A Bangladeshi national, Zubair Sadeque oversees the World Bank’s rural electrification and renewable energy projects in Bangladesh. 

Sadeque joined the World Bank Dhaka Office in 2008. Shortly after joining the Bank, he became the task team leader of the successful Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Development (RERED) project. Under the RERED project, the Solar Home System (SHS) program has emerged as a viable off-grid model for providing access to electricity in rural areas where the grid is not economical or is not expected to reach in the foreseeable future. The SHS program is a successful public-private partnership where the government-owned Infrastructure Development Company Limited partners with non-governmental organizations to provide electricity services to rural households and shops. A typical SHS can run four to five lights, a black-and-white television, and a mobile charger. The World Bank is supporting the SHS program in a number of countries, but Bangladesh’s has been the fastest-growing SHS program in the world.

Sadeque started his career at the Bank in 1997 as an intern in the World Bank Dhaka Office after completing his undergraduate degree in business from the North South University, Dhaka. After working several years at the Bank doing financial analysis and modeling for energy sector projects, he went to the United States for higher studies. After completing his master’s degree in Pittsburgh, Penn., Sadeque started working as a consultant in the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C. During this time, he did financial analysis and modeling work for Bank projects in a number of countries in Africa and the Middle East. In 2006, Sadeque returned to Bangladesh and started teaching finance courses at the North South University. In 2008, he took up his present position at the World Bank. Sadeque earned his CFA charter in 2009.