AfeefZaman

Afeef Zaman is an expert in problem solving in emerging markets, especially his home country of Bangladesh. He’s the CEO of ShopUp, Bangladesh’s largest full stack business-to-business commerce platform for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. A “radical optimist,” he bootstrapped Ice9 — a venture builder providing solutions for emerging economies — to success in his 20s. Following this, he decided to help the entrepreneurs who run the country’s 4.5 million popular mom-and-pop stores but struggle to access its formal financial system due to a lack of digital presence. Thanks to ShopUp, they can now access digital credit, B2B sourcing, logistics, and business management solutions. After closing South Asia’s largest funding round worth $75 million in 2021, the company has just added to its funds with a $34 million series B extension round.