Simone Sultana

Stories Seldom Told

“And we have centuries worth of information at our hands and we really don't find time to do the sort of work we should, as individuals, to make this world a more thoughtfully choreographed place rather than one where we have existing inequalities and the powerful manage to control media and the way we think. I think we have it all in our power to actually be more informed.”

Simone, a Bangladeshi-Brit, is an economist and photographer and grew up in North London in the 1970s.

Aged 5, Simone along with her family escaped from persecution during the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war and moved to London.

She grew up in a fairly politicised family, her parents influenced by the left politics of the 1960s, and their activism grew with the movement to liberate Bangladesh.

She herself married a South African involved in SA’s liberation and has spent much of her working life working in the consensus building space with different stakeholders on economic policy, gender rights, climate and worker safety.

After the collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh and the tragic death of over 1000 workers, Simone has been working with safety for workers in the global supply chains with some of the largest global brands and local industry.

She chaired BRAC UK for ten years, was on its global board and is now on the founding governance body of BRAC which is the world’s largest development NGO.

BRAC is ranked number 1 in the Top 100 NGOs for the last five years running - with scaled impact on health, education, livelihoods, gender rights and a trailblazer in eradicating extreme poverty.