Meet The Team
Tina is the former CEO and the founding Managing Director of Startup Bangladesh Ltd. – the first and only venture capital fund sponsored by the Government of Bangladesh (GoB). During her five-year tenure with the GoB, Tina oversaw the pre-launch strategic and operational plans for the fund (as Investment Advisor to ICT) and then the formal launch of the $65 million fund (as CEO).
A certified public accountant, with more than 25 years of Silicon Valley PE and VC experience, currently Tina is a Senior Government Policy Advisor and Global Investments Liaison with a focus on digital women entrepreneurship/SME, technology and innovation start-ups and equity and inclusion. Her work entails relevant engagements with global development agencies cutting across multiple emerging economies. She also serves as the Managing Director, Asia with US Market Access Center, USA.
Formerly, a Senior Director for PwC, USA and Director for Horsley Bridge Partners, USA, Tina’s expertise lies in intergovernmental relations and public-private partnership facilitation, financial due diligence, valuations, equity structures, and governance models, stakeholder management and consensus building, media and public speaking engagements. She was featured in the ‘Standout 45’ Women in FinTech Powerlist 2021.
Anita Ghazi Rahman defines law as her calling. She obtained her LL.B. (Hons) degree from University College London (UCL) in 2002 and was called to the Bar of England and Wales from Lincoln’s Inn in July 2003, completing her Bar Vocational Course with “Merit” from The College of Law. Anita qualified as an Advocate in Bangladesh in 2004, as Advocate of the High Court Division of Bangladesh Supreme Court in 2006 and as Advocate of the apex Court, the Appellate Division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court in 2018.
Anita focuses her practice on company, general corporate law and dispute resolution. She provides corporate and transactional advice with respect to business formation, employment, financing, IP, services and procurement contracts, joint ventures, mergers & acquisitions and other business restructurings and also advises on the acquisition, development, and disposition of commercial, industrial and residential real estate. Anita heads the firm’s Litigation practice.
Anita has been listed amongst the “Inspiring individuals to follow in 2015 in Bangladesh” in Dhaka Tribune, Future Startup’s “15 Under 35 For 2015: Entrepreneurs, Trailblazers, Mold-Breakers Of Bangladesh” and has been featured in the book “From Stones to Castles : In conversation with 16 inspiring personalities of Bangladesh” and “Aine Tarunno”. She is a Asia 21 Young Leader for the Class of 2016 (https://asiasociety.org/asia21-young-leaders) and one of the initial signatories to the Belt & Road Legal Service International Cooperation Platform.
Anita is the Founder of The Legal Circle and Founder of Think Legal Bangladesh (www.thinklegalbangladesh.com – the first of its kind, free open and crowd-sourced web-based legal resources platform), as well as the Founder and Publisher of Legal Circle Law Reports (LCLR).
Anita Ghazi Rahman serves on the Boards of a number of non-profits and professional associations, and Mentors for national and international incubator and accelerator programmes. Anita is an active mentor in the startup ecosystem since its nascent stages; and frequently mentors for BetterStories, Founders’ Institute, GP Accelerator, LightCastle Center for Advanced Learning, Seedstars, Startup Dhaka, YGAP and BYLC Ventures, among others. She is a sponsor-member of Bangladesh Angels Network (BAN).
Anita is an Independent Director of Chittagong Stock Exchange, previously having served as Independent Director of Golden Harvest Agro Industries Limited, and is a Member of the National Advisory Board for Impact Investment in Bangladesh. She is a member of the Investment Committee in Startup Bangladesh Ltd, the flagship venture capital fund of the ICT Ministry of Bangladesh.
She serves on the Board of iSocial, a social impact company empowering communities through women entrepreneurship, on the boards of Jaago Foundation and Samdani Art Foundation, spearheading the bi-annual Dhaka Art Summit (DAS). She regularly advises home grown not-for-profits and also foreign NGOs, non-profits and donor agencies, the latter through iProbono and Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Farzana Kashfi is a development practitioner with extensive experience in working for underserved populations. She has worked at multiple national and international organizations that include the World Bank, Grameen Bank, International Labour Organization, Acumen Fund and Sajida Foundation. She is on the board of Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC) as well as United Trust, an affiliate of United Group. She is an impact advisor to North South University’s startup accelerator program and an advisor to BRAC University’s Center of Entrepreneurship Development. Farzana holds a master’s in Public Administration from Columbia University and a bachelor of science in Mathematical Applications in Economics and Finance from the University of Toronto
Sharawwat Islam, CFA
With more than 15 years of experience in the financial sector of Bangladesh, Sharawwat joined Truvalu from her passion to work with impact investments. Before joining Truvalu, she worked as an investment banker for over 9 years.
Nirjhor Rahman is the CEO of Bangladesh Angels, the country's first angel investment network to connect innovative startups with smart capital via individual and institutional investors. An Acumen Fellow, previously he was the Country Director for ygap, a social enterprise accelerator where he helped build a national venture network. He started his career in Bangladesh by leading the scale-up of a social enterprise in urban sanitation called SWEEP, which is now in 4 cities and has served 100,000s with safe, affordable sanitation services.