Shehroz Sameja, founder of an occupation therapy healthcare in Pakistan that can literally help change lives, one sensory product at a time, has a story too. What makes a person do a deep dive into a venture about which he had little or no knowledge in his growing up years? What makes a person want to cater to those individuals whom society forgets, we forget, more often than we should. What makes a person transform a tiny feeling, a desire to do good for our fellow human beings, into a lifelong goal – to help make those people independent who would otherwise rely on us for the rest of their lives?
When personal dreams, a burning desire to do good and business ventures strike a balance, we get the ultimate success formula. Perhaps this is why Shehroz Sameja sought help from Shark Tank Pakistan, to help finance his venture, Solution, and take it to the next level.
And perhaps it was the poem he wrote and recited live on the show that brought tears to the eyes of the onlookers, and landed him a foot in the door where people got to to know more about him and his venture. But people often forget, our attention spans are limited to the speed at which we scroll our social media feeds – out of sight, out of mind. This is why, we decided to remind you of a cause that can help change lives, and make the growing up years of many young children as well as older people with physical, sensory or cognitive provblems, a whole lot easier, and more hopeful.
We give you Shehroz Sameja of Solution For Occupational Therapy as we get to know the person behind the cause – What drives him, and how we can help contribute to an inititative that aims to help better the lives of those who need our support.
Tell us a bit about your childhood – The high points and low.
Shehroz: “My childhood was like a typical Mumbai kid’s childhood. It had family politics, the habit of working as soon as you grow up, no education, no corporate background, no nothing. We grew up in the streets of Lyari. We were not in the best of situations. There was a time when it was very common to kill someone in the streets of Lyari, gang wars were a regular occurrence . So, I have seen the killings and dead bodies since childhood, I have seen the drug addiction since childhood. How people get intoxicated and mistreat women, how they insult their family members. And I am a child who grew up seeing all these things.”
He goes onto explain:
“But what saved me was that my initial upbringing and nurturing was taken over by my paternal grandfather. My grandfather had cast a shield around me and he used to constantly school me about right and wrong. In the first 9 years of my life, I lived in a house from where I was not even allowed to go down. Because my grandfather did not want me to go into the streets and get influenced by the other boys. So he protected me like a shield. He took care of my food and other necessities. My grandfather was a contractor and he built buildings, so we were a wealthy family and he took good care of us.”
“But as soon as my grandfather passed away, I was about 10 years old, his death gave way to family politics. Our house was sold off and my father’s family was asked to leave the property. From thereon, the journey became more difficult. My father did not have any finacial resources and he could not educate me. He told me that I would have to support myself. I started to work in small shops at the age of 12 in order to earn enough money to pay my school fees.”
The road to adulthood was strewn with limitless challenges…
What set you apart from other kids who grew up in Lyari? We were curious to know…
Shehroz: “I was a rebel from the beginning. I wanted to fix everything that was wrong around me and I understood early in life, that one way to fix everything is through education. Because you see, there was only one thing missing in our area – People did not have access to education. They did not get the opportunity to have good upbringing and schooling upbringing. When these elements are missing in a child’s life, they stay ignorant as adults. So I decided to change all that by arming myself with education, so that I could then fix all the wrongs I saw around me in the world.”
It was perhaps this rebel in him that made sure he never gave up and took on his first job at Edhi Foundation in emergency services.
Shehroz went on to work at Edhi Foundation and this is what he had to share from the time he spent there:
“The most dangerous incident at Edhi was in 2010, when there was a blast on the M.A Jinnah road on the 10th of Muharram. It was the first blast of my life. I witnessed such miserable deaths for the first time in my life. Our job was to collect the dead bodies and remains. I always told myself that if Allah has chosen me for this work, then I have to do this work. As part of my work, I collected all kinds of dead bodies, whether they had drowned, torn down, burnt, in a bomb blast, or many days old. Sometimes we had to collect DNA samples from teh cold storage and help conduct post mortems.”
Were there people who needed to take a break or seek therapy, or does the job toughen them up?
Shehroz comes of a place of someone who has seen more than his fair share of disasters and personal trauma: “I don’t think that Edhi workers need therapy because they are well-nurtured. They don’t even know the meaning of therapy. I think that mental therapy, stress therapy, anxiety, all these things are for a different class. The class that is working in Edhi has nothing to do with these things. They are the people who are surviving everything. They just want to earn a living and feed their families, they have no other goal. I also understand that Allah has made this group for a very big purpose.”
From this, to working with special needs children, how was the change?
“I had never been with a special kid before. But at the new workplace, it was the first time I interacted with a special kid, he hugged me and he wanted to say something to me.”
