Kamal Quadir
Quadir in 2008
OccupationCEO of bKash Limited[1]

Kamal Quadir is a Bangladeshi American entrepreneur and artist best known for introducing e-commerce in Bangladesh by founding CellBazaar,[2] an electronic marketplace which, after reaching 4 million users, was acquired by Norwegian telecommunications operator Telenor in 2010. CellBazaar later was rebranded as ekhanei.com.[3][4] He is the brother of Iqbal Quadir.

Quadir is currently heading the company bKash, which provides financial services through a network of community-based agents and existing technology, including mobile phones.[1] bKash is world's second largest and fastest growing mobile financial services company.[5][6]

Quadir is a founding member of Open World Initiatives, a Lausanne, Switzerland-based organization of young thinkers. He is involved with Anwarul Quadir Foundation which recognises innovations in developing countries. He is a First Mover Fellow of The Aspen Institute. In 2009, TED selected Quadir a TED Fellow[7] and the World Economic Forum recognised him as a Young Global Leader.[8]

Early life

Quadir was an intern at Insight Venture Partners in New York, led the Business Development Division of Occidental Petroleum's initiative in Bangladesh and worked for New York City's Chamber of Commerce. He was also the co-founder and creative director of GlobeKids Inc., an animation company.

Quadir has completed his BA from Oberlin College and MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.[9]

He is also an artist whose art works are in the permanent collection of the Bangladesh National Museum and the Liberation War Museum.

Awards

  • 2005: MIT Ideas Award [10]
  • 2007: Tech Award for "Applying Technology to Benefit Humanity" [11]
  • 2008: Global Mobile Award of the GSM Association in the category of "Best Use of Mobile for Social & Economic Development" [12]
    • Telecom Asia's "Asian Innovation of the Year" Award [13]
    • India's Manthan Award for "Best E-Content for Development" [14]
  • 2009: "Young Global Leader (YGL)" by the World Economic Forum of Davos [15]
  • 2015: Schwab Foundation's Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2015[16]
  • 2016: Oberlin Alumni Awards – Distinguished Achievement Award [17]
  • 2021: The Daily Star ICT Awards 2021 - ICT Business person of the year
  • 2021: Global Business CSR Awards - Best E-cash/money & CSR award, exceptional contribution to the welfare of people during the Covid period
  • 2023: Lifetime Achievement Award - ICT Mininstry
  • 2023: Global high-impact leaders in finance - 2023 Class of its Finance Leaders Fellows
  • 2023: Entrepreneur of the Year - Bangladesh C-Suite Awards 2023

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "bKash teams up with Robi". The Daily Star. 1 March 2011.
  2. ↑ "Selling Potatoes By Phone In Remove Bangladesh". The Wall Street Journal. 8 September 2008.
  3. ↑ "Schibsted, Telenor and Singapore Press Holdings team up in online classifieds - Schibsted". www.schibsted.com.
  4. ↑ "Cellbazaar formally turns to Ekhanei". Dhaka Tribune.
  5. ↑ "CGAP publishes brief on the success of bKash in delivering mobile financial services". Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  6. ↑ May, Shamsin Ahmed,Maria A. "Mobile Money in Bangladesh: Shifting from Scale to Innovation". Impatient Optimists.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ "Fellows Friday with Kamal Quadir". TED Blog. 22 July 2011.
  8. ↑ "Young Global Leaders". World Economic Forum.
  9. ↑ "Kamal Quadir". LinkedIn.
  10. ↑ "IDEAS Competition awards". MIT News. 1 June 2005.
  11. ↑ "The Tech". The Tech.
  12. ↑ "Best Use of Mobile for Social & Economic Development 2008". Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  13. ↑ "Closing the divide with the humble phone". Telecom Asia. 5 May 2008. Archived from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2009.
  14. ↑ "Cell Bazaar". Archived from the original on 19 August 2009. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  15. ↑ "World Economic Forum announces Young Global Leaders 2009". World Economic Forum (Press release). Archived from the original on 16 August 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
  16. ↑ "Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship Announces Social Entrepreneurs of 2015". World Economic Forum (Press release). Archived from the original on 14 April 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  17. ↑ "Alumni Awards - Alumni Association". Oberlin College. Archived from the original on 17 July 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
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