A message I wrote about Naila Chowdhury in October 2014 ...
These are two bio's about Naila.
http://www.athgo.org/?page_id=584
http://techonomy.com/people/naila-chowdhury/
Her LinkedIn profile is https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=5321002
Her email is naila@teleconsultgroup.com
Chris recently wrote:
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she started partnership experiments on mobilising womens empowerment 20 years ago being muhammad yunus' first female director of grameen phone
today she lives in DC region and is pivotal to changing the value chain of fashion with first ladies and fashion stars - she has the personal knowledge of who did what in many mobile tech areas; eg the mit cluster who designed eg mpesa and brac's bkash.com; how nanocredit has evolved- at the start of the year she visited kenya and has taken up the role of nanocredit partnership strategist for hispanic womens networks; her own telecentres have pioneered job connections for the most abused women
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I spent two days with Chris and Naila in Cambridge a couple of years ago visiting many of the international development initiatives at MIT. I was a passive part of the entourage. The key takeaway was (1) that Naila had knowledge of the telecom industry and technology relevant to poor countries; and (2) she had a deep empathy towards women and girls in challenging circumstances. Much of the conversation two years ago was work she was doing in Bangladesh (and I think Iran) to set up 'telecenters' where women who were victims of 'acid attacks' could work with dignity and have earnings to support themselves.
My impression is that the plan that is envisaged for Latin America is something along the same lines ... except the goal is jobs locally in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador with the intent to reduce the pressure on families to send their children on the trek to the United States. I don't know any of the specifics of the plan, nor the stage of the 'funding' that is envisaged coming out of Washington. My personal experience of these waits is that in the end the idea 'times out' and everyone outside the bureaucracy is left hanging out to dry.
I don't know much about the Fashion for Development initiative (F4D) ... but it seems to be quite high profile among women in leadership ... First Ladies around the globe that is. I think this is how her daughters are getting a bit involved in things, but I really don't know.
Hope this is helpful
Peter
