Mahirah Basri is part of the Frontier Development division at Leave a Nest Malaysia. A recipient of the Public Service Department Scholarship, she earned her Bachelor of Engineering from Vanderbilt University, where she was also inducted into Eta Kappa Nu, the IEEE honor society. Following graduation, Mahirah joined Sensata Technologies, where she collaborated with automotive manufacturers across Japan, South Korea, Germany, and the United States. In one of her key roles, she was involved in developing new products and designing manufacturing processes for lab-scale prototypes. During her time in product development, Mahirah observed persistent communication gaps between product developers and manufacturers, which often delayed progress. This experience led her to pursue business studies at the University of Oxford, aiming to bridge this divide. She believes that improving communication between these teams can drastically reduce product development timelines. Driven by a passion to support researchers, Mahirah now focuses on helping early-stage innovators design efficient, scalable manufacturing processes. Her mission is to empower startups to mass-produce their products cost-effectively—without compromising on quality.