Two hundred and fifty pieces of cotton, and a business

The laptop bag Aqeel designed himself is made up of more than 250 little pieces of cotton fabric sewn together in a technique called patchwork. "This creates beautiful abstract art that is truly unique in an era plagued fast fashion," he says. It is his favourite thing in the catalog.

Rehman Made is the refugee-led social enterprise Aqeel is building from Kuala Lumpur, upcycling natural and traditional materials into products people actually use. Shut out of formal employment himself, he is designing around that constraint rather than against it: home-based work, and flexible, fair wages "so they can earn while caring for their children and parents." The design decision is the whole point. Work that has to happen in a workshop, on a schedule, is work most of the people he is building this for could never take.

I am someone who was forced to flee as a refugee and whose ancestral land was stolen by others.

Aqeel Ahmed Bhatti

He came to it through his mother's friends. He volunteered on weekends, helping them send emails, fix phones, and file registration requests to UNHCR. "I remember the removing a malicious app which was giving the location of a mother with a disabled daughter to a stranger," he says. "She was so relieved and thankful that I felt like a hero." From there he moved into food-aid distribution, wheelchair delivery and language interpretation, and into training including the Asia Pacific Summit of Refugees 2024 and UNHCR Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) training.

The enterprise runs on orders. A single bulk order for 900 upcycled tote bags, placed after he came through a pre-accelerator programme, put paid work by his account into the hands of refugee women who could not have taken it anywhere else. That is the pattern he is trying to make repeatable. What he wants next is a proper website, outreach materials, and partnerships with organizations and businesses that can bring in more sustainable orders.