What was the pandemic experience like for Brac? How did it impact your work?
It took a lot of courage to go out, yet, being next to the people united us as an organization; our trust with each other deepened tremendously and uniquely.
We were the first to introduce unconditional cash support through BKash. We were mobilizing resources and going household-to-household to understand the needs through healthcare workers. We were also providing free masks. So we bonded as an organization as we fought the pandemic together and further built our relationship within society. During this time, they saw that Brac was really there for them.
What was the greatest leadership challenge you faced amid the pandemic?
For me, as a leader, this was a big test — whether or not the people would rally behind me as Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, the founder of Brac, was not there anymore. We were trying to build the plane as we were flying it, and it is good that we got out there. Most acutely, with the financial crisis, it was a perfect storm.
The UK government, which is one of our largest donors, reduced Bangladesh’s funding drastically, which suddenly caused a serious impact. Microfinance and other funding streams were also significantly hit. As an organization, we had to navigate not to lay off people and tap into our funds to help us move forward.
How did the private sector step up to address some of these challenges?
The private sector came through. For example, we had a partnership with Grameenphone to match our cash assistance. By working with private banks, corporate social responsibility departments and other organizations, we were able to mobilize a strong pool of resources.
Tell me a little bit about your journey and purpose, and what led you to this critical leadership role?
I spent the first 18 years of my life in Bangladesh before going to the US to study. I wanted to be a journalist, but at the time my father was not well so I could not take that risk. I studied computer science, and by the time I graduated, I had four jobs lined up. I took the one with Goldman Sachs in the UK.
But I knew that I had a desire to do something beyond my livelihood and to connect it back to Bangladesh. I started a website or fundraising campaign for a journalist who needed financial support as he had been badly beaten up by the ruling party. I was able to send him a significant sum, which led to a positive outcome for him. That was how Drishtipat (focused on human and economic outcomes) began. It is an organization that I founded to mobilize the young Bangladeshi diaspora. I wore many different hats — writer, webmaster, activist, etc — to build this, and the organization expanded to six chapters.
I then moved to London with Goldman Sachs. However, due to the changing political landscape in Bangladesh, I became increasingly involved; thus I switched to the development sector in 2010. I had already been making very frequent trips to Bangladesh from London. After that, I started an organization to support entrepreneurs, as a part of Drishtipat.
However, as it is a very high-touch project, we faced scale challenges. Later, I joined the traditional workforce again, at the UNDP. I started working as a tech policy specialist.
After a year, I got a call from Brac’s founder, and that started my journey with Brac — first as director of communications and then I started the Social Innovation Lab. And in 2019, I became the executive director.
As a leader at Brac, where have you really had to stretch?
Brac is so big and diverse. On the one hand, you are dealing with humanitarian operations, and on the other hand, you are working on more long-term development projects. Investments, talent and leadership pipeline — a number of issues and topics are important.
What is the sentiment at Davos and what would you like to see from leaders?
It is a bit gloomier compared to other times. There is a war at our doorstep, an impending food crisis and more crises on the way. There is a bright side, too, with all of the entrepreneurship and impactful startup stories, we are trying to change the world.
It is always great to meet people in person because we have not met in a long time. We have been able to forge new relationships.
There is, however, a disconnect between what we see as urgent on the ground and what others think the world needs. If you take climate change or Net Zero or mitigation, we are already hurting so it is about adaptation, financing and scale-up. Many are not as close to the problem or this part of the world.
What is the solution to the disconnect? And what actions do you want leaders to take? What role does technology have to play?
Voices from the Global South must be amplified. We need to inject a dose of realism and build a coalition, as others from this part of the world feel similarly. We need more stories as well. To support humanitarian and development work, a significant systematic shift is needed to address how we are spending resources [to reduce waste as well as enhance efficiency and impact]. We need to leverage local organizations doing good work. The solutions must come from where the problems are. The youth have a role to play, as they bring fresh thinking and are a huge demographic. Technology, too, has a big role to play. The connectivity issues will resolve with time, but we have to start building critical global dialogues and partnerships for the future now.
Samira Khan has worked in the social innovation and tech for impact spaces at both Microsoft and Salesforce
