Impact Odyssey
- Typically, issues like climate change, mental health, and food security are seen as concerns for the development sector and NGOs. However, this series showed that entrepreneurship can also be a powerful tool to address these challenges. Whether entrepreneurs are aware of it or not, their business efforts not only generate profit but also help solve critical problems within their communities.
At the time of its inception, Impact Odyssey felt like any other documentary project. If you had told any of us at Reality Beyond Dreams or Accelerate Prosperity that three years later it would grow into an ongoing series with two seasons and 30 episodes, we might have chuckled at your sense of surreal optimism. But that is exactly what Impact Odyssey has become today.
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We had just finished the production of Impact Odyssey, an itinerary that took us across the length and breadth of Pakistan—from the Himalayan hilltops all the way down south to the Arabian Sea. The variety of businesses we covered was mind-boggling, not only in terms of their geographic spread but also the sectors they operated in.
 The challenge we faced at the editing table was how to bring all these changemakers into the fold of a single 7-8 minute documentary. It felt unfair on so many levels. It would have been unjust to the startups, stifled the potential of their stories, and, above all, it would not have done justice to the incredible work Accelerate Prosperity was doing across communities and industries throughout Pakistan. A decision was made to turn it into a docu-series backed by a campaign. Accelerate Prosperity, being the organization they are, trusted us on this one—and since then, there has been no looking back.
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The first season, Impact Odyssey: Stories of Change, brought great success for everyone involved. Building on that, a decision was made to go regional with Season 2, including businesses from Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Afghanistan. This expansion was not just geographic but also thematic and content-driven. Impact Odyssey: Businesses of Tomorrow featured startups solving some of the greatest challenges faced by people in the region. With a diverse cast of industry experts, academics, investment advisors, and accomplished entrepreneurs, each episode of Season 2 offered sector guides and industry insights for entrepreneurs across the region.
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As impact filmmakers, every project is special to us, but Impact Odyssey holds a unique place for many reasons. The rise of Impact Odyssey coincides almost exactly with the rise of Reality Beyond Dreams. Beyond that, Impact Odyssey is undoubtedly the project that has given us the most. It has offered us the greatest creative freedom, presented us with the most challenges, and provided us with unparalleled opportunities and experiences.
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At Impact Odyssey, we still have a long way to go. There are many startups that must be featured and many industries that must be revolutionized.Â
IMPACT
- – Impact Odyssey helped our client emerge not just as another business accelerator, but as a visionary organization striving to solve critical issues through entrepreneurship.
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- -Accelerate Prosperity established itself as a regional player and continues to expand into challenging markets where others typically see only risk and loss.
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- – It opened many new avenues and business opportunities for entrepreneurs, whose unfiltered stories took them to places they had never imagined.
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- -It also helped our client raise more funds and form additional partnerships to scale their interventions into new countries and markets.