Ms. Farzanah Chowdhury, Chartered Insurer, is the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Green Delta Insurance Company Limited. She has vast knowledge in microfinance, microinsurance and SME banking due to her experience in leading roles in development sector as well as in SME banking. She is considered as the pioneer for developing microinsurance linked microfinance model developed for BRAC as well as her successful leadership in establishing the largest SME banking network for a leading bank of the country. Ms. Farzanah is the first and youngest female CEO in the insurance industry of Bangladesh and has been recognized by UN Global Compact as a Local SDG Pioneer in 2016 for Women’s Economic Security for her initiatives through Nibedita, which is a comprehensive insurance scheme for women. After receiving the prestigious recognition, she has driven her team more effectively which resulted in sharp rise in Nibedita policy holders in a short period of time on top of adding values through holistic approach in ensuring gender equality and women empowerment. Since 2016, Ms. Chowdhury has been a regular speaker or panelist in the UN SDG Summit every year. Under her charismatic and visionary leadership, GDIC has been a prime driver of SDGs in Bangladesh and GDIC is also the first organization of Bangladesh to introduce and publish Sustainability Reporting (SDG Report) in partnership with CSR Centre and CRAB.
Ms. Chowdhury’s recognitions and accolades include a range of local and international awards. She has received awards from Women Economic Forum, Anannya, EO Global, Bangladesh Brand Forum and SAARC Women Association, Asia Insurance Review etc. for her progressive works in woman empowerment as well as her pioneering contribution in insurance sector. She has also received the very prestigious Public Trust Award from CII UK in April 2019 for building public trust in financial services and insurance. Last but not the least, she is the first Bangladeshi woman to have been recognized as “Woman Leader of the Year” in “Asian Insurance Industry Award 2019”.
In addition to being the CII Goodwill Ambassador in Bangladesh, she is also a Board Member of CSR Centre in Bangladesh, Impact Chair and former President of EO Bangladesh (Entrepreneurs’ Organization), Member of International Insurance Society, Executive Committee Member of Bangladesh Insurance Association (BIA), Vice President of Bangladesh Insurance Forum, Associate Trustee and Ambassador of Apasen, Member of Advisory Council of TalentNomics, Member of Advisory Board of HerNet TV, Executive Board Member of Employers’ Federation, Board of Trustee in JCI Global Youth Fund, Member of Advisory Board in AIESEC, Member of Advisory Board of BRAC Business School and Member of Bangladesh Board of Advisors (BBA) of Asian University of Women (AUW).
While she started her career as an executive (trainee) in Green Delta Insurance, she had the opportunity to work for BRAC as well in the early years of her career. While she was in BRAC, Ms. Chowdhury was exposed to the opportunity of closely analyzing the micro finance sector and, as a result, was successful in establishing a link between micro finance and insurance. As she directly worked with the field level operations of micro finance and insurance simultaneously, the experience and knowhow helped her to develop a model for micro insurance recently. After acquiring professional experience, Ms. Chowdhury pursued her MBA under the Aus Aid scholarship and joined the SME banking division of BRAC Bank and continued her association with Green Delta Insurance. Her utmost sincerity backed by her profound knowledge and experience enabled her to play the role of pioneering driving force behind structuring and development of SME banking division of BRAC Bank. Since she already worked with micro finance and insurance, she was also presented with the extraordinary opportunity to design, develop and implement a successful business model for SME insurance. Till now, the path-breaking Green Delta Insurance–BRAC Bank model of SME insurance is being followed by other commercial banks in the country.
Ms. Farzanah Chowdhury is now one of the most prominent personalities in the Bangladesh Insurance sector for her pioneering contributions and innovative initiatives in Retail & SME insurance, Micro Insurance, Weather Index Based Agriculture Insurance and materializing the concept of Insurance for Everyone. Under her charismatic leadership, Green Delta Insurance has launched digital insurance ecosystem for the first time in Bangladesh and is working relentlessly to bring insurance at everyone’s doorstop. She has been the driving force behind launching many innovative insurance products in the market, such as, micro insurance, digital insurance, weather index-based agriculture insurance etc., which are contributing greatly towards the development of the overall sector. It was under her stewardship that Green Delta joined hands with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Bangladesh in the Shastho Shuroksha Karmasuchi (SSK) project, which has ensured health coverage of more than 650,000 people under poverty level. In future, she intends to bring about more and more innovative services and implement InsurTech in Bangladesh. Her guiding philosophy has always been driven by the intent of adding value not just in business, but in every sphere that touches her life.