By Aiza Imran
We often have situations at hand that seem to trouble us at first, the situations where you need to choose one thing and leave the other behind for good. It depends on you how you understand each option and then avail it accordingly. Well, this is an account of a woman who had the choice to help herself or help others and chose unity as hers. Unity as in, something that would help shape others better as well as leave her at a satisfactory stage of life. And while it may sound like a reckless decision, sometimes light shines brighter on your path when you choose to use your ability to guide people rather than just hiding away and not doing anything at all.
Chef Asma Imran, a self-made entrepreneur and a graduate from a known culinary school, COTHM, is now also running a Facebook group, Arzoo (an initiative to grow stronger), to create further awareness regarding her field. As well as, working her best to create a platform, an environment for home-based entrepreneurs who are struggling to learn or are just struck by catastrophes like the COVID-19. She also has been running a catering business since 2007,now known as AND’s Creations. Chef Asma chose to convert her passion into a full-time profession and I had the chance to ask her what encouraged her to do so- to which she replied, “When I was first introduced to the Culinary Industry in Pakistan during my advanced cooking and baking courses and also after my graduation, I realized how there are aspects to this field that no one talks about and if no discussions are taking place, how will the people be more open towards this industry, how will the under-privileged benefit from it if they can’t afford it? So to use my degree, my experience and my abilities in a progressive way, I decided to create Arzoo in collaboration with my industry friends; Samreen Fahad, Safia Babar, Chef Ghulam and Fiza Jawaid.”
Arzoo was created with the sole purpose of providing opportunities to those who aren’t openly welcomed in industry due to the lack of professional expertise. Arzoo and Chef Asma aim to guide the members to help grow their businesses.
There’s a general stereotype that surrounds the Culinary Industry in our society. Parents and Students hesitate while considering becoming a chef as their only career and this could mainly be because authorities didn’t respect this profession and at times it wasn’t even considered a proper subject to study. As years pass by, Chef Asma believes more and more platforms are coming into being that try to remove this negative stigma around the industry. However, there are still places that lack and there is a lot of room for improvement; she quotes, “If you have acquired an education that is based on your skills, then do not give up and always look for opportunities- many can’t work full day jobs but they still aren’t wasting time, instead they use their time and skills from home.”
She also highlights the importance of Universities recognizing Hotel Management and Culinary Arts as an authentic career path. Though Pakistani universities have yet to acknowledge this, many countries like Malaysia now provide Bachelors and Master’s degrees in this field, which obviously gives their students a better chance at life than the culinary students in Pakistan.
In addition, we are well aware how Covid-19 has affected us all, mainly negatively. In Chef Asma’s opinion, though restaurants and hotels majorly remained at loss this year, it opened wider doors for home-based entrepreneurs and their businesses. Where people were mostly suspicious towards home-made food in the past, people happened to look towards these start-ups and gained trust when it came to food hygiene and other services. This again, helped boost up every entrepreneur’s hope and later on their businesses prospered like never before.
To conclude Chef Asma’s aims and goals with Arzoo, it is safe to say that she feels progress is in process and in no time, this platform would help a lot more people than it already is. Her advice to every culinary student, struggling with their careers is that; “Just acquiring knowledge is not enough, however, it is your first step towards a better life. So why stop yourself there? Utilize your skills and just don’t limit yourself to just cooking or baking- instead learn from the people in your industry and make others feel welcome as well. And while you’re at it look for opportunities that won’t just restrict you to on task.” I guess we all have one thing or another to learn from Chef Asma. If you wish to be a part of Arzoo’s journey or are just simply looking for some guidance, Arzoo will always welcome you with open arms.
