Iqbal Quadir
| Iqbal Quadir | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
August 13, 1958 (age 58) Jessore, Bangladesh |
| Alma mater | Swarthmore College (BS '81), Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (MA '83, MBA '87) |
| Known for | Founder of Grameenphone |
Iqbal Z. Quadir (Bengali: ইকবাল জেড. কাদীর) is an accomplished entrepreneur and a long-time champion of the critical role of entrepreneurship and innovations in creating prosperity in low-income countries. "In 1993, before others imagined the possibility, and only one percent of Americans were using mobile phones, Quadir saw mobiles as productivity tools to lift up the poorest in the world. He worked tirelessly for over two decades to provide the poor access to mobiles and to find them other means of economic empowerment." He is also the founder and director emeritus of the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the founding co-editor of Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization], a journal published by MIT Press.
Quadir was born in Jessore, Bangladesh. He moved to the United States in 1976 and later became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He passed his Secondary School Certificate from Jhenidah Cadet College, Bangladesh. He received a B.S. with honors from Swarthmore College (1981), an M.A. (1983) and an M.B.A. (1987) from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Quadir served as a consultant to the World Bank in Washington, D.C., (1983–1985), an associate at Coopers & Lybrand (1987–1989), an associate of Security Pacific Merchant Bank (1989–1991), vice president of Atrium Capital Corporation (1991–1993), and founded Grameenphone in Bangladesh during 1993-1999. He served in the management and on the Board of Grameenphone during 1996-1999.
Quadir's vision, which was deemed radical at the time, was to create universal access to telephone service in Bangladesh and to increase self-employment opportunities for its rural poor. In 1993, Quadir started a New York-based company named Gonofone (Bengali for "phones for the masses"), which later became the launch-pad for Grameenphone. Currently the largest telephone company in Bangladesh with over fifty million subscribers, Grameenphone provides telephone access to more than 100 million rural people living in 60,000 villages and generates revenues close to $1 billion annually. With infrastructure investments of more than $1 billion, Grameenphone is providing cellular coverage throughout Bangladesh.
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