Voices of leadership
Creating Economic Pathways to Freedom
Q&A with Hasina Kharbhih
Straight out of high school, Hasina Kharbhih had a scholarship in hand and the opportunity to pursue higher education in the UK. But instead of leaving India, she made a bold choice to stay and serve the communities most vulnerable to exploitation in her home country.
At just 17, Hasina founded the Impulse NGO Network, an organization that provides early intervention, support, and systemic solutions to individuals at risk of human trafficking and migration. Today, more than 37 years later, she continues to mentor the organization as its Founder and Board Director, and champions human rights and creating pathways for sustainable economic change.
Central to Hasina’s approach is the belief that economic empowerment is a critical tool in preventing human trafficking. Putting this belief in action, she founded Impulse Social Enterprises to support artisans in the eastern Himalayan , especially those from marginalized communities, to develop their skills, access markets, and secure livelihoods, disrupting the cycles of poverty and vulnerability that human traffickers exploit.
Through strategic collaborations with both public and private sector partners, Hasina expanded her impact beyond India’s borders. Her work now reaches across Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Thailand. She also pioneered the Impulse Model, a comprehensive 12-pillar framework that enables cross-sector, cross-border cooperation to combat human trafficking at scale.
Hasina is a Fellow of the Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship (formerly the India Leadership Initiative) , Class III, and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. We caught up with her at the 2025 Resnick Aspen Action Forum to hear her reflections on leadership, moral courage, and what sustains her after more than three decades of work.
Answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
What was the challenge that caught your attention and drove you to act?
In the last 37 years, the problem I have witnessed most closely is how unsafe migration across borders in Southeast Asia — especially in the eastern Himalayan belt, where economic challenges magnified by climate impacts have devastated local economies. My work has focused on changing that: rebuilding livelihoods through traditional skills and crafts, creating resilient markets that give people alternatives to unsafe migration.
This effort led to the birth of Impulse Social Enterprises, a hybrid model which now supports 7,000 resilience artisans giving hope and also enriching vibrant local economies across Southeast Asia, which is in turn transforming lives. And now we’re expanding to countries like Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh and Thailand.
We aim to keep growing, because economic choices have the power to help people thrive and avoid becoming vulnerable to human trafficking and exploitation.
What keeps you motivated and driven in your work, especially when you face challenges or go through tough times?
The spark in my journey has come from what may be looked at as stories of changes. Like helping young children who have been affected by child labor in the Rat Hole coal mines of Meghalaya or who were rescued from sexual exploitation. Today, they have the power to navigate their own economic upliftment and become changemakers in their local communities. That inspires me deeply.
When I get up in the morning, it’s not accolades or awards that give me the spark – it’s seeing how these young people’s lives are being transformed and how they are creating an ecosystem of change by telling their stories. Small changes are the multiplier of the larger change.
What does moral courage mean to you?
When your commitment is very true to your heart and when your gut tells you that you must make change happen – even when it makes you uncomfortable – that’s moral courage. It wakes me up and has carried more forward through the challenges I’ve faced in my journey.
What has been your biggest takeaway from your leadership journey?
What I’ve learned in my journey as a leader is that you cannot force leadership on anybody. You can take them along, but at the end of the day, the choices belong to the individual, whether they want to step into a leadership role or they simply want to be a contributor.
I have learned to set my ego aside and embrace shared leadership. That approach led to the creation of the Impulse Model and enabled us to scale to five countries. Looking back, I realize that sometimes stepping aside and letting innovation lead is the best way to grow and expand.
If you were to write a letter to your younger self, what would you write in that letter?
If I have to write a letter to my younger self, I would remind her — and young people across the globe — to take advantage of a youthful mindset. As a young person, when you make a mistake, you stand back up more easily and continue to do things. With age, we tend to become more cautious and restrained in how we step out to create change.
About the Aspen Global Leadership Network
The Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN) is a dynamic, worldwide community of nearly 4,000 entrepreneurial leaders from over 60 countries. Spanning business, government, and the nonprofit sector, these leaders share a commitment to enlightened leadership and the drive to tackle the most pressing challenges of our times. Through transformative Fellowship programs and gatherings like the Resnick Aspen Action Forum, AGLN Fellows have the unique opportunity to connect, collaborate, and challenge each other to grow and commit to a lifelong journey of impact.
More from 2025 Resnick Aspen Action Forum
In July 2025, over 500 leaders across the Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN) community gathered for our largest Action Forum to date. Joined by nearly 100 young leaders, AGLN Fellows from more than 30 countries returned to the enduring questions first posed at at the founding of the Aspen Institute 75 years go: What does it mean to lead with purpose in times of profound uncertainty?
Explore more inspiring content on leadership and change-making from the 2025 Action Forum here.