Giving Back: Mustafa Nuur

The Great Social Enterprise is a project of Assets Lancaster that brings entrepreneurs in front of an audience to pitch their socially or environmentally conscious business plans. The winner of this year’s Pitch is building his life and career around the the principle of giving back while moving forward.

Mustafa Nuur came to Lancaster from Somalia three years ago. Here he felt welcome, safe and therefore empowered to pour into others in the immigrant community. Named the Volunteer of the Year by Church World Services, Mustafa has invested much of his time here in Lancaster connecting with the people around him.

He noticed that although the city welcomes refugees, there was a need for a bridge to reach beyond welcome and encourage true connection and belonging. He also saw a trend of passionate and talented people from all over the world who seemed to be leaving their dreams in their country of origin, while trying to build a new life and connect with new neighbors here.

With his education as a web designer, Mustafa says, for starters, “I wanted to be a symbol of what I hoped to achieve” so he applied his talent to building a website that would bridge the gap between the immigrant community and their new welcoming neighbors.

Bridgepossible.com is the winning social enterprise that connects neighbors through the power of a shared experience. Newcomers to Lancaster are given the opportunity to generate income through their talents, experiences and expertise. Anyone can go to the website and choose a country they’re interested in learning about or an experience that they would like to have. Then they will be matched with a person from that country who will provide the global experience, right here in Lancaster.

As meals are shared and trades are taught, new neighbors will cross the bridge from welcoming, to knowing, supporting, and learning from one another. Like the Bridge Possible Facebook page to find out more about the specific cultural experiences that you can have. You can find Mustafa’s full pitch video here: bridgepossible.com.