Kazi Faisal Bin Seraj

Experience

• 

  BRAC

  May 2006 - May 2017

  - Founded a for-profit microfinance company and a not-for profit INGO with specific focus on women’s empowerment and economic development- Built and led a team of 318 staff, of which about 76% were female - Provided financial services to over 50,000 women of Myanmar with principal loan outstanding balance of USD 9 million- Scaled-up BRAC’s presence through 42 branch offices across 37 townships- Ensured senior country management team is at least 50% local and female- Successfully completed due diligence to raise USD 10 million in equity, grant, and debt financing from donors and private sector investors, such as OPIC, Grameen Credit Agricole, Whole Planet Foundation, and Yoma Bank- Commissioned a research project to analyze the financial behaviors of 800 women clients to develop new products- Partnered with DFID’s (also known as UKAid) Dana facilities to provide loans to 1,080 people with disabilities- Facilitated scholarships for 25 Myanmar nationals to be trained abroad- Supervised technical teams involved in project management, financial and grant management, administration, recruitment and training, risk management, monitoring and reporting, proposal writing and communications- Provided technical support in yearly business planning, budget preparations, budget management, and approval process- Enabled a platform for large scale programs in health and emergency response- Installed a Gates Foundation supported Emergency Response Unit, in collaboration with UNOCHA- Developed organizational policies and ensured compliance with donor regulations- Formed independent local governing body for in country relevancy, transparency, and accountability- Contributed into Myanmar’s microfinance policy making initiatives- Integrated front-end (Mobile apps) and back-end (Sbi-Cloud) technologies- Established partnerships with private and public entities, such as 1001 Fontaines, for designing new programs and resource mobilization Show less - Ensured a 10-member high delegation visit to Bangladesh from Myanmar - Navigated through highly complex political environment of Myanmar for feasibility studies- Established effective working relationships with the government and the donors- Developed an integrated project proposal on Microfinance and Health through a stakeholder engagement process- Secured approval from all relevant ministries to start operations- Worked with key BRAC executives for a year to learn strategy better Show less - Built and led a multi-cultural research team of 10 regular members primarily focused on primary data collection and analysis- Provided analytical support to BRAC programs in Sierra Leone and Liberia- Evaluated effectiveness of BRAC's microfinance plus approach in West Africa- Participated in program development focusing on agriculture, adolescence, and human rights- Developed BRAC’s first paralegal program outside Bangladesh to assist victims of violence against women- Piloted a UNICEF funded project on reducing teenage pregnancy- Co-authored a book chapter: Hulme, D., Moore, K., and Seraj, K. ‘Reaching the People Whom Microfinance Cannot Reach: Learning from BRAC’s “Targeting the Ultra Poor” Program’. In ‘The Handbook of Microfinance’, edited by Beatriz Armendariz and Marc Labie, World Scientific (2011)- Developed a guideline to integrate “Social and Environmental Management System (SEMS)” for BRAC microfinance programs in Uganda and Tanzania Show less - Managed poverty and environment research units of BRAC- Coordinated and contributed research articles in the baseline report of BRAC’s flagship RCT based extreme poverty program in Bangladesh. Please check: http://research.brac.net/new/component/k2/pathways-out-of-extreme-poverty-findings-from-round-i-survey-of-cfpr-phase-ii- Had research paper based on contingent valuation method accepted for the third South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN-III), New Delhi, November 18-21, 2008; Seraj, K (2008) ‘Willingness to Pay for Improved Sanitation Services and its Implication on Demand Responsive Approach of BRAC Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Program’ http://research.brac.net/new/component/k2/issue-1- Was part of a team responsible for designing and managing a field survey of 45,000 households under BRAC’s Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Program- Used high-end software for statistical and econometrics analysis- Contributed research articles in the baseline report of BRAC’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Program. Please check: http://research.brac.net/publications/WASH_Baseline_findings.pdf- Worked as part of an international consortium to carry out a situation analysis on ecosystem services and poverty alleviation in South Asia. Please check: http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/funded/programmes/espa/final-report-india-hkh/- Carried out a research study using contingent evaluation method to measure willingness to pay for improved sanitation services in Bangladesh. Please check:http://research.brac.net/new/component/k2/issue-1 Show less

  • Country Representative

    May 2013 - May 2017

  • Research Fellow

    Jan 2012 - May 2013

  • Senior Research Associate

    Sept 2009 - Jan 2012

  • Research Associate, Bangladesh

    May 2006 - Sept 2009
• 

  MIT Sloan Fellows MBA Program

  Jun 2017 - Sept 2019

  Mid-career Break

  - Was selected as a Sloan Fellow and completed a full time mid-career MBA program from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)- Worked as a consultant for L-IFT, a financial diary project in Myanmar, to design their platform strategy- Got selected as an adviser for Misfit Technologies Ltd. in Bangladesh for its i-Farmer product; a tech startup helping farmers and livestock owners in Bangladesh

• 

  The Asia Foundation

  Oct 2019 - now

  Country Representative