Suraiya Zannath holds the unique distinction of being the first-ever woman in Bangladesh to qualify as a Chartered Accountant (CA) from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh.
Starting her career with the world-renowned Non-Government Organization BRAC, Suraiya soon became the Chief Financial Officer for Save the Children (USA) Dhaka Office. She has been working as Lead Financial Management Specialist with the World Bank, South Asia Region, based in Dhaka. She is currently on a special assignment with Governance Global Unit in Washington DC.
Suraiya has worked extensively to support multiple South & East Asian countries in strengthening country system in the areas corporate governance, Public Financial Management system, fiscal accountability and transparency and legislative oversight. She was instrumental in promoting Donors’ harmonization, public-private partisanship for improved aid delivery and in developing professional accountancy education to international standards. She played a pivotal role for bringing development partners under a joint agreement for supporting Bangladesh Government’s largest Public Financial Management reform program that includes support to the Ministry of Finance, Auditor General and Public Accounts Committee of the Bangladesh Parliament.
She led several projects to support the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) which resulted in a structured framework for mutual collaboration with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICEAW). Her initiatives for harnessing and connecting global knowledge also led to many partnership agreements between institutions/organizations in Bangladesh and other countries.
Suraiya presents technical papers and appears in various international seminars, talk shows and global forums. Key areas of her discussion include Governance in public and private sector, Information technology & Finance professionals, women empowerment, gender budgeting and role of Accountability Institutions. Suraiya acts as a motivational speaker in various events and participates in global knowledge platform & courses that includes prestigious institutions such as Harvard University.
Suraiya is actively involved with many social organizations in various capacities. She is founding member of the Khan Foundation that works for the underprivileged people with special focus on education and health. She is also a trusty member of Badiul Alam & Jebunnessa Begum Memorial Foundation. She acts as advisor for South Asia Voice for Children (SAVC) and Shamsul Hoque Foundation. Her entrepreneurial initiatives promote business in hotel and restaurant industry. She is also director of Sajna Hotel and Restaurant in Dhaka and Canada.
She received numerous awards. Noteworthy recognitions include Gold Medal by the Hon’ble President of Bangladesh, Shining Personality Award, Appreciation Award, Outstanding Student Award-100 years celebration of Dr. Khastagir School, special awards by ICAB and service recognition award by WB. She was featured in “Who’s who” magazine as one of the 200 prominent female personalities in Bangladesh. She has been recently nominated as a member of the Global Women Economic Forum.