Builders of the Broken Bazaar

Displacement is too often called a crisis. But what if it’s actually a system — one built to manage people, not empower them? In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Zaman speaks with Dr. Philip Proudfoot, political anthropologist and author of Rebel Populism , about how exile has become permanent, how aid budgets follow politics more than need, and why dignity in displacemen...

We love the myths: Silicon Valley geniuses, billion-dollar unicorns, “lightbulb moments.” But the truth is far messier. Real innovation is born of necessity — in the relentless grind of failure. In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Zaman speaks with Professor John Bessant — one of the world’s leading voices on innovation and inclusive entrepreneurship. From Edison’s 10,000...

Aid is meant to save lives. But no one wants to depend on it. Families don’t wait in hope for cardboard boxes — they organize, barter, build, and survive. Yet the humanitarian system continues to treat them as passive recipients, delivering assumptions instead of answers. In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Zaman speaks with Marina Kobzeva , a former aid recipient turned...

Every “smart” AI system — from ChatGPT to self-driving cars — runs on unseen human labor. Behind the algorithms are people in refugee camps, conflict zones, and struggling economies, quietly training the machines that shape our world. In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Zaman speaks with Iva Gumnishka — founder of Humans in the Loop and Cartier Women’s Initiative Award wi...

Every 30 hours, a new billionaire is created. Every 33 hours, a million people fall into extreme poverty. Over 120 million people are now forcibly displaced — not by accident, but by political choices, economic extraction, and systemic neglect. In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , Dr. Tabish Zaman examines why refugee and migrant entrepreneurship is so often survival-driven rather th...

Inequality. Displacement. Digital disruption. What happens when global systems collapse—and people are left to survive without support? In this first episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar , host Dr. Tabish Zaman dismantles the myths of modern entrepreneurship and spotlights necessity entrepreneurs who build not for profit, but for survival, dignity, and community resilience. From refugee camps...