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Doing Good Great
Chapter 11: Brac Breaking Business
FAZLE HASAN ABED
Country: Bangladesh
Organisation: BRAC
Cause: Social Enterprises
To many, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed is an enigma. Though born into a well-to-do traditional Bengali family, he is far from traditional. With a penchant for choosing the path less travelled, Abed1 studied naval architecture in the UK, read literature with E. M. Forster, and relishes music, opera and the arts.2
However, after witnessing firsthand the ravages that man-made and natural disasters wrought in his country, Abed’s life changed forever. He founded BRAC, which is, today, the largest NGO in the world. With 115,634 employees in 14 countries3 across the globe, BRAC works towards the sustainable alleviation of poverty through enterprise development, livelihood training, and the provision of education, health and legal services in Bangladesh and beyond.
Abed’s firm belief in the empowerment of the poor through enterprise has been a back-breaking business, but his endeavors have brought about long-lasting systemic change in the lives of the poorest of the poor.
Brief facts
SIR FAZLE HASAN ABED
|
1936 |
Born in Baniachong sub-district, Habiganj district, Bengal, British India (now Bangladesh), to Siddiq Hasan and Syeda Sufya Khatun |
|
1954 |
Completed higher secondary education from Dhaka College Began studies in Naval Architecture at Glasgow University |
|
1962 |
Qualified as a chartered management accountant; became a British Citizen. Joined Bramber Engineering Company Limited, London |
|
1965 |
Joined Aircraft Marine Products (GB) Limited |
|
1969 |
Returned to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) with a job at Shell Oil Company in Chittagong |
|
1970 |
Founded Heartland Emergency Lifesaving Project (HELP) in response to the Bhola Cyclone disaster |
|
1971 |
Escaped to London in the wake of the Liberation War and lobbied for war victims |
|
1972 |
Returned to Bangladesh to establish the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee (BRAC) |
|
1974 |
Kept the acronym BRAC, changed the organization’s name to the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee to better reflect its development work with the poor |
|
2002 |
BRAC ventured outside Bangladesh. Registered BRAC as the first foreign nonprofit organization in Afghanistan |
|
2009 |
Knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his outstanding efforts in eradicating poverty and empowerment of the poor around the world |
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
BRAC
|
1990 |
Alan Shawn Feinstein World Hunger Award |
|
1992 |
UNICEF Maurice Pate Award |
|
2004 |
Gates Award for Global Health (recevied with Sir F H Abed) |
|
2008 |
Conrad N Hilton Foundation Humanitarian Prize |
|
2013 |
Ranked #1 in Global Journal’s Top 100 NGOs |
|
2014 |
Global Justice Innovation Award |
SIR FAZLE HASAN ABED
|
1980 |
Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership |
|
2001 |
Olof Palme Prize |
|
2004 |
Gates Award for Global Health UNDP Mahbub ul Haq Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Development |
|
2007 |
Inaugural Clinton Global Citizen Award |
|
2008 |
David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award |
|
2009 |
Entrepreneur for the World Award for Social Entrepreneurship Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) |
|
2011 |
Inaugural WISE Prize for Education |
|
2013 |
Central European University’s Open Society Prize |
|
2014 |
Fortune Magazine’s World’s 50 Greatest Leaders Leo Tolstoy International Gold Medal Spanish Order of Civil Merit |
|
2015 |
World Food Prize |
|
1980 |
Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership |
|
2001 |
Olof Palme Prize |
|
2004 |
Gates Award for Global Health UNDP Mahbub ul Haq Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Development |
|
2007 |
Inaugural Clinton Global Citizen Award |
|
2008 |
David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award |
|
2009 |
Entrepreneur for the World Award for Social Entrepreneurship Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) |
|
2011 |
Inaugural WISE Prize for Education |
|
2013 |
Central European University’s Open Society Prize |
|
2014 |
Fortune Magazine’s World’s 50 Greatest Leaders Leo Tolstoy International Gold Medal Spanish Order of Civil Merit |
|
2015 |
World Food Prize |
End Notes
- Sir Fazle Hasan Abed’s family name is Hasan, but the pet name Abed that his parents gave to him at birth stuck. All his friends refer to him as Abed and it is the name registered in his passport. He has asked us to call him “Abed,” which we have done in the remainder of the chapter.
- This and several other anecdotes in this chapter have been adapted from the biography by Ian Smillie, Freedom from Want: The Remarkable Success Story of BRAC, the Global Grassroots Organization That’s Winning the Fight Against Poverty (Stirling, VA: Kumarian Press, 2009).
- The 14 countries that BRAC has offices in are: Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Philippines, Myanmar, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Haiti, and the United States.