The 1st FIN-B International Conference will be organised during 30-31 July 2019 with the participation of different stakeholders (including representatives of financially excluded individuals and enterprises) and marginalised sections of society. The knowledge acquired from different stakeholders will help innovate new pathways to promote the financial inclusion agenda. The Conference will give significant opportunities of cross learning across the diverse audience covering policy makers, financial experts, practitioners, academicians, and the people at large over many complex issues and challenges facing financial inclusion for all.
The papers, selected for presentation in the conference, may be published (if necessary, in abridged form) in Fin-Biz, the flagship journal of FIN-B.
There is much to be learned through voices from the deprived sections – what precludes them from getting financially included and what actions and policies are needed to facilitate their access to affordable financial products and services which will be delivered responsively and sustainably. The Conference will act as a national platform to discuss financial inclusion challenges, identify innovative solutions, and share experiences among the representatives across all stakeholders covering both demand and supply side issues.
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Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, the Chairman of Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development (InM), a renowned socio-economic specialist and development thinker and practitioner of international repute, has been keenly promoting sustainable development in all its aspects. In a career spanning over four decades, Dr. Ahmad has extensively participated in research activities and dialogues, nationally and internationally, covering different social, political, economic, and environmental aspects and issues of sustainable development as they relate to Bangladesh and other developing countries. He has also been concerned in his research and related activities with governance with respect to both the nation state and the international system. He has, over past several decades, relentlessly sought and promoted ways of achieving socially inclusive development. In this context, major focus of his research, action research, advocacy, and mobilisation activities has been covering issues related to reducing poverty and disparity in a sustainable way, and promoting equitable economic growth, sustainable employment generation for the downtrodden, empowerment of the downtrodden through education, training, and health services, establishment of rule of law; human rights, and environmental security. He has to his credit a wide range of research works on policy planning, food and agriculture, environment and water resources, rural development, poverty alleviation, human development, technology and employment generation, women in development and gender issues, etc., including 35 books and over 200 learned articles by himself or jointly with others published at home and abroad. Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad is the current Chairman of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) and the founder Chairman of the multidisciplinary research organisation Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP). He is also the Chairman of Governing Council and Director of Dhaka School of Economics (DScE). As Co-Chair of the 2010 National Education Policy (NEP) Formulation committee, he played the key role in formulating the NEP 2010, which has been acclaimed widely in the country, across political persuasions. He has been Regional Chair of Imagine a New South Asia (INSA), a people-centred process of South Asia regional cooperation and development. He is the former President (2002-2010) of Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA), and a former Research Director at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS). He was the president of the Kuala Lumpur-based Association of Development Research and Training Institutes of Asia and the Pacific (ADIPA) and was Vice President of the Rome-based Society for International Development (SID). He participated in the Bangladesh War of Liberation in 1971 and worked in the Planning Cell set up by the Bangladesh Government in exile. He received the Ekushey Padak awarded by the Government of Bangladesh in 2009 and The Independence Award, the highest state award in 2019. He was a Coordinating Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)-Third Assessment (completed in 2001). He was also the Lead Author for IPCC Fourth Assessment (2004-2007) and is a member of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winning UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Team. He is also the Coordinator of Bangladesh Climate Change Negotiating Team, and a Member of the UNFCCC Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Executive Board. He has played a key role in preparing the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009. He has also been the Convener of the Drafting Committee for the Country Report of Bangladesh “Rio 20: National Report on Sustainable Development” for the Brazil United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (June 2012).
