Professor Durreen Shahnaz

Founder of IIX and IIX Foundation

 
Prof Durreen Shahnaz, a Social Entrepreneur from Bangladesh, is the founder of Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIX), the home of the world’s first social stock exchange and the world’s largest equity crowdfunding platform for impact investing. Prof Shahnaz also founded IIX Foundation, an impact assessment and knowledge platform for impact investing. IIX and IIX Foundation’s work has impacted lives of over 10 million people across Asia.

Prof Shahnaz’s career effectively blended finance and development; starting at Morgan Stanley and then going onto Grameen Bank. She taught, conducted research and founded the Program for Social Innovation and Change at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. In addition, she founded, grew, and sold oneNest, a global e-marketplace for handmade goods which impacted lives of more than half million women across the world. 

Prof Shahnaz holds a BA from Smith College; a joint degree -- MBA from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania and MA from the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She is recipient of the 2014 Joseph Wharton Social Impact award, 2016 Asia Society Asia Game Changer Award and the 2017 Oslo Business for Peace Award. She is also an Advisor to UNDP, UN ESCAP, Clinton Global Initiative and National Book Council.