Sabira Mehrin is the founder of Wander Woman, which is an inclusive platform for female travellers in Bangladesh. Sabira, an avid traveller herself, started journey the journey of Wander Woman in January, 2017 and regards the community as a go-to forum for travelling tips and discussions. Through the platform, a tight-knit community of more than 30,000 travellers help each other to find important information and travel partners. “I plan to launch a new initiative through Wander Woman, where women can get information on global opportunities and receive mentorship for personal as well as professional growth” shares Sabira while chatting with Daily Observer.
As a child, she grew up having excelleing academic results as well as top performer in extracurricular activities – sports, art, recitation and writing.
She is a highly driven yet deeply caring towards social causes. She believes in ‘growing myself while inspiring other and bringing positive change in the society.’
An avid traveler, Sabira travelled to 22 countries and 85 cities by dint of merit in last 5 years.
She was graduated from IBA, University of Dhaka and won championship in international business competitions all over the world. She has been invited to attend conferences by Princeton University and Stanford University for past achievements.
She received Inspiring Women Award in 2016 by Bangladesh Brand Forum. This year, she won The Diana Award which is the highest recognition for humanatarian act for young changemakers in the world.
“I started my career with Telenor Health where I worked on launching the first digital health app to ensure access to healthcare for the mass. Then I worked in BASE Technologies as Country Representative in Malaysia to develop and grow business. Now I am working in Bproperty where I am involved with product innovation and business growth,” she said.
“I would describe it as an accelerated and diverse career path as I worked across three different sectors with various roles in sales, strategy, business development and product management in a short span of time. From product to business in a different country, I got the opportunity to develop it from scratch.”
She went on to say: “I am honored to found Wander Woman – a passion project turned into a brand. It is a travel platform exclusively developed for female travelers from Bangladesh. Wander Woman provides information and connect with female travellers as well as arranges travel experiences all over the world.”
Sabira believes that there is no one formula for success. But in her case, she has always been driven and focused towards the goals and never comprised on working hard to achieve it.
“I enjoy it when I see my family become proud of my work and it inspires thousands of women out there,” she remarked.
She is also aware about the challenges the women face in this society.
“Unfortunately women face barriers due to gender discrimination and societal stigma. I cannot emphasis how a woman has to prove over and over to reduce the pay gap or get promotion at workplace. In entrepreneurship and leadership, women are still struggling with funding opportunities and lack of family support. If women are encouraged and given opportunity to receive support and fund, I believe more women would be able to prove their mettle and shine above,” she said.
Like all, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic hits her work and regular lifestyle hard.
She said, “Initially, I had to adjust with work from home schedule which wasn’t tough as I had to manage similar working style in Malaysia as Country Representative. However, the work at Wander Woman faced a blow due to pandemic as it hit the travel industry the most.”
And at the end, she left a message for the women: “I believe the working towards your goal with good intention and sincerity will eventually get you recognition and respect. No matter how challenging it seems in the beginning, the key is to keep moving forward. Slow growth is still better than no growth at all.”
“If you want to fulfill your dreams, you must face barriers. And if you are a female, then the barriers might even be doubled if not more. As we all know, our society, as well as our families, don’t allow females to do everything that man can do. Woman are not allowed to stay outside the entire night, they are not allowed to travel alone, sometimes they are not even allowed to do a job. I also faced a lot of barriers as my profession is traveling. But to overcome all the barriers with confidence is what we need to do. I believe the inner motivation and will power of a woman can take her places,” she pointed out.
“My biggest inspiration is people’s appreciation for my work. Appreciation always motivates and inspires me to do things with full energy. Also, I respect my critics, as I get to know my faults through them and have opportunity to re-correct them.”
Last but not the least, her message to the women: A short message from me to the woman in this society is that never be dependent on others, never allow others to take your decisions. It’s your life, live it fully by yourself. Aspire to reach your goals and your dreams will thrive. And it’s only possible when you are financially solvent.”