Prof. Arup Choudhuri
Prof. Arup Choudhuri is the Chairman and CEO of Acasia Global Consulting LLP. He had been the Dean of Icfai Business School (IBS)- Kolkata and was the Director of Amity Global Business School in Kolkata India. His area of specialization is Enterprise Risk Management. He is a trainer of Risk and Compliance Management in banks of India (including State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Central Bank of India , Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank, Axis bank, Kotak bank), Bangladesh (Bangladesh Bank, Janata Bank, Sonali Bank, BRAC Bank, SIBL, Trust Bank, MTBL, UCBL and 24 more banks), Sri Lanka, Malaysia (May Bank), Thailand (Siam Central Bank), Germany (Commerzbank) and UK (Nat-West Bank). Prof. Choudhuri had taken sessions on Micro-Finance and Financial Inclusion in International College of Financial Planning, New Delhi. He did similar programs in IDFC and Bandhan Bank. He initiated an effort of uniting and training the poor garment manufacturers in Howrah in Kolkata. During his 25 years of academic experience as professor, researcher and trainer, he had been an advisor to the Department of Finance; Govt. of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Prof. Choudhuri is involved with several economic and financial researches with national and international level organizations like Dun & Bradstreet, KPMG, PWC and European Union.
Dr. Atiur Rahman Professor Department of Development Studies, Dhaka University. ▪ Former Governor, Bangladesh Bank (the Central Bank of Bangladesh) . ▪ ‘The Best Central Bank Governor Asia and Pacific, 2015’, awarded by the Banker (of the Financial Times). ▪ ‘The Central Bank Governor of the Year for Asia 2015’, awarded by the Emerging Markets (of the Euromoney). ▪ Winner of the ‘GUSI Pease Prize International 2014’, awarded by GUSI Foundation Manila. ▪ Member of the Advisory Board of the UNEP Inquiry on Designing ‘Global Sustainable Finance’. ▪ Well known for his campaign for Financial Inclusion. ▪ Indira Gandhi Gold Plaque 2011 for his outstanding contribution towards human progress ▪ National Literary Award (Bangla Academy Award) for 2015. Dr. Rahman popularly known as the ‘Poor Peoples’ Economist’ and a Green Governor is a many times awarded central bank governor with a human face. Son of a marginal farmer and a life-long campaigner The defining feature of his tenure as the Governor of the central bank of Bangladesh was his decisive He is currently devoting his time in inspiring his students at the Dhaka University about how to
Mr. Rajeev Kumar Gupta
Rajeev works with UNCDF Bangkok office since 2016, as Programme Management Specialist – Inclusive Finance and performs the role of Programme Manager – Shaping Inclusive Finance Transformations (SHIFT), and Regional Coordinator - Making Access Possible (MAP) for ASEAN and SAARC countries. Rajeev works to advance financial inclusion and economic participation by changing the behaviour of market actors to stimulate investment, business innovations, and regulatory reform in financial markets of ASEAN and SAARC. Rajeev through the programme, works on building an evidence base on women’s financial inclusion in the region and catalyse innovative partnerships to incubate market-led approaches to innovate, scale and replicate financial service interventions offering savings, credit, payments, remittances and insurance products. Prior to joining as Programme Management Specialist, Rajeev worked as consultant with UNCDF on Nepal agriculture value chain finance programme, on developing Country Government led financial inclusion strategies, and setting up ASEAN Challenge Fund for co-financing private sector to innovate and upscale financial inclusion services. Rajeev has over 20 years of experience in technical advisory and programme development roles, with a particular focus on financial and enterprise promotion services. Prior to UNCDF, Rajeev worked for more than a decade with BASIX, a livelihood and financial inclusion promotion organisation in India, where he was involved in range of financial inclusion interventions, in setting up State level livelihood mission, and heading the international consulting work in countries in South Asia, South-East Asia and Africa. Rajeev did his Forestry Management from Indian Institute of Forest Management, and Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry (Hons) from Delhi University in India. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------Inaugural Session
Chair
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Chief Guest
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------Academic Session 1
.................................................................................................................................................... Mr Md. Anwarul Islam
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.................................................................................................................................................... Dr. Md. Jashim Uddin
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.................................................................................................................................................... Mr. Khondkar Morshed Millat
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.................................................................................................................................................... Mr. Zahirul Alam
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Mr. Md. Arfan Ali
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.................................................................................................................................................... Ms. Afsana Islam,
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Conference partners |
The 1st FIN-B International Conference on 'Financial Inclusion' is organised by the Financial Inclusion Network- Bangladesh (FIN-B), an initiative of the Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development (InM), in collaboration with its Conference and Media Partners.
