Basima Abdulrahman (born 1986/1987) is a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

Iraqi

structural engineer Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research List of structural elements, structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants. Their work takes account mainly of ...

and the founder of KESK (meaning Green in Kurdish), an Iraqi company specialized in eco-friendly architecture.

Early life and education

Abdulrahman's parents moved to

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, Iraq from southern

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

; she was born in Iraq, and has both Turkish and

heritage. In 2006, the

Iraqi conflict The Iraqi conflict is a series of violent events that began with the 2003 American-led 2003 invasion of Iraq, invasion of Iraq and deposition of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, followed by a series of conflicts including the protracted Iraq War ...

drove her family to relocate to the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. As a result, Abdulrahman learned more about and became closer to her Kurdish heritage. As a child, Abdulrahman's family encouraged her to become a doctor, but she disliked biology, instead preferring math and physics. She graduated from University of Duhok with a baccalaureate degree in Civil Engineering. In 2011, Abdulrahman applied for a

Fulbright Scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

to study in the United States. Abdulrahman attended

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

in the United States, where she earned a master's degree in structural and civil engineering, graduating in 2014. She returned to the United States in 2016, where she completed a program by the

US Green Building Council The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), founded in 1993, is a private 501(c)(3), membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and operation. USGBC is best known for its development of t ...

to become an accredited professional.

Career

When she returned to Iraq in 2015, Abdulrahman initially worked as a structural engineer for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. In 2017, Abdulrahman founded KESK Green Building Consulting, the first Iraqi company to focus on "green" architecture. It took Abdulrahman nine months before she was able to find her first client. KESK combines modern environmentally-friendly building techniques with ancient techniques, such as building dome-shaped homes from clay bricks. The company also seeks to provide alternative energy sources to communities, particularly solar energy, in response to Iraq's unstable power grid. The company was also founded in part to assist with reconstruction following the

war against the Islamic State Many states began to intervene against the Islamic State, in both the Syrian civil war and the War in Iraq (2013–2017), in response to its rapid territorial gains from its Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014), 2014 Northern Iraq offensives, u ...

, which began in 2014. Abdulrahman also works for the UN's

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...

as a national consultant and project manager, and as vice curator for the Global Shapers Erbil Hub, an initiative of the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

Recognition

In 2021, Abdulrahman was one of eight entrepreneurs who won the Cartier Women's Initiative Award, with Abdulrahman representing the "Middle East & North Africa" category. She received $100,000 in prize money. In November 2023, Abdulrahman was named to the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's 100 Women list.

Personal life

As of 2019, Abdulrahman is based in

Erbil Erbil (, ; , ), also called Hawler (, ), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is the capital of the Erbil Governorate. Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the h ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdulrahman, Basima 1980s births Living people 21st-century businesswomen 21st-century engineers 21st-century Iraqi people 21st-century Iraqi women 21st-century women engineers Auburn University alumni Iraqi businesspeople Iraqi civil engineers Iraqi environmentalists Iraqi Kurdish people Iraqi Kurdish women Iraqi people of Turkish descent People from Baghdad People from Erbil Structural engineers Women environmentalists