Iqbal Quadir facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Iqbal Quadir
Born	August 13, 1958 (1958-08-13) (age 66) Jessore, Bangladesh
Alma mater	Swarthmore College (BS '81), Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (MA '83, MBA '87)
Known for	Founder of Grameenphone
Relatives	Kamal Quadir (Brother)

Iqbal Z. Quadir is a smart and creative person from Bangladesh who also became a citizen of the United States. He has taught at important universities like Harvard Kennedy School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is also the brother of another successful entrepreneur and artist, Kamal Quadir.

Between 1993 and 1997, Iqbal Quadir started a company called Grameenphone in Bangladesh. His goal was to make sure everyone, especially people in rural areas, could use phones. He also wanted to help them find ways to earn money for themselves.

In 2007, he created the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT. This center helps people in developing countries start their own businesses. A year before that, he helped start a journal called Innovations, which he still helps to edit.

Early Life and Education

Iqbal Quadir was born in Jessore, Bangladesh. He moved to the United States in 1976. Later, he became a U.S. citizen. He finished his high school studies at Jhenidah Cadet College in Bangladesh.

He went to Swarthmore College and earned a bachelor's degree in 1981. He then studied at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. There, he earned two master's degrees, one in 1983 and another in 1987.

A Vision for Connectivity

Before starting his big projects, Quadir worked as a consultant for the World Bank. He also worked for other companies like Coopers & Lybrand and Security Pacific Merchant Bank.

From 1993, Quadir focused on his dream. He wanted to bring phone services to everyone in Bangladesh. He especially wanted to help poor people in villages find jobs. He started a company in New York called Gonofone, which means "phones for the masses" in Bengali.

To make his dream happen, he brought together many different groups. These included Telenor from Norway and an organization linked to the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. The Grameen Bank later won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for helping poor people.

Grameenphone's Impact

Iqbal Quadir had a smart idea. He thought that people in villages could get small loans to buy phones. Then, they could sell phone services to their neighbors. This way, many people could get access to phones and also earn money. He famously said, "connectivity is productivity." This means that being connected, especially with mobile phones, helps people work better and earn more.

Grameenphone got its license to operate in Bangladesh in 1996. It started offering services in 1997. Today, it is the biggest phone company in Bangladesh. It has about 55 million customers. The company makes almost $2 billion every year. It has invested over $3 billion to build its network across Bangladesh.

Grameenphone has been praised for helping people in Bangladesh. It has created many economic chances and brought phone services to rural areas. Economist Jeffrey Sachs said that Grameenphone showed the world how to bring modern phone technology to the poorest places.

Teaching and New Ideas

From 2001 to 2005, Quadir was a Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School. He taught classes about how technology can help developing countries.

In 2005, Quadir moved to MIT. In 2007, he started the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship. This center believes that countries become stronger when people start new businesses. It helps students at MIT who want to create businesses in developing countries. Quadir used to lead the Legatum Center.

Quadir also came up with the idea of the invisible leg. This idea explains how new technologies change how money and power are shared in an economy.

Other Ventures

Iqbal Quadir also tried to bring electricity to Bangladesh. In 2006, he started Emergence BioEnergy, Inc. This was because 70% of people in Bangladesh did not have electricity from the main power grid. He also worked on a project to remove arsenic from water. These projects were even written about in The Economist magazine. In 2007, Emergence BioEnergy won an award. However, after working on them for ten years, he decided to close both projects.

Current Projects

Iqbal Quadir and his brother Kamal started bKash in Bangladesh in 2009. bKash is now the leading mobile financial service in the country. It helps over 70 million people send and receive money using their phones.

In 2004, he and his siblings created the Anwarul Quadir Foundation. This foundation supports new ideas for Bangladesh. In 2006, the foundation started a $25,000 essay competition. It was called the Quadir Prize. The first awards were given out in 2007. In 2009, Stephen Honan won the second award. He found a new way to remove arsenic from drinking water.

Recognition and Awards

In 1999, the World Economic Forum chose Quadir as a Global Leader for Tomorrow. In 2006, he received the SEED Award from the Rotary Club of Metropolitan Dhaka. This was for his work in bringing phone services to all of Bangladesh.

He has been featured on CNN and PBS. He has also been written about in famous magazines like Harvard Business Review and The Economist. In 2007, Wharton Alumni Magazine named him one of 125 Influential People and Ideas. In 2011, he received honorary degrees from Swarthmore College and Case Western Reserve University.

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