FIN-B and InM have entered into a number of conference partnerships with organisations through the Conference Partnership Programme. This Partnership Programme provides mutual recognition and scope for Partner organisations to showcase their availability in the industry, their strengths, as well as engage in the development of projects and programmes with FIN-B and InM. Also, it provides strong recognition for financial inclusion related activities and emphasises our commitment to finance for all. A full list of FIN-B's Partners is available below. FIN-B and InM would like to thank the following organisations for their support:
About Concern Worldwide:
Concern Worldwide is an international humanitarian organisation dedicated to tackling poverty and suffering in the world’s poorest countries. Sustained by the concern of our many supporters, we seek out those who most urgently need our support, and work with them, through thick and thin, to tackle poverty, hunger and disaster.
Concern has been fighting extreme poverty in Bangladesh since 1972. For over 48 years, we have worked relentlessly to reduce extreme poverty by focusing on three dimensions – lack of assets, risks and vulnerabilities, and inequalities. These three dimensions guide us in all of the work we do. Combining our expertise with the knowledge, and the support of tens of thousands of concerned people, together we energetically go beyond the quick fix to deliver real, sustainable improvements.
Working in this way, we build people’s individual and collective potential to make their lives better. This means that we can enable real long-term change in their communities. The respect in which our work is held internationally means our approaches spread far beyond our own programmes leading to exceptional global reach, understanding and impact.
We constantly bring our experience on the ground to bear on policy decisions made at a local, national and global level, thus ensuring we make the greatest possible impact on the lives of the world’s poorest people.
About Water.org:
Co-founded by Matt Damon and Gary White, Water.org, a nonprofit organization pioneers innovative and sustainable solutions to the global water crisis, giving women hope, children health, people the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty and communities a future. By March 2019 Water.org helped 21.2 million people living at the base of the pyramid in Africa, South Asia and Central America by providing affordable access to safe water and sanitation, mobilizing $ 1.7 billion capital through its 113 partners. Water.org envisions the day when everyone has access to safe drinking-water and the dignity of a toilet.
About bkash:
bKash is the leading MFS Provider in Bangladesh that started its journey in 2010 as a joint venture between BRAC Bank and Money in Motion LLC. Afterwards, IFC, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Ant Financial became its equity partners. It has been empowering people through digital financial innovation by providing safe, convenient and affordable financial solutions like Send Money, Add Money, Payment, Pay Bill and Mobile Recharge etc. Currently, bKash has more than 30 million registered accounts and over 200,000 agents across Bangladesh as of 2018. It has been ranked 23rd on Fortune's 'Change the World' list in 2017.
About BFP-B
Business Finance for the Poor in Bangladesh (BFP-B) is a £25m facility to create economic opportunities for small businesses by changing the behaviour of market actors in the financial sector. We are assisting financial institutions to design, test and roll out viable business models for the last mile, improving the policy and regulatory environment, inducing private sector investment and enhancing the credit worthiness of small businesses.
BFP-B is funded by UK aid and managed by Nathan. The Bangladesh Bank (BB), the central bank of Bangladesh, and Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) are the implementing agencies, and the Financial Institutions Division (FID) of the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Government of Bangladesh (GoB), is the executing agency.
About SHIFT SAARC of UNCDF:
The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 47 least developed countries. Shaping Inclusive Finance Transformations (SHIFT) programme for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, is a regional market-facilitation initiative of UNCDF that aims to improve livelihoods and reduce poverty rates in SAARC countries by 2021. The initiative seeks to stimulate investment, business innovations and regulatory reform to expand economic participation and opportunities for women, and help small and growing businesses to be active agents in the formal economy.
