Malala: "One child, one teacher, one book and one pen
can change the world."

Business people can be so hard-hearted when it comes to analyzing future customers -- thinking about their age, economic status, and education-level, but sometimes forgetting about the real people and the difficulties they face. Like millions around the world, my heart melted watching the televised speech by teenager Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan gave at the United Nations in New York City. She gives me such hope for the future generation!

What a way to celebrate her 16^th birthday! In fluent English, she called on the governments of the world to give all children free, compulsory education. And she spoke out for women and girls saying, “We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.”

UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon gave some startling statistics. Did you realize that 50% of the global population is under the age of 25? I didn’t. And that 57 million children do not go to school?

There was something so beautiful about her as Malala sat at the high table so calmly, wrapped in a pink scarf that belonged to her idol, Benazir Bhutto. Targeted for assassination at the age of 14, she was shot by Taliban extremists while riding a school bus – because she spoke out for the rights of girls to get an education.

By speaking out for girls education, she has become their equal - Time Magazine has called her one of the top 100 world’s most influential people. Yes, this teenage girl is very special – a true survivor and a fresh voice for world peace and global education. Malala has even been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, the youngest candidate ever.

It gives me real hope for the next generation.

But Malala is just one of the millions of young people who see the value of a good education and the need for an end to violence. These children are now connecting and sharing their views through the internet across the planet.

These are our future customers.

It seems to me that it just makes sense that we businesspeople do our best to help the next generation to become better educated, more globally aware, and better citizens of our planet. And I know there’s so many more children out there like Malala. It seems there’s hope for us all!

Photo Credit: Todd Heisler/The New York Times

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