Shehroz disclosed that when he first met special children for the first time in his life, here’s what happened: “I made friends with a kid. And just because I resembled that kid’s father, he used to hug me every morning. And after hugging me, he used to go to his session. So we forged a chemistry together. And I started to understand what these kids want to say. And that’s when I wrote a poem for them:
Meri apni ek hi duniya hai, tum sabse acha hun main
Meri duniya mein, na haar hai na jeet hai
Meri duniya mein, na riwaj hai na reet hai
Gar hai, tou sirf shiddat hai
Shiddat hai, tujhe paane ki
Shiddat hai, tere pass aane ki
Shiddat hai, tujhe apne pass bulwane ki
Mukammal hun magar, adhura sa reh jata hun
Kehna kuch chahta hun, samjha kuch jata hun
Bare mukhtalif namon se leti hai ye duniya mera naam
Koi kahe, jallad hun mein
Koi kahe, shaitan hun mein
Koi kahe, haiwan ki zaat mein se hun
Mehez me tujhe batana chahta hun, mein teri aulad mein se hun, mein teri aulad mein se hun
میری اپنی ایک ہی دنیا ہے، تم سب سے اچھا ہوں میں
میری دنیا میں، نہ ہار ہے نہ جیت ہے
میری دنیا میں، نہ رواج ہے نہ ریت ہے
گر ہے، تو صرف شدت ہے۔
شِدت ہے، تجھے پانے کی
شدت ہے، تیرے پاس آنے کی
شدت ہے، تم اپنے پاس بلوانے کی
مکمل ہوں مگر، ادھورا سا رہ جاتا ہوں
کہنا کچھ چاہتا ہوں، سمجھا کچھ جاتا ہوں
برے مختلف ناموں سے لیتی ہے یہ دنیا میرا نام
کوئی کہے، جلاد ہوں میں
کوئی کہے، شیطان ہوں میں
کوئی کہے، ہیوان کی ذات میں سے ہوں۔
محض میں تجھے بتانا چاہتا ہوں، میں تیری اولاد میں ہوں، میں تیری اولاد میں ہوں۔
He told us that after listening to his poem, his parents encouraged him to follow this line of work, and then, there was no looking back” “Their moral support helped resolve that I had to take this step towards helping them and changing their lives.”
The balance between compassion for the community but also translating it into a commercial venture to make it a lasting effort. Where did the business sense come from?
“So, as they say, necessity is the mother of invention.” Quipped Shehroz. “When you have the hunger to give something back to the community and also the need to bring home some income, God has granted the ability and opportunity to create a model that incorporates both services and business. And this is the model of my enterprise – Solution!”
Shehroz went on to explain that compassion has always been a part of his life because the environment where he grew up taught him compassion and the importance of giving back to the community.
This urged us to ask the next question.
What about options for families with special needs kids who can’t afford the material you manufacture?
Shehroz: Solution is trying to create a pool / platform for the parents who can support each other, or those who are unable to afford the products, can facilitate each other – Inshallah soon with the help of few individuals we plan to start raising funds for this cause.
Here’s How You can Support Solution: Sponsor a Child, a Project, or Volunteer
“Presently,” revealed Shehroz, “we cater to homes / private setups / clinics / hospital and NGOs who require our products.”
The way forward for Solution. Tell us your biggest win so far and plans in the pipeline.
Shehroz: Solution aims to create- a one stop solution for special needs – where people get their therapy, equipment, and refreshments at one place – “Solution City” Our solution is starting now. We are looking for sponsors, for donors who can support schools and the child who cannot afford sensory equipment or special rooms at their place. Because every class has some chilren with special needs, even under-privileged children face problems, but they cannot afford the products so we are creating a portal in which we will need everyone’s help and through that portal, we can reach those children who cannot afford the equipment.
About Shehroz:
Shehroz Sameja, affectionately known as the “equipment wala,” is a dedicated and compassionate professional committed to helping others. Hailing from the underprivileged neighborhood of Lyari in Karachi, Pakistan, Shehroz began working at a young age to fund his college education. He gained valuable experience in various capacities, including volunteering and serving as a junior assistant at the Edhi Foundation, as well as in the corporate sector. In 2015, he took on the role of Project Manager at an NGO in Lyari, and in 2016, he fulfilled his dream of giving back to society by working with children with special needs.
In 2018, Shehroz became a father and simultaneously founded Solution.com.pk, a company dedicated to providing turnkey solutions for educational institutions and manufacturers of therapeutic equipment. This initiative focuses on creating holistic furniture for schools and institutions, promoting inclusivity for all children.
On Shark Tank Pakistan, Shehroz pitched his venture, Solutions, which specializes in crafting customized therapy equipment for children with special needs. Driven by his mission to support these children, he sought PKR 8 million and successfully secured a deal for PKR 8 million in exchange for 20% equity from investors Usman Bashir and Junaid Iqbal.
