Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina handed over ‘Fintech Pioneer Award’ to bKash, the country’s largest mobile financial services (MFS) provider, at Bangladesh Startup Summit-2023 for playing pioneering role in Bangladesh’s fintech sector.
The Prime Minister handed over the award to Kamal Quadir, founder and CEO of bKash at the inaugural ceremony of Bangladesh Startup Summit-2023. Zunaid Ahmed Palak, State Minister for Information and Communication Technology (ICT); Shamsul Arefin, Secretary of ICT Division, and Sami Ahmed, Managing Director of Startup Bangladesh Limited were present on the occasion.
bKash started its journey 12 years ago as one of the facilitators of the government’s ‘Digital Bangladesh’ vision. Alongside bringing a huge number of unbanked population under financial inclusion, bKash is relentlessly working to empower and enable its customers in their daily transactions. With 70 million verified customers, 330,000 agents, and 550,000 merchants, bKash is now a member of every family in the country. Having policy support from the Bangladesh Bank and guidance of the government, the company is entirely built by local talents – bKash is made in Bangladesh and made for Bangladesh.
bKash has set a unique example of financial inclusion in the world. The company has fetched USD 381 million worth of investment from globally renowned companies like BRAC Bank, US based Money in Motion LLC, International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Ant Group, and SoftBank Vision Fund. Being one of the key implementation partners of the government’s welfare program, bKash has been transparently disbursing all types of allowances, stimulus packages, and stipends to the actual beneficiaries.
bKash is constantly putting efforts to strengthen digital ecosystem to help build a smart economy, which is a crucial component of the government’s ‘Smart Bangladesh’ vision. So, in 2041, the country will transform into cashless smart Bangladesh.
Kamal Quadir, founder and CEO of bKash, said, “The award came as a recognition of bKash’s 12-year-long endeavours of making peoples’ daily transactions convenient and secure through financial inclusion. Receiving the Fintech Pioneer Award from the Prime Minister will greatly inspire us and further accelerate our journey.”
