Leadership

Zubaida Bai

President and CEO

Zubaida Bai is Grameen Foundation's President and CEO. Beginning her career as a mechanical engineer, Zubaida transitioned into the social impact space after visiting a midwife in rural India.

"The midwife proudly showed me the tool she used for cutting umbilical cords. It was a sickle, also used for cutting grass. I knew at that moment that I would bring life saving change to women in need."

Watch Zubaida's inspiring TED Talk discussing her clean birth kit in a purse that provides new mothers, even those in rural locations, with everything needed for a hygienic birth and a healthy delivery.

Bai went on to found ayzh, a social enterprise that designs vital hygiene and reproductive healthcare products to women and girls in resource-poor settings. She was also the managing director of social ventures at CARE International.

In 2022, Bai joined Grameen Foundation as the President and CEO, advancing Grameen's work to invest in women’s power by reframing the role of gender in the local and global economy, with the goal of ending poverty and hunger in our lifetime.

Bai has been recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, a Maternal Health Champion by Ashoka, a TED Fellow/ Speaker, and named United Nations SDG 3 Pioneer by the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). She is a Visiting Social Innovator with Harvard University’s Social Innovation Change Initiative (SICI) and a member of the Governing Body at SEMA (Shaping Equitable Market Access) for Reproductive Health.

She holds a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from Colorado State University. She was also conferred with an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Claremont Graduate University in 2018 for her ability to work at the intersection of multiple sectors seamlessly, and to energetically bring her unique insights and fresh perspective to all societal challenges.