SafeSave was co-founded in 1996 by Stuart Rutherford, a microfinance enthusiast, and Rabeya Islam, a Dhaka housewife with years of experience of running savings-and-loan clubs among her poor neighbours.
In 1997 SafeSave registered as a cooperative. Currently it has 17 shareholding Members (soon to be augmented to 20). At their last election in March 2008 the Members chose the following six-person Executive Committee: Dr Maniruzzaman, Chairman; S M Rahman, Vice-Chair; Nazmus Sakeba, Secretary; with Mark Staehle, S K Sinha and Dr Imran Matin as EC Members. Other Members include well-known names in development management, microfinance, banking, social and economic research and related fields. A full list can be had from the Secretary at sakeba@safesave.org
	Mark Staehle, pictured right with his family, has been a Member of the Executive Committee since 2005, and was previously SafeSave's Technical Advisor during the period 2001-2005. Mark planned and implemented SafeSave's transition from research project to sustainable MFI, and introduced handheld computers.  Mark is now Enterprise Advisor on the DFID-funded Chars Livelihood Programme, where he is experimenting with Village Savings and Loan Associations (see vsla.net ) .
Above left: chairman Maniruzzaman (foreground); secretary Nazmus Sakeba (behind Rabeya Islam); EC member S K Sinha (extreme top left), previous Director and now Member Nipun Sangma (standing right) Above right: Mark Staehle, Technical Advisor 2001-2005 and now an EC Member, with Carolina and Adam.