Farzanah Chowdhury

Member, Governing Body

Ms. Farzanah Chowdhury, Chartered Insurer, is the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Green Delta Insurance Company Limited (GDIC). Farzanah Chowdhury has diversified working experience in microfinance, SME, commercial banking, capital market, healthcare management and Insurance.

Being the first female Managing Director and CEO in the insurance sector of the country, her guiding philosophy has always been driven by the intent of adding value not just in business, but also in every sphere that touches her life. Accordingly, for more than 2 decades, in a country where insurance is least penetrated at a time when it is needed the most, Ms. Chowdhury and her team have been able to work to bridge this gap by embracing transparent processes and forthright practices.  

Having the most prestigious ACII (Associateship of Chartered Insurance Institute) from London, UK after completing her Masters from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia under the AUS Aid scholarship, Ms. Chowdhury gave wings to the concept of ‘Insurance for Everyone’ by establishing the retail insurance division and launching innovative products like Nibedita (comprehensive insurance scheme for women), GD Health (health insurance with Global Emergency Medical Evacuation Services), Niramoy (micro insurance for rural citizens), Shudin (micro-insurance for garment workers), Probashi (comprehensive insurance scheme for migrant workers), digital insurance, weather index-based agricultural insurance and cattle insurance, among others, for the first time in Bangladesh.

Recently, Ms. Chowdhury has been awarded an Honorary Doctor Philosophy from Rai University, Ahmadabad, India.

Ms. Chowdhury was the pioneer of introducing SME banking in the country and played a diversified role as the Head of SME Banking at Brac Bank. She set appropriate strategies to achieve the target of $880 million loan disbursement to 100,000 borrowers and implemented insurance coverage for SMEs across the country. By developing and establishing the ‘Women Entrepreneur Cell’, she tried to cater to small and medium-sized firms run by women entrepreneurs in 2006. Apart from that, she set-up the ‘Manufacturing Business Unit’ in 2007 and enhanced the distribution reach of SME banking by setting up 118 unit offices, which eventually helped to reach customers across the country.

Ms. Chowdhury was recognized by the UN Global Compact in 2016 as a Local SDG Pioneer for Women’s Economic Security for her initiatives through Nibedita, which is a comprehensive insurance scheme for women. She was awarded with the prestigious Chartered Insurer status by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) UK, which is the gold standard for insurance professionals and a very few professionals in Bangladesh have this distinction.

Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) UK has also recognized Ms. Chowdhury along with few leading global insurance personalities as the CII Goodwill Ambassador in Bangladesh. She also received the Senior Associate title by the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF). Under her charismatic and visionary leadership, GDIC has been a prime driver of SDGs in Bangladesh and GDIC is also the first organization in Bangladesh to introduce and publish Sustainability Reporting (SDG Report). For notable contribution in ensuring universal healthcare coverage as the scheme operator of the Shastho Shurokkha Kormoshuchi project under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare of Bangladesh. GDIC has been recognized by the New Champions Forum of World Economic Forum (WEF) for “Excellence in Sustainability”. Now, she is one of the most prominent personalities in Bangladesh’s insurance sector for her pioneering contributions to as well as for materializing the concept of Insurance for Everyone.

Ms. Chowdhury was one of the 17 personalities from 14 countries across the globe to participate in the International Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership program sponsored by the US State Department and the Fortune 500 companies held in the US from 1 May through 25 May, 2006