Christina’s venture connects talented chefs with China’s growing cohort of young professionals seeking healthy and authentic cuisine. The venture gives migrant and retired women an opportunity to launch their own small businesses through a platform that allows them to advertise their specialties directly to consumers. Entrepreneurs also have the option to open their homes to local diners and foreign travelers seeking a taste of the best of the local cuisine. Christina plans to expand her platform beyond China, empowering many more entrepreneurs and satisfying a growing consumer curiosity for regional dishes.

While traveling in Malaysia, Christina dined with a local family and found that she learned much more about the culture and cuisine than when she ate in restaurants. On a later trip to Cambodia, Christina wanted a similar experience and was inspired to start her venture. From watching her own mother, Christina understands the skills that women acquire after many years of cooking for large families, and wants to design a business model that allows them to share their talents.

Before beginning her MBA studies, Christina spent four years in the New York and Beijing offices of a leading investment bank and was promoted to CFO for the Asia Consumer Retail group. She has a strong business acumen, team and business unit management skills, and appreciates working in a culturally diverse environment. Having grown up in China and having worked in both China and the United States, Christina understands the local culture and business opportunities in growing urban

Ways2Clean collects, sorts, and streams organic and inorganic waste to make fertilizer and biofuels, among other chemical products, for the Bangladeshi market. Bangladesh’s public utility agencies face many challenges in collecting, sorting, and recycling or disposing of waste in growing urban areas. Through public-private partnerships, Ways2Clean is catalyzing the development of the waste collection and management infrastructure, raising public awareness of the value of recycling, improving working conditions for workers in the industry, and creating healthier communities.

Tamanna was born in the city of Dinajpur in the state of Rajshahi and later moved to Dhaka, the capital of the country. The overburdened waste management infrastructures in both cities made her realize how important it is to create a system that both keeps the cities clean and incentivizes residents, governments, and industry by offering economic incentives.

Tamanna founded Ways2Clean in July 2014 after completing chemistry and system design coursework, as well as completing field-based work with MIT faculty. She gained the practical knowledge for founding and leading Ways2Clean by working with a D-Lab team to design a waste management system in Kuna Yala, Panama.  Tamanna has also traveled to India and Mexico, and learned about waste management practices in both places.

Tamanna is a candidate for a BS in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in industrial design at the School of Engineering.