

I thought I had solved the problem.

But one year later, I realized something:

I hadn’t solved the problem.

I had contributed to it.

The Hard Truth About "Helping"

My original product lasted six months—which meant that after six months, the same people I had helped… needed help again.

I had unknowingly created dependency instead of empowerment.

And the worst part? I thought I was doing the right thing.

That’s when I learned one of the hardest but most important lessons of my life:

👉 If you want to help someone, shut up and listen (check out this TED talk about it)

I had jumped straight into “fixing” mode without ever asking the people I was trying to help what they actually needed.

So instead of assuming, I went back and started listening.

And you know what I found?

Menstruators didn’t just need products. They needed education. They needed access to proper hygiene. They needed long-term solutions, not band-aids.

So we pivoted.

• Instead of just handing out products, we partnered with women with disabilities who could stitch their own reusable pads.

• We taught communities how to make them, so they wouldn’t have to depend on outside help.

• We shifted from just giving to empowering.

And that’s when real impact started happening.

How Often Do We Do This?

This experience made me wonder:

How often do we think we’re helping, when in reality, we’re just assuming?

We do it in startups.
We do it in social impact.
We do it in our everyday lives.

How many times do we jump in with answers before we’ve actually taken the time to ask the right questions?

I see it happen all the time:

• Entrepreneurs build products without actually talking to their users.

• Organizations launch initiatives without engaging the communities they’re meant to serve.

• Even in personal relationships, we offer advice when the other person just needed us to listen.

But the truth is, the most powerful thing you can do as a leader, entrepreneur, or changemaker… is just listen.

Your Challenge This Week

If you’re working on a project, leading a team, or just trying to support a friend—pause and ask yourself:

1️⃣ Am I actually solving a problem, or am I just assuming?
2️⃣ Have I truly listened to the people I’m trying to help?
3️⃣ Am I creating independence, or just another dependency cycle?

The moment I stopped assuming and started listening?

That’s when I truly started making a difference

From Our Community

This section is where we shoutout all the different cool things happening in our 50,000+ community. Let’s use our joint collective to support each other:

• Ashoke just dropped this cool update about his short animation film Dophin Dude

• Vaishali just dropped episode 1 of her new Tea With V Podcast. Give it a listen here

• Damian wrote this really cool piece on his Modern Life Skills Newsletter about what gets you hired in 2025. Highly recommend you give it a read

• Forbes 30U30 Nathaniel just hit 12,000 followers on Linkedin. Let’s get him to a couple hundred more

• Tooba launched her own newsletter sharing her lessons and challenges from her social impact journey
  
  Want your work to be featured to our 50,000+ community? Simply refer the newsletter with 3 other people and we’ll feature you in our next edition.

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My friend, can’t believe it’s Feb already. It feels like this year just started but time really is just flying. I hope you’ve built some momentum and are still staying strong with some of your new year goals. Just want you to know that I am cheering you on from afar and I see all the efforts you’re making every single day.

As I tell you every week, it truly means the world to me to have you here. I don’t take for granted the opportunity to write to you each week and all the support you give me. It means more than you know to me - so truly, thank you friend.

Sending you a warm hug from Toronto (we don’t get enough hugs lol),

With love,

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