Snapchat former chief strategy officer Imran Khan has expressed his interest in investing in Bangladesh during a meeting with Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus in New York.
Imran, a well-known American investor of Bangladeshi origin, left his homeland at the age of 18 to pursue higher education in the United States and went on to build a remarkable career in global finance and technology.
He gained recognition as an investment banker specialising in technology companies and later played an instrumental role in Alibaba’s record-setting IPO, one of the largest in history, reports BSS.
At Snapchat, he was credited with helping the social media giant scale from zero to a valuation of $728 million within months.
Currently serving as Chairman of Aleph Holding and CEO of Proem Asset—a firm he founded in 2018 focusing on technology-driven sectors such as fintech—Imran said he was inspired by Yunus’s lifelong dedication to fighting poverty.
“I deeply admire your work. You are a source of national pride for all of us,” he told Yunus, adding that the time was ripe to explore opportunities in his homeland.
During the meeeting on Saturday, Yunus encouraged Imran to invest in Bangladesh’s rapidly growing fintech, healthcare, and social business sectors.
He also proposed that leading American investors dedicate at least one percent of their portfolios to social business initiatives or a dedicated fund for such ventures, an idea Khan welcomed.
Reflecting on the country’s changing landscape, Imran noted, “The timing is favorable: the regulatory environment has become more supportive.”
He emphasised that Bangladesh, with its youthful population and emerging fintech ecosystem, holds enormous potential. “It is a frontier market with vast opportunities in digital payments and infrastructure,” he observed.
Imran revealed that he has been closely monitoring Bangladesh’s investment climate since the interim government took office in August last year.
Yunus invited Imran to visit Bangladesh in the coming months to witness the progress firsthand. “Bangladesh’s young people need figures like you to inspire them. It is an exciting time back home,” Yunus told him.
