World Hope Forum Bangladesh
Curated by Nazra Mahjabeen Sabet & Cathy Stevulak, WHF Ambassadors for Bangladesh
Sunday, January 25, 2026
19:00-22:00 Dhaka BST
14:00-17:00 Paris CET
8:00-11:00 New York EST
The next World Hope Forum spotlights Bangladesh’s rich heritage, crafts and cultural expressions, showcasing how ancestral wisdom, creative traditions and sustainable practices inspire hope and resilience in a thriving future.
Nazra Mahjabeen Sabet
Nazra Mahjabeen Sabet is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur and development professional leading sustainable social enterprises that empower artisans and marginalised communities through heritage crafts, slow fashion, and sustainable business solutions. She currently serves as CEO of Friendship Colours of the Chars and has over two decades of experience in social entrepreneurship, strategic planning and community empowerment.
@friendship.colours
Cathy Stevulak
Cathy Stevulak is a filmmaker and international development professional, known for the award-winning documentary THREADS, which highlights Bangladeshi women artisans and the refinement of traditional kantha embroidery into a recognized representative art form of Bangladesh. With over 20 years of global development experience, she combines storytelling and heritage preservation to promote sustainable craft and cultural empowerment.
Lidewij Edelkoort
Co-Founder World Hope Forum
Li Edelkoort is a trend forecaster, publisher, humanitarian, design educator and exhibition curator. From 2015-2020 she was the Dean of Hybrid Design Studies at Parsons in New York where she founded a Textile Masters and the New York Textile Month festival. Her thought-provoking writings and podcasts have become increasingly popular at a time when she is regarded as an activist and champion for change. In 2020, she co-founded the World Hope Forum with Philip Fimmano as a platform to inspire the creative community to rebuild a better society. Launched in 2020, PROUD SOUTH is a mesmerising visual book that celebrates the creative forces from the southern parts of the planet. Through the colourful and expressive lens of contemporary fashion, photography, styling and art, Edelkoort and Lili Tedde bring together emerging and established talents from wide and far, illustrating that the axis of global creativity has indeed dramatically shifted. In 2025, Edelkoort is launching a second edition of PROUD SOUTH focusing on craft and design. Of the movement, she says, “A southern generation of creatives is standing up, expressing local craft, embracing regional materials, recognising ancestral practices and cherishing indigenous values.”
@lidewijedelkoort
Philip Fimmano
Co-Founder World Hope Forum
Philip Fimmano is a trend analyst and consultant, contributing to Trend Union’s forecasting books, magazines and strategic studies for international companies in fashion, textiles, interiors and lifestyle. In 2011, Fimmano co-founded Talking Textiles with Li Edelkoort; an ongoing initiative to promote awareness and innovation in textiles through touring exhibitions, a trend publication, a design prize and free educational programmes – including New York Textile Month, a citywide festival celebrating textile creativity each September. He is the co-author of the design book A Labour of Love (Lecturis, 2020) and the co-founder of the World Hope Forum, a new platform for creative community building. Fimmano is the mentor of Polimoda's fashion forecasting masters and textile masters in Florence, and he is on the Board of Directors for the International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe.