A north-east teenage entrepreneur who founded his first firm aged just 15 has set up his own charity project to bring clean water to a village in his native Pakistan.
Kind-hearted Aqib Prevaiz was inspired by the hardship he saw in the Kasmiri village of Pangeri and decided to donate water pumps to the village which will allow the flow of clean water.
The 19-year-old former Ellon Academy pupil hopes the first three pumps, to be installed on September 1, will just be the start for his charity Minus Borders.
He will launch his website on the same day which will allow donations to commence.
Mr Prevais moved to the north-east in 2008 settling in Ellon, aged just 11.
By 15, he had created his first company, Rapidtech Soloutions, and has since then put his hand in various different ventures, including the music scene, working with rappers 50cent, Riz and Lotto.
The businessman, who is now based out of Aberdeen, said: “We have been working hard on getting the website ready and have been busy planning our first project.
“I know Pakistan and I thought it would be a good starting point for the project which I hope to roll out to many different countries.
“There are a lot of people (in Pangeri) who don’t have access to clean water so I thought that was the most basic thing to sort.
“I am working with some associates over there at the moment and I’m going over myself soon.
“The plan is that I will pay for the first two or three pumps to begin with and then when the website is up we will raise more.
“We hope to have about four or five in total, costing around £700 each.”
The Kasmir region has been recovering since the 2005 earthquake killed 100,000 people and left another three million displaced, with widespread devastation across the area.
Since then the Pakistani government has been working with charities and other NGOs to reinstate vital infrastructure links.
Mr Prevaiz added that his friends in the south Asian country had inspired him to set up his charitable venture.
He said: “My friends overseas have been through a lot of issues, personal issues that are too horrible to speak about.
“They have received help from others so I wanted to extend that to other people.
“The water pumps are one of the first projects but we ultimately want to bring more projects to other villages to help.
“My own family moved to Ellon only in 2008 so I know the opportunities there have been here for us.
“The day to day challenge is now doing as much as possible to help those less fortunate than I have been.”
Minus Borders will have its website officially launched in September. For more information visit: aqibpervaiz.com
