Can e-commerce really improve poeple lives?
Reading time: 2’ 35’’
Today we want to tell the story of Assel, an e-commerce platform created by Khalid, an Afghan who grew up in a refugee camp in Pakistan and returned to live in his country in 2009.
The platform created by Khalid allows anyone in the world to purchase local Afghan handicrafts (eg handcrafted glass from Herat or carpets from Faryab). After the return of the Taliban and the recent earthquake that struck Afghanistan, Khalid decided to integrate his business model by allowing users from all over the world to purchase packages of food and essential items to be distributed to the Afghan people. From anywhere in the world, with few clicks, you can buy parcels by credit card which are then distributed by the Atalan (hero in the Pashto language) to needy families.
The Atalans are young people hired to travel through 25 Afghan regions with the aim of reporting the most vulnerable people needs to the platform and distributing the packages purchased on Assel. They are local people, paid $3 per delivery and “accepted” by the Taliban. To describe atalan’s “new business model”, Khalid cites Silicon Valley, stating that each atalan is like an Uber driver who is given a job in their area.
Reading Assel’s story, it’s really surprising the combination of objectives that Khalid has achieved: doing business, creating profits but, at the same time, helping the people of his country.
Technology has made it possible to create a direct link between #donors distributed throughout the world and Afghan families with needs, bypassing those traditional models, governed by rules and tools already known for years. Unsurprisingly, many disputed this initiative, claiming that Assel disintermediated the traditional rules of humanitarian support usually run by NGOs linked to embassies, the UN and other international organizations and circumvented the bans imposed by international sanctions against the Taliban.
Others said that with this e-commerce platform, donors, atalans, Afghan families, on the other hand, were able to meet their needs through technology.
Man remains at the center and technology is at the service. Why should this be a problem? Why not see these new initiatives for the value they have and compete with traditional models? Is it possible to combine the two models if this serves to improve the lives of many people?
Let us know what you think in the comments.
If you want to deepen the history of Assel click here: https://www.internazionale.it/notizie/ali-m-latifi/2022/08/04/app-afghanistan-aiuti