ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2025
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. This year, 60,000+ young leaders applied to join the Class of 2025 on 7,000+ campuses across 170 nations. 290+ campuses worldwide (less than 5%) were selected to host the 4,500+ Millennium Fellows.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT KHANDKER FAHIM ASHAB, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW AND CAMPUS DIRECTOR FOR THE CLASS OF 2025.
BRAC University | Dhaka, Bangladesh | Advancing SDG 4, SDG 1 & UNAI 3
" The idea of sharing a platform with fellow creators who can provide insights into world issues and how they are attempting to solve it is what truly makes me excited to be a Millennium Fellow From collaborating with individuals to improve my own startup and how I can better integrate the United Nations SDGs into it to providing meaningful output towards others' sustainable, I'm hoping that the Millennium Fellowship will be a truly meaningful experience that will help me long after it is over. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Sarah Jewellery Line & Pearl Lovers
Sarah Jewelry Line and Pearl Lovers are two interconnected social ventures I co-founded with my mother to empower rural women artisans in Bangladesh by giving them a platform to earn a fair living and preserve their traditional craftsmanship. The project addresses the undervaluation of women's artisanal labor due to poor market access and limited resources. We source all raw materials locally and employ rural craftswomen to create handcrafted necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and more. Over the last few months, we’i've launched our first physical store, sold over 250 pieces, participated in city fairs, and expanded our artisan workforce by five women. We’i've also introduced a pre-financing model to remove capital barriers for artisans, leading to a 40% increase in output. Designs now reflect the artisans' own creative visions, resulting in some of our bestsellers.
About the Millennium Fellow
Khandker Fahim is a rising sophomore from BRAC University who is motivated towards changing the world into a better place. Born in Bangladesh, he became a first hand witness to the incredible talent that exists within the craftsmanship of the Bengali people. However, structural barriers and lack of technology prevented them from unleashing this talent onto the broader. This, coupled with the entrepreneurial spirit that his mother had ingrained within him since childhood, spurred him towards contributing to endeavors that would make the world into a truly circular economy while at the same time keeping ensuring the sustainability of the environment. To this extent, he has accomplished several goals from being one of the founders of his university's environmental club to launching a hybrid offline-online jewellery startup that aims to bridge the gap between the country's native talents and urban markets. He shall continue to work towards fulfilling his dream of making the world into a truly circular sustainable market accessible to all.
