Architecture vs. Social Entrepreneurship, career chat with Tahreem Shah, Co-Founder of Bhorosha
Updated: Jul 22, 2022
Produced by: Lucy Lu
🎙 Our guest mentor is Tahreem Shah, Architect | Yunus&Youth Fellow, Social Entrepreneur |
Co-Founder of Bhorosha.

📻 In this podcast:
Tahreem shares her journey of becoming a Social Entrepreneur by making the career pivot from an Architect to founding her own venture while finding synergy between the two fields.
She speaks passionately about how she was able to seize some of the amazing opportunities such as becoming a Yunus & Youth Fellow and finding internship opportunities abroad, through curiosity, determination, and hard work. Tahreem also talks about how she was inspired to solve developmental challenges among informal settlements in her home country Bangladesh with socially responsive architecture.
Tahreem offers her best advice for fellow over-achievers like her to navigate the school to real-world transition.
Listen to the full podcast for an inspiring conversation that will broaden your perspective on how to create/size opportunities and explore your own career path.
☁️About Tahreem:
Tahreem Shah is an Architect and a Yunus & Youth Fellow. She was selected by the Bard College in the US to attend the OSUN Summer Credit Course on ‘Women and Covid-19: Activism, Leadership, and Global Engagement'.
Following an architectural internship in Norway, she started to get involved in local/global initiatives that focus on urban disaster preparedness –particularly those the focus on architectural design and financial inclusion of low-income communities. Furthermore, she received Certificate of Professional Development on Global Leadership and Sustainable Urbanisation. Tahreem is the co-founder of the social business initiative 'Bhorosha' which is currently under Unleash PLUS 2022 programme. Overall, she has dedicated her work in contributing to socially responsive architecture and finding solutions for informal settlements.
Here is a skip time for you:
[00:59] Would you first give us a brief introduction about who you are and what you do?
[02:18] Tell us more about exciting initiatives you have been working on throughout your career ?
[06:20] Your background is in architecture, what made you decide to make the career transition to the field of social entrepreneurship? How did you find the move? Were you able to find a lot of synergy between the two fields?
[12:08] You are someone who is constantly creating your own opportunities. What’s your secret - how do you spot opportunities when they come?
[18:03] What advice would you give anyone who is interested in working in the Social Enterprise space in developing countries? Any tips on how to break into the industry?
[28:54] What is the best piece of career advice you would give your younger self?
[30:32] Any final thoughts?
Check out the below resources Tahreem mentioned in the podcast.
1. https://www.childrenvironment.org/blog/youth-pov-right-to-healthy-environment
2. https://yunusandyouth.com/project/tahreem-shah/
3. https://www.unite2030.com/youth-delegate-info/tahreem-shah
4. https://www.showcase.com.bd/student-thesis/borendro-folklore-complex/
THANK YOU TAHREEM FOR SITTING DOWN WITH US AND SHARING YOUR HONEST CAREER ADVICES!!!!!
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