About Bank Asia
Bank Asia is a third generation private commercial bank in Bangladesh. It’s journey started on November 27, 1999. Initially, the Bank acquired the operation of two foreign Banks: The Bank of Nova Scotia of Canada and Muslim Commercial Bank of Pakistan, first ever in the banking history of Bangladesh. In last 19 years of journey, Bank Asia has created a distinctive brand image among the leading banks of the country for it’s technology driven sophisticated banking services. Bank Asia is the pioneer of Agent Banking that brings unbanked population within the fold of banking system and involved them to mainstream development.
About Financial Inclusion Television International (FITV)
Financial Inclusion Television International is an international media platform for Financial Inclusion and FINTECH, we specialise in the use of media, most importantly visuals to enhance the development of Financial Inclusion and FINTECH.
We also serve as a knowledge sharing platform with stakeholders in the industry. Our focus ranges from Financial Inclusion activities, Sustainable Development, FINTECH and other developmental initiatives.
FITV disseminates information globally to its teaming audience on all continents, we bring to fore media section of all events. We conduct and present interviews, stream webinars, conferences, workshops, lectures, documentaries from a global point of view on Financial Inclusion and Fintech programs.
We present, donors, clients, consumers, academia and other professional activities through videos and other media formats, with the aim of serving as an informative and educational resource centre.
For a global outreach share your services, programs, conference, webinars, seminars,
workshops, training and initiatives on Financial Inclusion Television International. With
Financial Inclusion Television International is your best platform.
About Daily Bonik Barta
Daily Bonik Barta has already established itself as one of the most credible leading national dailies in Bangladesh. Mr. Dewan Hanif Mahmud, a very prominent journalist of the country, is the CEO & Editor of Bonik Barta. The daily go over the best of its services at all times in various sectors since having about 141,500 subscribers as certified by DFP and 700,000 online readerships every day.
Since its initiation in 2011, it has demonstrated a sustainable growth in quality reporting. Bonik Barta strives to be a strong and reliable partner to the State’s Policy Makers and to their Strategic Partners, Business Community, Financial Institutions, Government Sector, Public & Private Corporations, and MNCs. Toady this daily has an extensive network of circulation across all districts and especially the major operation areas of the country.
Apart from readership Bonik Barta has corporate citizenship activities, Non-Fiction Book Fair, and numbers of publications. Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), one of the top Think Tanks Worldwide, has been strategic partner of two signature programs of Bonik Barta titled ‘Uddokta Sommanona’ and ‘Gunijon Songbordhona’ since 2014. Bonik Barta also arranges roundtables on important issues engaging sector specialists and regulators on regular basis.
Moreover, this daily is also emerging with an effective combination of expertise in Digital Print Media to cater thoughtful business insight to its readers and partners from an extended platform.
About Financial Express (FE)
The Financial Express (FE) is the first financial daily of Bangladesh in English under the ownership of the company -- International Publications Limited which was incorporated under the Companies Act in the year 1993.
The FE started its journey on November 10, 1993. In terms of circulation, this daily now ranks second, among its contemporary English dailies, in Bangladesh.
The FE’s prime objective is dissemination of fair and objective news and information. FE keep its readers informed about the ongoing socio-economic and political developments daily through in-depth analyses, views and opinions on major domestic, regional and global trade, business and other related issues in its print and online editions.
Special Guest
Introductory Speech
Chair
Mr. A. K. M. Musha
Chair
Dr. Rubana Huq
Moderator
Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur
Chair
Mr. Shabbir Ahmed Chowdhury
Chair
Dr. Md. Mosleh Uddin Sadeque
Chair
Mr. Kamal Quadir
Mr. Kenneth Kou
Mr. Anir Chowdhury
Dr. Niaz Ahmed Khan
Professor M. A. Baqui Khalily
Dr. Mustafa K. Mujeri
Chief Guest
Special Guest
