B/deshi is a community-driven organization committed to connecting the Bangladeshi diaspora and empowering us to take control of the global Bangladeshi narrative.
It has a double meaning: "be deshi"—for those who grew up abroad and want to build a stronger cultural connection to Bangladesh—and "bideshi"—for those wanting greater access to the global landscape afforded by stronger relationships within our community.
Diaspora refers to the spread of people away from one's homeland. In this case, it takes into effect Bangladeshis who over the past 50+ years have left Bangladesh and settled elsewhere. Currently, over 13 million Bangladeshis live outside of Bangladesh.
There are several B/deshi initiatives in progress which we will be unveiling over the next few months. To begin with, we are "launching" the organization across cities in North America and elsewhere to build a foundational community.
Our goal is to connect professionals across all fields, especially to under-represented fields. The primary ask is that we all operate at the highest standard possible to elevate each other as well as the Bangladeshi brand as a whole.
Absolutely! Ping us via our socials, or come to one of our events.
Here are some of the locations we're planning to have upcoming events:
Dubai
San Francisco/Bay Area
Seattle
Singapore
Washington, DC
If you'd like to help us organize events in these or other cities, please reach out to us.
Here are examples of Bangladeshis around the world changing the way we live.
Sohla El-Waylly is a chef, culinary writer and producer recently seen as a judge on HBO Max's The Big Brunch with Dan Levy. She previously worked at The New York Times ("Mystery Menu"), The History Channel ("Ancient Recipes"), Babish Culinary Universe ("Stump Sohla"), Serious Eats, Bon Appétit Magazine as well as Michelin star-awarded restaurants Atera and Del Posto. She also owned a diner in Brooklyn named Hail Mary. In October, she is releasing her first cookbook titled "Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook." She is a graduate of University of California, Irvine and The Culinary Institute of America.
Nusrat Choudhury is a lawyer who will be serving as a judge at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. She is both the first Muslim woman and the first Bangladeshi-American to be a federal judge. Previously, she was the Legal Director of ACLU of Illinois and as well as the Deputy Director of the Racial Justice Program at the ACLU. She is a graduate of Columbia University, Princeton University and Yale Law School.
Rumman Chowdhury is a globally-recognized leader in artificial intelligence (AI) ethics, having most recently been a director at Twitter handling their Machine Learning, Ethics, Transparency and Accountability (META) division. Previously, she was CEO and founder of Parity, an enterprise algorithmic audit platform company. She also served as Global Lead for Responsible AI at Accenture, where her work led to algorithmically identifying bias in AI systems. She is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Columbia University and UC San Diego and is currently a visiting fellow at Harvard University.
Dinar Ahmed is a Partner with BDC Capital, the largest venture capital investor in Canada. He currently leads early stage investments across BDC's pan-Canadian Seed Fund. He serves on multiple portfolio company boards, focusing on growth, strategy, M&A and fundraising initiatives. Dinar's professional background ranges from Product, to Corporate Development, Strategy and M&A. He is a graduate of the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University.
Omar Ishrak most recently served the Chairman of Intel, the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer currently valued at US$125 billion. Previously, he was the CEO and Chairman of Medtronic, a leading maker of medical devices currently valued at US$110 billion. In addition, was also the President and CEO of GE HealthCare Systems. Omar has degrees from King's College London and attended St. Joseph's in Dhaka.
Emad Mostaque is the Founder & CEO of Stability AI, the startup behind image generating systems like Stable Diffusion and much of the AI avatars on social media recently. In October, the company closed US$101 million in funding at a US$1 billion valuation led by Coatue and Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from O'Shaughnessy Ventures. Emad previously worked as a fund manager at Pictet Asset Management and was co-Chief Investment Officer at Capricorn Fund Managers. He is a graduate of University of Westminster and University of Oxford.
