Testimonials
Abir joined our Policy LINK Project Team as a Stakeholder Engagement Consultant, and has been a tremendous partner and collaborator across key external engagement activities across Bangladesh. Abir has successfully integrated directly into the project team, and demonstrated his skills and capabilities across design, facilitation, and stakeholder engagement and communications in a remote and often high-paced/pressure environment. Abir is able to navigate both international program complexity as well as highlight local participation and engagement at a regional level. It's been a true pleasure to have Abir on our team!
— Cristine Geers, Senior Innovation Advisor at USAID, and former Director at Global Knowledge Initiative (GKI)
It was a pleasure to work and interact with Abir. He is smart, motivated, and interesting. He learns new topics quickly and gets along well with others around him. I would be happy to work in the future with Abir.
— Simon Davies, Sr. Specialist/Economist at COWI, and former Senior Economist at The World Bank
Along with the rest of our Bangladesh project team, I worked extensively with Abir on a USAID-funded, market-systems project, where we focused on improving financial capacity and access to finance of the stakeholders in the agriculture value chain. Abir’s contribution was critical to the success of our project, especially in business development, project management, identifying/resolving problems, and obtaining stakeholder buy-in. I believe Abir has the potential to take on greater responsibility in managing projects and organizations and delivering impact. It will be a pleasure to work with Abir again on future projects.
— Razi Amin, Partner, ASPEN Capital Solutions, and former Senior Advisor at International Finance Corporation (IFC)
I worked with Abir Chowdhury for approximately one year while I was managing the USAID-financed Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia Mechanization and Extension (CSISA-MEA) project and he was our private sector engagement and communications manager employed by iDE. Abir is an exceptional talent being able to bridge the divide between the donor financed development projects and the private sector. Being able to communicate effectively with both parties and bring them together to implement innovative programs that both benefited the private sector partners of the project and local micro-business and farmers is an exceptional talent. Abir applied this most effectively to partnerships with banks and nonbank financial services institutions, one of the most challenging sectors. The partnerships resulted in substantial loans being secured for light engineering sector micro and small enterprises and to businesses buying farm machinery. I consider any business Abir manages would provide his clients with excellent services particularly where they were used to support development programs engage with and communicate with the private sector.
— Tim Russell, Former Chief of Party of three USAID-funded Feed the Future projects in Bangladesh
Abir and I worked together on a couple of USAID-funded projects, both in their start-up phases, and I would be thrilled to work with him again someday. He is well-connected within the Bangladesh development sector, which was invaluable during the early stakeholder engagement and partnership discussions. He also facilitated several webinars for us and managed many complex stakeholder relationships. He was able to hit the ground running, thanks to his all-round skill set and experience of having worked on various development challenges. He is a big picture thinker and understands how to strengthen brands with the right kind of positioning and messaging. Abir’s blend of sound technical knowledge, and partnerships and communications expertise is rare to find, and I cannot recommend him enough.
— Stuti Basnyet, Private Sector Engagement Advisor at USAID/Nepal
Abir and I collaborated frequently on communications projects during his time at iDE Bangladesh. I would describe Abir as polished, professional, and dedicated. His communications and people skills are tremendous assets that I'm confident will serve him well long into the future. I would be delighted to work with Abir again someday.
— Katherine Koch, Vice President, Global Communications & Marketing at iDE
I worked with Abir on a USAID and GFF-funded project in Bangladesh, and I would highly recommend working with him. He has excellent networks and knowledge of the both the investor and donor ecosystem, which were invaluable to the project. I hope our paths cross again someday!
— Chloe Eddleston, Manager at Social Finance
Abir completed a consultancy with my department at URC. He was highly professional, responsive, and easy to work with. He produced a high-quality technical report. It was exactly what we needed and it was right on time. I highly recommend him.
— Sajani Khondker, Program Manager at URC
I worked with Abir on the USAID-funded CSISA-MEA project in Bangladesh to improve agricultural mechanization among smallholder farmers and to improve the ability of SME factories to manufacture spare parts and machinery in-country, rather than having to import them. Abir was a delight to work with. He could be counted on to perform top-drawer work in a timely and professional manner. It was a loss to the project when he moved on.
— Jonathan Colton, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology
