Naila Chowdhury is a leading management professional, motivational speaker, philanthropist and peacebuilder from Bangladesh. Her core focus is creating self-sustaining programs that economically empower girls, youth and women through social credit to underprivileged women, both in groups and as individuals.
A transformational and social impact leader, her work spans human rights, inclusive growth, poverty reduction, gender equality and women's empowerment. She serves as a UN SDG Ambassador and global telecom expert, working across public-private partnerships, leaving no one behind by addressing poverty, human rights, equity, connectivity, access to finance, inclusion and education, especially for underrepresented communities.
She began her career at UNICEF and then Marie Stopes Clinic in the UK, which sparked her lifelong interest in women's rights, economic empowerment and human rights. She is firmly committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Women's Empowerment Principles.
She holds a Master's and Executive MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics, a Senior Executive Leadership Development Diploma from the National University of Singapore, and a Telecom Fraud Analyst qualification from the University of Cambridge. She worked across South East Asia and Europe with Telenor, and oversaw the women's empowerment project at GrameenPhone, economically empowering minority women alongside Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus.
She sits on several boards of prominent organizations in the USA and in UN bodies, including as a WEP Leadership Team Member, with the UN Global Compact and formerly with UN Women in an advisory capacity. She is a founding director of Social Impact and Innovation at UC San Diego and one of the founding women of Fashion4Development. Her goal is to leave behind a better world for the next generation and to be a source of change.