Founder & Leadership
Founder-led and community-powered, III Labs brings together interdisciplinary talent, grassroots knowledge, and institutional partnerships to address complex challenges.
Leadership grounded in lived experience and interdisciplinary practice
III Labs was founded on the belief that today’s most complex challenges cannot be solved by one discipline, institution, or community alone. We operate through a flexible, collaborative model that combines founder-led strategy with the expertise of advisors, artists, researchers, facilitators, volunteers, community leaders, and institutional partners.
This model allows III Labs to build the right team around each challenge while remaining accountable to the communities most affected by the work.
Meet the Founder
Burhan M
Burhan is a certified product manager, organizational strategist, and cultural producer whose work sits at the intersection of technology, social impact, governance, and the empowerment of underserved communities.
They have advised startups, institutions, governments, and human-rights organizations around the world; launched and supported more than 50 products and programs; and contributed to campaigns generating more than 100 million digital impressions. Their work has reached millions of people through education, advocacy, technology, policy, and cultural production.
At MassChallenge, Burhan led end-to-end startup acceleration programs connecting entrepreneurs across East Africa, Asia, and Massachusetts. They have since delivered more than 150 lectures, workshops, and talks on organizational strategy, technology, social impact, and intersectional leadership.
Burhan founded III Labs to design programs, policies, tools, and governance frameworks capable of addressing the interconnected challenges of the digital economy. Their approach draws upon product design, social science, arts and cultural practice, grassroots organizing, and lived experience as a queer and trans immigrant.
Selected founder impact
A snapshot of Burhan’s impact across III Labs and more than a decade of work in technology, organizational strategy, education, advocacy, and cultural production.
54
Products launched or advised
30+
Programs designed
150+
Lectures, keynotes, and workshops
100M+
Reached through digital
campaigns
100,000+
People educated or trained
16+
Governments consulted
Our Extended Ecosystem
III Labs operates through a founder-led, community-powered model, bringing together interdisciplinary teams based on the needs of each initiative. Our work is strengthened by coalitions, grassroots organizations, public institutions, schools, volunteers, and community members, alongside policy researchers, technologists, educators, artists, organizers, facilitators, evaluators, cultural workers, and people with direct lived experience. This collaborative approach allows us to unite global expertise with local and lived knowledge to develop more grounded, effective, and equitable solutions.
Join the network
We are building a growing network of people committed to strengthening communities, preventing harm, and shaping more equitable systems. We welcome collaborators who bring professional expertise, grassroots knowledge, creative practice, or lived experience.