ABOUT us

Shahnila Azher is a Member of Invest Bangladesh and heads its Policy & Research Division. She brings 25 years of experience in international development, with a focus on investment climate reform, market systems and institutional reform. She has held senior roles with international development partners and led programmes across South and Southeast Asia and East Africa.

As Head of Private Sector Development at the UK’s Department for International Development in Bangladesh, she led reforms to improve the business environment and create better jobs. She helped modernise Bangladesh Bank’s financial infrastructure through automated cheque clearing, electronic funds transfers and the digitisation of its Credit Information Bureau. She also worked on reforms to strengthen workplace safety in the garment sector after Rana Plaza.

Before the merger that formed Invest Bangladesh, she worked with teams at the erstwhile Bangladesh Investment Development Authority to streamline procedures for work permits, capital repatriation and royalty payments for foreign investors.

Ms. Azher holds an MBA in Finance and International Business from Columbia University and a BBA from the Institute of Business Administration at the University of Dhaka. She is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the international business honour society.