Developing Stories

bKash, a mobile money service offered by BRAC bank in Bangladesh, is making it easier and cheaper for the urban poor to send money to family in rural areas, where financial access is low and poverty rates are high. Rather than having to physically transport remittances to family members, people can now do it through mobile money transfers. “For many people, the use of bKash is perhaps the first and only option for a formal financial service,” says Kamal Quadir, bKash CEO.
Today bKash has become a verb in Bangladesh: “bKash me” means send me money. Shameran Abed, Head of Microfinance at BRAC, notes “It brings a lot more people into the formal financial sector.”

Written, produced, and directed by Jeanette Thomas.
Filmed and edited by Peter Cairns.