Stories from Builders of the Broken Bazaar
About this event
In this session, Dr Tabish Zaman, Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at Anglia Ruskin University, shares stories from Builders of the Broken Bazaar, a podcast exploring how a podcast convening entrepreneurs, institutional enablers, and critical scholars, exploring how each, in different ways, builds dignity and possibility inside broken systems.
Drawing on research and conversations across the across the globe, Tabish challenges the myth of entrepreneurship as profit and scale, and instead asks: what if entrepreneurship was about dignity, care, and rebuilding what institutions fail to hold? From refugee-led enterprises to mental health innovation, from civic foundations to ethical technology, this talk examines how systems either empower or exclude and why reimagining them is urgent if innovation is to serve society, not markets. Expect stories of resilience and bold vision. Community. Moral courage. And a powerful rethink of where real innovation begins not at the centre of power, but at its margins.
About our speaker
Dr Tabish Zaman is a Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at ARU, Cambridge. His work explores how refugees, migrants, and marginalised communities use entrepreneurship to rebuild lives, reimagine systems, and restore dignity. Through his podcast, Builders of the Broken Bazaar, he examines the institutions that define opportunity, and asks how they might be redesigned to serve dignity before profit.
Event presented as part of the Cambridge Festival.