45
Days
12
Hours
44
Mins
29
Secs
left to apply
In Bangladesh, sex workers, people living with HIV, and young people pushed to the margins because of their gender identity often have very few ways to earn a living on their own. Abdullah Al Hasan Dipto founded Pathchola Foundation in 2019 to change that, helping them build skills, start their own businesses, and lead.
As a 2026 Global Fellow in Courage, Abdullah is thinking about how this grassroots work connects to the bigger picture. For him, as he explains below, courage finds its purpose when it creates opportunities for others.
Being part of Global Fellows in Courage has helped me think differently about the work I do through Pathchola Foundation. Through the Fellowship, I have been able to learn from other Fellows who are also showing courage in their communities and responding to very different local challenges.
Their experiences have helped me reflect on my own work and see connections between what we are doing at the grassroots and with the larger systems that shape people's lives. Coming from a grassroots area, this has also strengthened my ability to think beyond my immediate community and connect local experiences with global conversations on inclusion, entrepreneurship, and youth leadership.
To me, courage means choosing to move forward even when the path is not clear. Courage means believing in something enough to take the first step, learn from mistakes, and keep going.
I do consider myself courageous. Building Pathchola Foundation has taught me a lot about courage. I started with an idea and slowly worked to turn it into an organization. Along the way, I had to find resources, build a team, work with communities, and make many important decisions. These experiences taught me that courage also means taking responsibility for your decisions and thinking about how they affect others.
For me, the most meaningful part of courage is creating opportunities for other people. When my work assists someone in learning a new skill, starting a livelihood, taking on leadership, or becoming more independent, I feel that my courage has a purpose. I believe real courage is not only about what we achieve for ourselves, but also about what we can help others achieve.
In Bangladesh, I have seen that financial independence can change how families see a person. When someone starts earning and contributing to their family, the family may become more accepting of them, even when they do not fully understand or accept every part of who they are. This is one reason I believe economic opportunity has to be part of the work for social change.
This thinking is at the heart of my work with Pathchola Foundation. We focus on building entrepreneurial skills, creating livelihoods, and supporting people from vulnerable communities to become financially independent. I want young people to have the ability to earn, support their families, and make decisions about their own lives.
For me, entrepreneurship is, therefore, not only about business. It can also give someone the confidence, independence, and position within their family and community to speak for themselves. If we want to break the cycle of poverty and social injustice, I believe we need to help people build both the skills and the economic strength to change their own lives.
Pathchola Foundation has now reached more than 13,000 people since we began in 2019. I am proud of the number of people we were able to reach, but what matters more to me is what happened behind it. Our support has ranged from skill development and advocacy to wellbeing and economic opportunities.
One part of our work that I am especially proud of is supporting more than 220 entrepreneurs who are now running micro-businesses across Bangladesh. We provided them with training, technical support, and, with the support of our donors, initial funds to help them start their businesses.
For me, this is about more than starting a business. It is about giving people a choice. When someone has the skills to earn, the resources to start a business, and the confidence to build something of their own, they have more control over their future.
I want to see marginalized young people become creators of economic and social opportunities rather than being seen only as beneficiaries of development programs.
I especially want to see more marginalized young people become entrepreneurs and, eventually, employers. If someone creates a sustainable livelihood for themselves, that is already meaningful. But when they create opportunities for five or 10 other people facing similar barriers, the impact becomes much larger.
Ultimately, I want to see a future where marginalized young people do not have to wait for someone else to create opportunities for them. Our goal is to see that they have the skills, resources, confidence, and freedom to create those opportunities themselves.
Abdullah's work is a reminder that economic independence can open doors that advocacy alone cannot. With Pathchola Foundation, he is helping people who are too often seen only through their challenges build livelihoods, confidence, and a voice of their own. We are proud to have him in the 2026 Cohort.
