Timeline
iSocial Journey Through Innovation and Impact
From its roots in the Infolady initiative (2004) to establishing itself as a for-profit social enterprise in 2016, iSocial has evolved through strategic milestones—driving grassroots innovation, empowering women, influencing national policies, and leading data-driven research in partnership with global institutions. This timeline highlights iSocial’s transformative journey in creating sustainable, socially impactful solutions for Bangladesh and beyond.
Our History Timeline
iSocial (Infolady Social Enterprise Limited) was established in 2016 to scale and sustain the impact of the pioneering “Infolady” initiative by Dnet (2004). It emerged as a for-profit social enterprise to expand the model’s reach, driving innovation through a financially viable and socially impactful approach.
In 2016, Infolady (iSocial) was selected for the prestigious SPRING Accelerator, a global initiative backed by DFID, USAID, and the Nike Foundation. As one of only two Bangladeshi enterprises chosen, Infolady joined a cohort of high-impact businesses working to improve the economic outcomes of adolescent girls through innovative, human-centered design, marking a significant global recognition of its social enterprise model.
As the local partner of the globally acclaimed TEGA (Technology Enabled Girl Ambassadors) initiative by Girl Effect, iSocial built a network of community-based, digitally enabled girl researchers in Bangladesh. These TEGAs not only collected vital data on adolescent girls and women, highlighting barriers to digital financial access but also raised awareness on critical issues like early marriage and nutrition, marking a significant step in one of iSocial’s objectives to empower young women and inform inclusive policy.
iSocial played a key role in the Pushti Ambassador Partnership by managing micro-entrepreneur networks, successfully creating income opportunities for female entrepreneurs while improving access to affordable dairy nutrition in rural Bangladesh.
iSocial, supported by USAID’s Bangladesh Nutrition Activity and ABT Associates, successfully piloted the Kallyani model to empower women entrepreneurs by overcoming working capital barriers through trade and cash credit facilities. The project established a sustainable Female Sales Agent (FSA) network across 6 Upazilas in Faridpur and Patuakhali, integrating 123 agents into the nationwide Kallyani network. This last-mile micro-franchise model enhanced women’s income opportunities while improving rural access to nutritious food, WASH products, and nutrition awareness. With strong brand recognition and the development of the Shujog Connect platform, the pilot proved to be a resilient and scalable approach to advancing women’s social and economic empowerment, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the project could not continue to remain sustainable in the long-run, it provided valuable lessons for future initiatives.
As a key member of the Government’s Panel of Economists for the Eighth Five-Year Plan, Dr. Ananya Raihan contributed to shaping national strategies on labor migration and ICT development—marking a significant milestone in aligning iSocial’s mission with Bangladesh’s long-term development goals.
Since November 2024, iSocial is contributing to Bangladesh’ Labour Reform Commission. This is the first such initiative in the country’s 54-year history, formed to recommend essential reforms to advance worker rights and welfare. Dr. Ananya Raihan, CEO of iSocial, played a pivotal role as a member of the Commission by leading two technical committees and contributing significantly with his insights in the final report. The wider iSocial team also undertakes the responsibility for managing the website and social media of LRC to disseminate the research findings among the mass population.
As a research partner with the University of Edinburgh, iSocial’s DataSense unit explored the relational dynamics of data within Bangladesh’s digitized Old Age Allowance system, highlighting both the opportunities and vulnerabilities in citizen service delivery. This milestone reflects iSocial’s growing role in data-driven social research and policy insights.
Dr. Ananya Raihan and Ainan Tajrian (former Business Consultant at iSocial) participated in a workshop hosted by the University of Edinburgh. This workshop was a deep dive into the research carried out as a partnership between the University of Edinburgh and DataSense at iSocial, where the research examined the OAA digital platform and service-delivery chain from pre-registration to grievance redressal processes.
The workshop explored “The New Data Economies of Social Enterprise” by enabling a cross-country and cross-enterprise knowledge sharing platform, guiding the participants to strengthen the data flow of their work through different interactive exercises, and concluding with the development of a skeleton for a digital artifact that the participants will continue working on.