ADVISORY PANEL
Market Research Consultant
Syed Mostaq Rubbi is a prominent figure in the market research arena with multi-industry exposure in both industrial and market research projects. He has developed and executed market research projects including habit & attitude study, brand health study, retail tracking, product development, brand name test, pack design, CSS, PLM, market segmentation study, mystery shopping, pricing study, customer satisfaction study, feasibility study, etc. among others.
He has worked with companies like Unilever, Coca Cola, Grameen Phone Ltd., Transparency International (Bangladesh), SwissContact Katalyst, UNICEF, DFID, FBCCI, Banglalink, SMC, DHL Worldwide Express, Marico Bangadesh Ltd. etc to name a few during his wide-ranging career.
Mr. Rubbi has an MBA from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka, and has worked for Prothom Alo, MRC Mode and M&M Associates Ltd among others.
Development Consultant
Dr. Afroza Ahmed is a well-known figure in the development field, with particular prominence in pro-poor housing and land tenure security, urban planning, land-use planning and infrastructure development, land readjustment, renewable energy, and hygiene behavior change programming.
She has been a leading force in planning and implementing the urban WASH programme, shelter component and infrastructure services programme in international NGOs like Practical Action and CARE International, UNDP Bangladesh, UNICEF Bangladesh and Indonesia. She has also run projects relating to contemporary water and sanitation technologies, institutional capacity building of urban infrastructure deployment and solid waste management including composting technologies (Worked with Waste Concern (NGO) in Bangladesh and Surabaya University).
She has served with the United Nations and reputed international organizations such as UNICEF, UNDP, World Bank, CARE and Practical Action in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sierra Leone.
Ms Ahmed is currently working on a number of housing initiatives for low income communities of Bangladesh, to develop implementation manual of housing upgradation and land tenure security components and also develop climate resilient housing for urban low-income communities of Bangladesh for the National Urban Poverty Reduction Project (NUPRP).
Economist
Dr. Kazi Iqbal has a vast career span and in-depth knowledge on the fields related to macroeconomics, development economics and applied economics.
Dr. Iqbal received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Washington, USA in 2006. He has worked for the World Bank Institute in Washington DC as a consultant in Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Division. He is currently holding the position of Senior Research Fellow, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and has also worked with UNDP on the SSIP (Support to Sustainable and Inclusive Planning) project as a senior consultant.
Dr. Kazi has publications in internationally reputed journals such as Journal of Public Economic Theory, Climate Change Economics, Developing Economies, Demographic Research, BMC Public Health, etc. He is an associate editor of Journal of Bangladesh Studies, member of the Editorial Board of Bangladesh Development Studies and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Lahore Journal of Economics.