SAJIDA Foundation started its journey in 1987 as a family-funded school in the garage of the founder’s residence. It supported underprivileged children who might not obtain an education otherwise. By 1993, the organization had evolved into a formal institution offering micro-credit to poor urban women. At that time, it focused its activities in the urban neighborhoods of “old Dhaka”. Over the next decade, the micro-credit program flourished and SAJIDA began to provide a variety of loans to heterogeneous groups of family entrepreneurs. It did so in tandem with numerous types of social development programs.
With its success attributable to the visions of its humble and selfless founder, SAJIDA has maintained Syed Humayun Kabir’s focus on the plight of the less fortunate. Though SAJIDA Foundation now supports a diverse portfolio of programs, Syed H. Kabir’s philanthropic and conscientious worldview, in addition to Sajida H. Kabir’s ambitious and hardworking personality, continue to define the organization’s distinct set of values. Over the years, an unflagging dedication to institutional development has consolidated SAJIDA Foundation as a sustainable, transparent, and scrupulous institution delivering quality services to the poor. SAJIDA Foundation now boasts six million patrons, working in 2,666 villages and cities across 18 districts, with a staff of 1,949 people.
The exemplary efforts undertaken by SAJIDA’s founder, as well as those of his wife, have been inspirational for younger generations. Their own children now strive to uphold their parents’ principles and ethics, and believe in being socially responsible for those less fortunate than themselves.