Fazila Hashem

Bangladeshi entrepreneur who pioneered microfinance for rural women

Fazila Hashem (1940-2018) revolutionized economic empowerment in Bangladesh through her creation of the Grameen Sisters Fund in 1978. As a young economist, she identified gaps in Muhammad Yunus' Grameen Bank model that excluded women from leadership roles. Her Economic Empowerment Through Female Leadership book details her strategy of training female loan officers to serve 1.2 million rural women by 2000.

Hashem's innovative 'Women's Empowerment Index' became a global standard for measuring microfinance impact. Her 1985 initiative to link microloans with literacy programs reduced illiteracy among borrowers by 70%. Despite facing backlash from traditional lenders, she secured funding from the World Bank and UNDP to expand operations into Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Her legacy lives on through the Fazila Hashem Foundation, which continues her work in fintech solutions for women. Modern scholars credit her with laying the groundwork for Bangladesh's 2019 Women's Entrepreneurship Act, which expanded her microfinance principles into national policy.