Joy Crookes is a Bangladeshi-Irish singer/songwriter hailing from South London who often incorporates Bengali cultural influences into her music. “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now”—the lead single from debut album Skin—gained additional visibility after it was featured on the EA SPORTS FIFA 22 video game soundtrack. The album was one of the 11 in the world nominated for 2022 Mercury Prize, arguably the most prestigious music award given to British artists yearly.
Ryad Yousuf is the first Bangladeshi to be made partner at Goldman Sachs, one of the world's leading investment banks, where he's the co-head of emerging markets sales for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Ryad is a graduate of Bates College, has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and attended University Laboratory School & College in Dhaka. Previously, he worked at Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch.
Shahana Hanif is a member of the New York City Council, representing the 39th District, covering Park Slope and central Brooklyn. She is the very first time a South Asian, Bangladeshi-American or Muslim woman has held a seat in the city's lawmaking body. At age 17, she was diagnosed with lupus, which led her to become an advocate for disability justice, a lens via which she views all policy. Shahana is a graduate of Brooklyn College.
Tanvir Ghani is the Co-Founder & President at Tybourne Capital, one of the largest hedge funds in Asia peaking at over US$8 billion assets under management (AUM), active in both public markets and private equity. He also co-founded The Osiris Group, a Bangladesh-focused private equity shop that's previously invested in startups such as Pathao. Tanvir has a Masters from Columbia University, a Bachelors from Lawrence University and attended St. Joseph Higher Secondary School (Dhaka). Previously, he was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong.
Ian Shakil founded Augmedix in 2012 to automate medical documentation and data services to large healthcare systems globally—with 80% of its employees based in Bangladesh. In 2021, the company listed on Nasdaq ($AUGX) while raising an additional US$40 million, bringing its total funding to over US$100 million. Ian is a graduate of Duke University ('06) and Stanford Graduate School of Business ('12).
Nabeel Alamgir is the Co-Founder & CEO of Lunchbox, a modern ordering system for restaurants to grow their online revenue—and has raised US$72 million from investors such as Coatue to take on Grubhub and Uber Eats! A proud immigrant, child of a cab driver and formerly a bus boy at Bareburger in Queens, Nabeel is representative of a new crop of Bangladeshis putting the country on the global map.
A little story on how it all started.
In early 2016, Fahim Saleh and I found ourselves in Brooklyn thinking about Bangladesh. I told him a story of two Queens-born Bangladeshis whom I’d met the week before, and how they told me that they were struggling to take advantage of the resources available in the great City of New York. On the surface, their complaints about the lack of access and privilege seemed like excuses, but a deeper dive revealed that the Bangladeshi diaspora experience has never truly been optimized.
We are disconnected generationally, geographically and through class structures.
“How do we make sure our people in the future can aspire for more?” The conversation immediately delved into a brainstorming session on how to move forward. Fahim had recently introduced me to amazing local Bangladeshis whom I hadn't met before, so I knew there was a path there. We started coming up with ideas on how to empower the children of immigrants, how to help the promising youth back home and, in the process, strengthen the Bangladeshi brand throughout the world. In addition, we recognized the need for more visible Bangladeshi role models who operated at global standards.
In building a foundation, we sought to find a name that bridged gaps—and after saying “bideshi” out loud, we realized it could reflect the need to "be deshi" (for someone in the diaspora lacking a cultural connection) or "bideshi" (for those needing greater exposure to the global landscape).
We simplified it into B/deshi.
At the heart of our mission is a desire to build a stronger global Bangladeshi identity. In order to do so, we believe it's critcal to strengthen the connection between these four core groups:
In order to achieve this, we’ll begin with what we believe is needed most:
Taking control of our own narrative.
The collective stories of our people across geographies and industries won’t simply inspire our own but will also divert the narrative away from pity and poverty. The Bangladeshi spirit has undoubtedly gone through generations of tragedy, which is why it’s important for us to show the world what we’ve been able to build on top of it all, honoring those who've sweat and bled for a better Bangladeshi experience. What we do now is for them, for ourselves and the future we fight for.
Let this be the beginning of our Bangladeshi decade.
Rahat Ahmed
Co-Founder
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