Syed Muntasir Ridwan has worked in private sector engagement for different sectors over the last ten years. He has led the establishment of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Business Network (SBN) in Bangladesh and has opened a strategic pathway towards private sector engagement in nutrition, particularly for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Mr. Ridwan has also played an instrumental role during the National School Meal Policy formulation, particularly in articulating the long-term economic benefit of a school meal program to the Government of Bangladesh.
Mr. Ridwan has strong experience in bridging public-private partnerships, and he has worked in the large-scale food fortification program with Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). He has worked with multiple of industries, including rice millers, salt millers, edible oil refineries, and processed food industries, to influence the business to adopt best practices in food fortification and facilitated technical assistance to different industries. He also worked closely with the Ministry of Industries to strengthen the regulatory monitoring and technical capacity of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institutions (BSTI) to improve the quality control of food fortification in Bangladesh.
Mr. Ridwan also has extensive experience in business incubation and business ecosystem strengthening. He has designed the NutriStar Innovation Challenge in 2020 and the Urban Disrupt Food System innovation challenge in 2021 to bring disruptive innovation to the food systems of Bangladesh. He has also led the development of capacity development tools for SMEs to strengthen their capacity on nutrition, food safety, and Business Development Skills (BDS).
Mr. Ridwan started his career as an investment analyst at RACE Assessment Management Company. As an investment analyst, he covered multiple sectors, including Banking Sector, Pharmaceuticals, and the Power and Energy sector, to do macroeconomic, industry, and company analysis to generate investment decisions. Mr. Ridwan has also conducted valuation of a number of companies for Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the stock market; he was also engaged in the due diligence process for private equity investments.
Mr. Ridwan graduated from the Norwegian School of Economics, specializing in Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources. He also did a second master’s in health economics at the Institute of Health Economics (IHE) at Dhaka University. Mr. Ridwan is a certified Permaculture Designer and is passionate about regenerative agriculture and the circular economy.
