Governance

Advisory Committee

We’re fortunate to have the guidance of an Advisory Committee which is chaired by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus. Meeting twice each year, the Advisory Committee advise the Board on inclusive economic development and zero poverty, unemployment and emissions. The Advisory Committee also seeks to host events to raise awareness and attract investment for new locations, innovation and expansion.

Professor Yunus

Advisory Committee Chair

Recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, Professor Muhammad Yunus is internationally recognised for his work in poverty alleviation and the empowerment of women.

Professor Yunus has successfully melded capitalism with social responsibility to create the Grameen Bank, a microcredit institution that provides small amounts of working capital to the poor for self-employment. From its origins as an action-research project in 1976, Grameen Bank has grown to provide collateral-free loans to 7.5 million clients in more than 82,072 villages in Bangladesh, 97% of whom are women.

Over the past two decades, Grameen Bank has loaned more than $6.5 billion to the poorest of the poor. The innovative approach to poverty alleviation pioneered by Professor Yunus in a small Bangladeshi village has inspired a global microcredit movement reaching out to millions of poor women from rural South Africa to inner city Chicago.

His autobiography, “Banker to the Poor: Microlending and the Battle Against World Poverty,” has been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, English, Japanese, Portuguese, Dutch, Gujarati, Chinese, German, Turkish and Arabic.

Peter Hunt AM

Advisory Committee Member

As an investment banker Peter Hunt AM advised local and multi-national companies and governments in Australia for nearly 35 years.  He co-founded and was Executive Chairman of one of Australia’s leading investment banking advisory firms and is an active philanthropist.

“The poor are very creative.  All they need is opportunity.  Credit brings that opportunity.”

Board of Directors

Our board are well connected recognised leaders in their fields and are inspired by our bold vision. The board meets quarterly and comprises up to ten directors who provide strategic oversight and governance to the organisation. There are three sub-committees of the board covering audit and risk, fundraising and social impact.

The board of directors are passionate advocate of the Grameen model of poverty alleviation. Each of our directors have shared three key words that reflect what Grameen means to them as part of their biographies below.

Ian Neil SC

Chair

“Dignity, Hope and Purpose”

Ian Neil is one of Australia’s leading barristers. He is a passionate advocate in and out of the courtroom, a mentor and leader, and an accomplished speaker, commentator and writer. He acts for, and provides strategic advice to, many of Australia’s largest corporations, and has an active pro bono practice in human rights and social justice. He has supported the Grameen movement in Bangladesh, Nepal and Colombia for 30 years.

Nadia Ladak

Director

Nadia is the Country Head of International Subsidiary Banking at HSBC Australia with 25 years of Financial Industry experience across North America, Asia, Australia and Middle East. As a senior member of the HSBC Executive Team, she has held leadership roles across Commercial Banking business, driving strategy and execution across cultures. She has over a decade of Non-Executive Directorship experience in Digital Financial Services, Social Impact and Financial Inclusion. Winner of 2020 Australia Women in Banking & Finance Award, Ambassador for Female Leadership in front line roles, Executive Sponsor for Ethnic & Cultural Inclusion.

Dr Masud Isa

Director

“Inclusion, Better Livelihoods and Economic Independence”

Dr Masud Isa is a Grameen expert with significant experience in the management and design of microfinance operations. He also worked as a microfinance consultant for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Grameen Trust. Currently, he is engaged in consultancy, research, teaching entrepreneurship, innovation and start-ups, social business and development finance.

Jenni Henderson

Director

Jenni has nearly a decade experience working in development finance with governments, multilaterals and development banks throughout Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia-Pacific. She currently consults for the IFC Pacific Program as part of the Microfinance and Alternative Finance Practice Group and co-founded August Group—an organisation focused on unlocking finance for SMEs in emerging markets. She is passionate about ethical investment, female entrepreneurship, and financial inclusion. For Jenni, Grameen is an organisation at the intersection of these things, which offers hope and the potential to transform lives.

Prometheus Siddiqui

Director

Prometheus Siddiqui has a long history of involvement with Grameen across multiple countries. His experience also includes managing three Asian based companies in the Philippines and Cambodia and two Australian companies. 

Mari Kauppinen

Director

Mari an award-winning, accomplished Commercial, Strategy and Marketing leader with over 25 years of experience in a wide range of roles in B2B and B2C industries across markets in Australia and internationally. Having developed, driven and delivered on large scale commercial strategies with large budgets and teams, Mari has proven success in achieving transformation to gain sustainable business growth. She is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD), holds a Master of Science – Marketing (Helsinki School of Economics, Finland) and Master of Communications – Public Relations (UTS, Sydney).

Paul A. Murnane AM

Director

Paul Murnane is a corporate advisor and company director with over 35 years of diversified board and executive experience in investment banking/financial services, consulting and general management in Australia and overseas.

Krassy Alexandrova

Director

Krassy is an experienced strategy leader with international experience across Asia Pacific, Europe and the US. A results oriented strategic and commercial thinker, she brings energy and passion to every challenge to drive maximum business and social impact. Krassy was first inspired by the Grameen philosophy 15 years ago while studying at MIT where she built the business plan for a microfinance enterprise in Kenya, and since then she has advised not for profit organizations across Africa and Asia on access to finance challenges and social impact investing strategies.

Nurjahan Begum

Director

Ms. Nurjahan Begum, one of the earliest associates of Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus during the establishment of Grameen Bank, served as Acting Managing Director of the bank and Principal of Grameen Bank Central Training Institute. She served as Managing Director of Grameen Shakti and Grameen Shikkha and is currently working as Advisor to Professor Yunus and Consultant of Grameen Shikkha besides serving several Grameen organizations as chairperson, director or trustee. She has served Grameen Foundation, USA as director and is currently serving as director of Grameenphone Ltd., Bangladesh; Grameen Italia Foundation, Italy; and Center for Mass Education in Science (CMES), Bangladesh.

 

She was awarded the Susan M. Davis Lifetime Achievement Award 2008 by Grameen Foundation, the World Summit Millennium Development Goals Award 2009, the Vision Award 2009, the Outstanding Contribution to Education Award at Ed Leadership 7th International Roundtable 2014, and the Yunus Social Business Summit Award in 2017. She participated in the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit held in Los Angeles in 2007 and was appointed President to the Foundation for Justice Prize giving ceremony held in Valencia, Spain in 2007.