Durreen Shahnaz | The Defiant Optimist: Fighting inequality, reinventing finance & investing in women

I'm pleased to introduce Professor Durreen Shahnaz, discussing her soon to be released book 'The Defiant Optimist - Daring to fight global inequality, reinvent finance and invest in women' - it's a deeply personal tale of challenge and family dynamics, a childhood marred in protest and war during the birth of a new nation (Bangladesh), and a growing awareness of the power of supporting business and seeding change .. "(My mothers) only requirement of the shop owners and entrepreneurs she assisted was that they agree to educate their daughters".

In 2020 and 2021 I had the opportunity to learn directly from Prof. Shahnaz by certifying in Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) 'Measuring Impact for Sustainability' and 'Innovative Financing Solutions for Resilience', both of which I'd highly recommend.

Also look up the "Women’s Livelihood Bond" - the world’s first gender-lens impact investing security listed on a stock exchange - "To date, the WLB™ Series has mobilized US$128 million and is empowering over 1 million women and girls across Asia and Africa."

You can pre-order the book by visiting https://defiantoptimist.com/

As her bio goes;

Durreen Shahnaz is a global leader of social impact and pioneer in impact investing. She is also the founder of Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) and IIX Foundation. IIX is the home of the world’s first social stock exchange and one of the world’s largest crowdfunding platforms for impact investing. IIX is also a leader in impact assessment methodology and innovative financial structures such as the world's first gender focused social bond, Women's Livelihood Bond Series.

The company connects the Back Streets of underserved communities to the Wall Streets of the world by changing financial systems and innovating solutions for women empowerment, climate action, and community resilience, thus driving forward the Sustainable Development Goals.

IIX and IIX Foundation’s work has unlocked over US$288 million of private sector investment capital and impacted over 159 million direct household lives.

Shahnaz is the recipient of UN Women’s 2020 Asia-Pacific Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP) award, the 2019 Sustainability Superwoman award from CSRWorks International, 2017 Oslo Business for Peace Foundation Award, often referred to as the ‘Nobel Prize for Business’, the 2017 The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG) Market Builder of the Year award, the 2016 Asia Society Asia Game Changer Award, in addition to the prestigious 2014 Joseph Wharton Social Impact Award given by The Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania. Recently, Shahnaz was named in the Forbes 50 over 50 list as a notable leader in the financial industry.

Shahnaz holds a BA from Smith College and a joint degree, an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a MA from the School for Advanced International Studies at John Hopkins University.

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