Shabnazar Begum

Bangladeshi social entrepreneur empowering rural women through education

Shabnazar Begum is the visionary behind Sheba Bangladesh, a nonprofit transforming lives through women's education and digital literacy. Born in 1985 in rural Dinajpur, she overcame child marriage at age 12 to become one of Bangladesh's first female tech entrepreneurs. Her organization has established 150+ learning centers providing STEM education to over 50,000 girls in remote areas. The Sheba Tech Centers use solar-powered computers and mobile labs to teach coding, app development, and digital marketing skills.

Her 'Digital Village' initiative connects rural women to global markets through e-commerce training, helping create 8,000+ home-based businesses. Begum's partnership with UN Women scaled her model to 20 countries in South Asia and Africa. She was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2021 and received the Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year award. Her TED Talk 'Codebreaking Poverty' has been translated into 18 languages and viewed over 3 million times.