Prime Highlights-

• BRAC Bank PLC takes the Women in Business Champion Award at ADB’s 12th Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program Awards in Singapore.
• The award credits BRAC Bank’s TARA program and SME Women Entrepreneur Cell for expanding finance access to women-led businesses.

 Key Facts-

• Farhana Sharmin Sumi and Zakia Jalil accepted the award for BRAC Bank.
• ADB’s Keiko Nowcka, Steven Beck and Neha Noronha attended the award ceremony.

Background-

BRAC Bank PLC took home the Women in Business Champion Award at the Asian Development Bank’s 12th Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program Awards in Singapore.

Judges cited the lender’s work widening access to finance, building up entrepreneurial skills and shaping a banking environment geared toward women-led businesses. The win traces back to TARA, BRAC Bank’s women’s banking arm, and specifically its SME Women Entrepreneur Cell.

Through tailored financial products, advisory guidance and capacity-building work, the cell has pushed women entrepreneurs past common roadblocks, helping them formalize operations, scale up and add to jobs and growth across Bangladesh.

Farhana Sharmin Sumi, senior HR business partner for retail banking and treasury, along with Zakia Jalil, who heads Unit-2 for corporate, commercial and institutional banking, picked up the award on the bank’s behalf, a press release said.

ADB representatives at the event included Keiko Nowcka, who heads the Gender Equality Division, Steven Beck, who leads the Trade and Supply Chain Finance Division, and Neha Noronha, unit head for South Asia within that division.

BRAC Bank managing director and CEO Tareq Refat Ullah Khan said the award confirms the bank’s view that backing women entrepreneurs sits at the core of a stronger, more inclusive economy. He credited the women entrepreneurs themselves, saying their drive keeps pushing the bank forward.