Thinkbig: Briefly tell us about yourself and your passion?
Shehab Shamir:Let me start with my academic interest which is basically on Renewable Energy. I think a lot has to be done in this field to address many socio-economic and environmental challenges of contemporary world. Innovation in this field will benefit millions of people worldwide.
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| Shehab Shamir, President, BYEI |
In short I would say….my passion is to work on initiative that will lead to a better Bangladesh. In future I would like to continue my effort to align our youth in the process of protecting environment through capacity building, leadership development and promoting awareness.
One thing…my personal… if I set to do something, I am kind of persistent to it and unstoppable until I get it done….
TB: What inspires you to become a Change Maker instead of taking an easy way?
SS: The culture around us is to speak about the problems and criticize someone for it; but, not much talk on how to solve the problems. I personally believe that once we see and understand any problem in our society and environment, our approach should seek solution to the problem, not just blame the system or someone. To me change comes from action. Action speaks louder than words.
I’ve no intention to spoil my time by blaming others rather I love to count on my own impact. My approach is, let’s start solving the problems. Instead of talking fruitlessly I dreamed of bringing real changes.
So, basically my understanding on environmental problems and challenges for Bangladesh has motivated me to form Bangladesh Youth Environmental Initiative (BYEI) through which we are reaching out to young generation of Bangladesh to raise awareness among them on different environmental issues and most importantly, to build capacity of young people so that they can positively contribute to protect and promote better environment and sustainable development.
TB: How you came up with the idea (BYEI) and why it is climate change?
SS: Well, BYEI’s work not limited to climate change, our concerns are whole range of environmental issues. Again, my understanding on severity of environmental degradation and challenges for Bangladesh has motivated me to do something. If you see the scene, climate change is one of the major threatening issues for the globe. And Bangladesh is one of the Most Vulnerable Countries (MVC).Thus; we need to give priority to the issue.
TB: After you came up with the idea, how did you get started? Please walk us through what the first few months of your journey were like.
SS: The state of environment and development of Bangladesh gave me an impression, a question regarding the impact on Bangladesh and a question indeed to myself that what you can do. To be frank as a passionate lover, active and responsible citizen of Bangladesh the thought of coming up with something whatever my capacity is, to help Bangladesh address the issue, has constantly been poking in my mind.
Starting something is not rosy and you know that, it is highly self-consuming.
If I retrospect, at the beginning, reaching out and make people understand about environmental problems was not an easy job. Things are bit difficult because as I said earlier very few people have a comprehensive understanding on environmental problems.
So, first few months, I was just reaching out to my friends and to interested people who might work on the issue. I need to convince them about what I had thought and understood. Besides tied up and engage them to get a group of people around me to work.
Then comes, getting support from around. Financing was also a big issue. The first few months were really self consuming and I had to dry me up to get the things done. It took me awake several nights and consumes my days. But, at the end of the day success is sweeter than sufferings.
TB: In your eyes, what are the biggest obstacles for a youth wants to make a difference in Bangladesh?
SS: Getting your idea popularized, means getting your idea goes beyond your own circle would be the first obstacle as many people have conservative mindset even to appreciate good initiative.
The second challenge is to have same minded people to work on. Not many youth are interested in dedicating themselves completely rather it may be just to boost their resumes, so it would be a challenge to work with them.
Number three is obviously monetary issue. So reaching out to your network and convince people that your idea is quiet pretty and seductive and assistance to the idea would make a big difference. However, it is doable.
"Short Bio: Shehab Shamir is the Founder and President of "Bangladesh Youth Environmental Initiative (BYEI)"-a youth lead social Enterprise mainly focuses on capacity building of the youth on environmental issues. In this year BYEI will be launching its flagship Earth Champions Program to train, build capacity, and deploy young leaders to work for environmental sustainability.His academic and research interest is in renewable energy field and has been working as an independent researcher on renewable energy.
His work on renewable energy and energy efficiency was recognized at renowned International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy and Clinton Global Initiative Conference, USA respectively.
He loves cricket and used to play a lot in early childhood. Still watching cricket is one of the favorite recreations. In leisure he loves swimming and reading books and magazines."
TB: What were the biggest obstacles you faced in your journey to date?
SS: The biggest challenge specially was human resources and people with interest to work in this field. And to start a social enterprise especially a movement and move it ahead is not a single-handed issue. Managing human resource efficiently was a great challenge.
Then comes, financing. In Bangladesh it is very tough. And if yours enterprise is a non-profit then it can lead you towards starvation! So financing and human resource were the two major challenges.
TB: Tell us about your mistakes and learning.
SS: Let’s focus on the learning part. I would say if you want to be successful then select some dedicated people who want to work and have a habit of “do first type” then bring them in and get started.
Collect people no matter if they are fewer in number with dedication, passion, and love for the idea you said to them and passion for the job and they should be dedicated for the longer period. And their purpose is not just boost up their CV, rather make an impact. Select someone with a bit less quality but with higher dedication and passion.
TB: Let’s say if you can start all over again, what are the mistakes you avoid and what are the positive things you would do first?
SS: This one is a bit challenging question just now. Though I would say my timing and calculation was not perfect. If I would start a bit later after increasing my capacity and network more, then I think it could bring a better result. So, if I get the chance again, I would start by having my all resources on hand..
TB: Advice our youth start-ups who are just starting his/her initiative and wants to bring it to success.
SS: I’ll say some of the qualities that are essential. Don’t start something just for fun. So when you feel you are really interested about something then only start it.
Be passionate about your issue, your work and love your enterprise.
Secondly- Be a risk taker because in the world of start-ups everything is uncertain and without taking risk you cannot expect something big. Importantly risk always brings surprising gifts! To me not taking risk is the biggest risk of the life!
Third-Be positive. You have to believe in yourself and your capacity that you can make the things happen otherwise none will believe you. Never back down.
And have a never give up approach. There would be lot of challenges eagerly waiting for you and people would not be encouraging rather some will discourage you.
So you should be prepared that none is going to help you! Remember, if you get frustrated then everything is going to be failed and frustration cannot reduce the bitterness of failure rather keep going can be a better solution. So my advice is, just never give up whatever it does and just hang on with your idea if the idea really came from your heart.
TB: From your perspective what is the mandatory trait/capability for a youth change maker to become successful?
SS: To me it is dedication. Just think some of the successful people of recent times like Steve Jobs, JK Rowling. He was a drop out of college and later, he dropped in classes which interested him. He attended calligraphy and drawing classes and you know the later history. He used those lessons in designing apple computer. Similarly, JK Rowling studied classics ignoring his parent’s advice to study a technical subject because she strongly felt the passion for it. So, that is what passion can do. Here you find thousands of examples of this kind of pure dedication.
TB: Thank you.
SS: Thank you too.
P.S- Special thanks to Abdul Momin for walking us throughout the journey.
