Episode 5: Zahid Torres Rahman, CEO Business Fights Poverty Talks Gender Equality

The Other Half : Conversations With Men on Gender Equality

For the fifth episode of The Other Half we chat with Zahid Torres Rahman, the founder of Business Fights Poverty, a network of over 25,000 professionals at the intersection of business and social impact working together to solve concrete challenges. Zahid provides vivid stories about the long line of inspiring women in his family, beginning with his grandmother who overcame many obstacles to pursue an interracial marriage and his own mother who raised him. He tells us about his experience raising two daughters, his own paternity leave and the importance of teaching your own daughters that they are enough.

Zahid was profoundly influenced by numerous experiences, including arriving in the UK as an immigrant at the age of three and his experience teaching in Zambia. All of this made him want to build a more connected and inclusive world. He tells us about how it served as the foundation for Business Fights Poverty, which he built with his wife Yvette. Built on strong values and ideas, it won awards for the flexibility it offers its employees. Zahid tells us about the innovative ways it brings about social impact and the importance of leveraging the private sector to create lasting social change, including gender equality. We also discuss why these new partnerships are more crucial than ever given the new complexities and challenges of the current COVID-19 crisis. Stay tuned and join the discussion on the BFP website for how businesses can respond to the current rise in gender based violence.