Draft:Kamrul H. Tarafder

Kamrul Hasan Tarafder, (born May 25, 1957) sits on several boards in both business and NGOs including microfinance council of the Philippines, credit bureau MiDAS and others.

Born in Bangladesh, he was raised by parents who were both primary school headteachers. The principle of his parents’ sacrifices to serve the poor with whatever capacity one has, inspired Kamrul to be a social worker.

Early Life and Education
Mr. Kamrul Hasan Tarafder was born in Sreebawr, a small village in Habiganj, on May 25, 1957. His parents both worked as primary school principals, while his father served in the British Army Supply Corps as a 2nd Lieutenant in Dimapur, Assam, during WWII. Despite prospects, Kamrul's father chose to return to his native village to represent his village constituents rather than seek a career with the British Army. Kamrul became a social worker after being motivated by his parents' sacrifices to help the needy in whatever capacity he could. However, he dropped out of college due to extreme poverty, as his family had lost everything after the liberation war in 1971. In 1988, he graduated from Dhaka University's Jamalpur College with a bachelor's degree.

Career
From December 1992 to June 2002, Kamrul Hasan Tarafder worked for several NGOs before joining ASA Bangladesh, where he spent most of his time. In 1998, he was assigned to UNDP Philippines as a Team Leader Consultant and was responsible for three major ventures. He officially left ASA Bangladesh in June 2002 and enrolled with AIM in July 2002. However, in December 2002, he returned to UNDP Philippines and resumed his ME studies, eventually graduating with honors on December 16, 2003.

Establishing ASA Philippines Foundation
Kamrul prepared a business plan while attending AIM to establish something from the ground up that will develop exponentially without the help of any grants. Amb. Howard Q. Dee, a Filipino philanthropist, pledged to fund, and the two agreed to form an NGO to aid the needy.

Maria Corazon Cojuangco Aquino joined the deal just before it started. The operations started on the 2nd of August 2004 with only 3 staff and recruited only 2 clients in one month. [https://www.append.com.ph/who-we-work-with/ It started operations in August 2004 with the help of Assisi Development Foundation, and Ninoy & Cory Aquino Foundation. In 2007, PLDT Smart Foundation joined as a third benefactor.]

ASA aims to alleviate poverty through its microfinance initiative by offering affordable microfinance programs to the vulnerable and disadvantaged segments of society while retaining a strong portfolio standard.

In 1998, Kamrul Tarafder started collaborating with ASA Bangladesh and the UN Development Program. Over five years, he taught the ASA technique to more than 20 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the Philippines.

Today, ASA Philippines is one of the largest MFIs in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, servicing nearly 1.9 million borrowers across 1683 branches operated by 10,000 employees. The Foundation has a fund of more than US$454.00 million and equity of US$167.00 million as of August 2020. After securing any funding from sponsors, the Foundation has invested US$61.00 million on the CSR initiative to support its creditors.

Kamrul serves on many businesses and non-governmental organizations, including the Microfinance Council of the Philippines, the credit bureau MiDAS, and others. He has been invited to talk about ASA Philippines at universities such as Oxford and Harvard. He talks to national and foreign viewers regularly. He was awarded the coveted FAIM Triple-A Award in February 2020.

ASA is the Philippines' leading microfinance agency, with over 1.2 million active vulnerable woman creditors, most of whom are moms, with a collective record of over 99 percent. ASA Philippines has supported programs such as constructing sanitation networks, creating alternative energy sources, and disaster relief. ASA has 16 years of practice in the microfinance industry. They've even been offering Islamic financing for around six years. It began in Taguig in 2014, and from there, they traveled to Malaysia, Indonesia, and Bangladesh, among other nations.

Personal Life
Kamrul Hasan Tarafder is married to Hajja Dabirunnessa Khatun Tarafder, a resident of Habiganj, Bangladesh, and they have one child, IT entrepreneur Mehedi Anwarul Hasan Tarafder. They have a granddaughter, Nessa Mahdia Cruz Tarafder, who is one year old.