Farzanah Chowdhury
Managing Director & CEO, Green Delta Insurance Co. Ltd
Bangladesh
Ms. Farzanah Chowdhury, Chartered Insurer, is the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Green Delta Insurance Company Limited (GDIC), the only non-life Insurance Company in Bangladesh receiving AAA credit rating for the 8th consecutive year. GDIC is also the first and only Insurance Company in Bangladesh to earn Superbrands recognition. Ms. Farzanah Chowdhury has diversified working experience in Microfinance, SME, Commercial Banking, Capital Market, Health care 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, Farzanah 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 Masters from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia under 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.
Ms. Chowdhury was the pioneer for 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 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 is recognized by 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 of Bangladesh to introduce and publish Sustainability Reporting (SDG Report). For notable contribution in
ensuring universal healthcare coverage as the scheme operator of “Shastho Shurokkha Kormoshuchi” project under HEU, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare of Bangladesh Govt., 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 the Bangladesh Insurance sector for her pioneering contributions as well as for materializing the concept of Insurance for Everyone. Ms. Chowdhury is one of the 17 participants from 14 countries across the globe, selected through quite a competitive selection process done by US State Department Washington, to participate in the International Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership program sponsored by U.S. State Department and Fortune 500 companies held in the U.S. from 1st May through 25th May, 2006 and has been assigned to ING Financial Services.