Rashmi Kwatra, the founder and CIO of Sixteenth Street Capital, was recently interviewed on CNBC following her presentation at the 2018 Next Wave Sohn New York Investment Conference (you can find some notes / highlights from the conference here). Given the interview is only ~6 minutes long, it’s not a particularly deep conversation, but it does contain some interesting insights. She seems to be one of the relatively few Asia managers who has spent a meaningful amount of time travelling to and looking for opportunities in Bangladesh.

Some quick highlights below (paraphrased, mistakes my own):

• On the overall opportunity in Bangladesh: the country has a large population, but it has historically been very difficult for companies to access the market because the infrastructure wasn’t built out. A lot has changed in recent years, including improvements in cell phone penetration and technology. As a result, companies now have a much larger addressable market. The country is also starting from a very low base – banking penetration is 31%, mortgage penetration is 2% etc. People are very receptive to being included in the financial system. They are now able to transact / transfer money without middlemen and extra costs.
• Companies such as BRAC Bank have all the ingredients to grow with the market and to also take market share. They have a wonderful management team and are largely focused on the SME sector, which employs ~80% of the working population in Bangladesh. By contrast, most banks tend to only target large (corporate) customers. Typically easier because you have to manage fewer relationships, with larger ticket sizes. BRAC has figured out how to serve SMEs at scale, which is their competitive advantage.
• The company has also utilized technology to build out a successful mobile banking platform (bKash), creating the infrastructure that allows the unbanked population to be banked. It may start with payments, but can evolve into other types of financial services delivered at a lower cost. 
• Other trends – increasing urbanization, smaller households, more women in the workforce. All leading to a higher propensity to spend. They are positive about the prospects for the Bangladeshi consumer over the next decade.
• In terms of other frontier markets the fund invests in, they are focused on South / Southeast Asia. Look at India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam. The markets they look at make up a 1/3 of the world’s population. It’s a combination of emerging and frontier markets, which they like. Some markets are a bit more developed, others will develop quite substantially over the next decade.