Bangladesh Brand Forum’s flagship initiative Leadership Summit has been held for the 5th time, with a vision to groom leaders for the next decade. Powered by Beximco and AIUB, 5th Leadership Summit took place on 7th April, at Le Méridien Dhaka.
With the tagline “Bangladesh Dialogue for the Next 10 Years”, this summit included the presence of leaders of various industries who shared their idea in order to prepare the future leaders. Divided into four key segments: Economy, Planning & Strategy, Innovation, and Sustainability, the summit revolved around different leadership aspects from both national and global perspective, presented by government, private sector and global experts. Anwar Group of Industries supported this momentous initiative as one of the event partners. Each participant of the summit received a complimentary copy of the Wall Street Journal bestseller book Open Source Leadership, by courtesy of Beximco Pharma.
Opening the summit, Managing Director of Bangladesh Brand Forum Mr. Shariful Islam said, “We have come a long way as a nation and as an economy. Our performance in attaining MDG goals is also a benchmark for others. Yet, the journey ahead needs innovations and proper planning and strategy to be executed by leaders for sustainable development. Thus, today’s discussion on the 4 key points are crucial for both public and private sectors and the nation as a whole.”
5th Leadership Summit comprised of four keynote sessions, two insight sessions, and four panel discussions. One of the esteemed keynote speakers was world renowned innovation expert Robert C. Wolcott. He is a Clinical Professor at Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Professor Wolcott is also the Co-founder & Executive Director of Kellogg Innovation Network. He shared an extensive keynote on Global Innovation Trend. Three other keynote sessions were conducted by Dr. Mir Salim, Principal, the Boston Consulting Group on “Global Economic Perspective”; Namrata Dubashi, Partner, Mckinsey & Company on “Global Planning & Strategy Perspective”; and Lalit Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer, The Iclif Leadership and Governance Centre, Malaysia on the topic “Creating Leaders for the Future”. Two exclusive insight sessions were conducted by Faisal Ahmed, Chief Economist, Bangladesh Bank on the topic “Bangladesh Economy” and Anir Chowdhury, Policy Advisor, a2i, Prime Minister’s Office on the topic Bangladesh Innovation Model. All the keynote speakers were gifted with artworks of prolific Visual Artist Nazia Andaleeb Preema, who is also the President of Women in Leadership (WIL).
The summit included four panel discussions for the aforementioned four key segments. For Economy, a panel of renowned economy and finance experts discussed the country’s prospects for the next years. For Planning & Strategy, panelists discussed a probable way to win over the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) world. The third panel discussion was on Innovation which highlighted the importance of innovation to survive the future. The last panel was on Sustainability where numbers of government and private sector representatives highlighted the importance of keeping SDG in the priority agenda.
There was also a breakout session on “The Secret to Longevity of Family-Owned Businesses: A Global Perspective” conducted by Namrata Dubashi. The session focused on sharing the learnings on what makes family owned businesses sustain across generations.
PANELIST NAMES:
Economy
Moderator – Faisal Ahmed, Chief Economist, Bangladesh Bank; Panel Members: Hossain Khaled, Managing Director Jute & Automobiles Division, Anwar Group, Ex-President, DCCI; Syed Mahbubur Rahman, Managing Director & CEO, Dhaka Bank Limited, Chairman Association of Bankers, Bangladesh Ltd.; and Syed Nasim Manzur, Managing Director, Apex Footwear Ltd., Ex-President, MCCI.
Planning & Strategy
Moderator – Dr. Muhammad Abdul Moyeen, Professor & Chairperson, Department of Organization Strategy & Leadership, University of Dhaka; Panel Members: Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, CEO and Managing Director, Robi Axiata Limited and Shehzad Munim, Managing Director, British American Tobacco Bangladesh and President, FICCI.
Innovation
Moderator – Anir Chowdhury, Policy Advisor, a2i, Prime Minister’s Office; Panel Members: Dr. Arif Dowla, Managing Director, ACI Limited; and Yasir Azman, Deputy CEO & CMO, Grameenphone Ltd.
Sustainability
Moderator: Ananya Raihan, Chief Executive Officer, Dnet; Panel Members: Kedar Lele, CEO and Managing Director, Unilever Bangladesh Ltd.; Nihad Kabir, President, MCCI; MD Abdul Halim, Director General, Governance Innovation Unit, Prime Minister’s Office; Dr. Ramiz Uddin, Head of Results Management & Data, A2i, PMO.
An initiative of Bangladesh Brand Forum, this year’s Leadership Summit was Powered by BEXIMCO & American International University – Bangladesh, In Association with Dhaka Bank Limited & The Daily Star. The summit was also supported by Event Partner – Anwar Group & Le Meridian Dhaka, Banquet Partner – Bangladesh Edible Oil Limited, Official Carrier Partner – Etihad Airways, Strategic Partner – Future Leaders, Knowledge Partner – Marketing Society of Bangladesh (MSB), Partner – Women In Leadership (WIL) and Department of Organization Strategy & Leadership, University of Dhaka, Media Partner – Independent TV, Technology Partner – Aamra Technologies, Social Media Partner – Melonades, PR Partner – Masthead PR, Branding Partner – Terracota, and Web Technology Partner – Symbl.
