Speakers

Mr. Amit Goyel brings an impressive background and extensive experience to our team. He previously led operations in India, APAC, and the Middle East at edX, an organization founded by MIT and Harvard, for nearly a decade. Prior to that, he held executive roles at Samsung and other prominent publicly listed companies.

Amit is widely recognized for his role in launching the world's most affordable tablet PC, "Aakash," a project initiated by the Government of India to help bridge the digital divide.

His academic credentials include a bachelor's degree in computer science from India and a master's degree in business, complemented by executive leadership training from Oxford.

Amit is deeply passionate about the democratization of education. He chairs the IoT India Congress and plays a significant role in the FICCI Higher Education Council. Additionally, he collaborates with various NGOs and government bodies to advocate for child safety, early education, and job readiness.

Based in Delhi, Amit enjoys traveling with his wife and kids during his leisure time.

Zaved Akhtar, a career marketer has worked for 24 years between British American Tobacco and Unilever across the globe. A graduate of Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Zaved has deep sector experience across CPGs (Home Care, Personal Care, Foods and Refreshment).

Strong consumer centricity and design thinking sets Zaved apart; Managing change and driving new business models are also some of his key expertise. He has extensive international experience across South Asia and South East Asia and Australasia. As a marketeer, he has built expertise in communication & innovation management and has driven business development across multiple geographies, with many of his campaigns garnering international awards.

He was also in a role as Marketing Transformation Director, South Asia and subsequently as Vice President where he works on South Asia’s strategic planning, performance management, innovation and business management. In this role he also drives the Digital Transformation for Hindustan Unilever.

Currently he is the Chairman and Managing Director of Unilever Bangladesh.

He is proud father of two sons, Zaheer and Zayyan, both teenagers now. Zaved has passion for outdoor sports; He loves trekking and is aspiring but struggling golfer. He is also a certified scuba diver, so whenever he gets some down time he is off exploring the deep blue.

Mr Masud Khan is the Chairman of Unilever Consumer Care Ltd (ex GSK) and currently working as the Chief Advisor of the Board of Crown Cement Group Bangladesh. He is a seasoned professional with 41 years’ work experience in leading multinational and local companies in Bangladesh. Prior to joining Crown Cement Group, he worked in LafargeHolcim Bangladesh as Chief Financial Officer for 18 years. Earlier, he worked for British American Tobacco in finance and related fields for 20 years both at home and abroad.

He is also an independent director of Berger Paints Bangladesh Limited, Singer Bangladesh, Community Bank, British American Tobacco and Viyellatex Ltd. He is also shareholder director of Edge Asset Management Company, Edge Research and Consulting and Kultprit Private Ltd. His articles on professional and industry issues regularly feature in newspapers and international and local magazines. He regularly features on electronic media on talk shows and interviews and is often in the news for comments on industry and professional issues. He also does public speaking on professional issues in educational institutions and all the Professional Institutes such as Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh, ACCA and ICMA Bangladesh. He is also a lecturer in the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh for the past 41 years.

He did his Bachelor of Commerce with Honors from St Xaviers’ College under University of Kolkata. Thereafter, he qualified with distinction both as a Chartered as well as a Cost and Management Accountant from the Indian Institutes being a silver medalist at all India level in the Chartered Accountancy Examination in the year 1977.

Raisul Kabir, PMP®, is the co-founder and CEO of Brain Station 23, a leading software development company with over 700 employees. An Electrical & Electronics Engineer from BUET with an MBA from EWU, Raisul has over 18 years of experience managing complex, large-scale projects globally. Certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP) since 2014, he has led successful projects in FinTech, E-commerce, and HealthTech for clients in North America, Europe, and beyond. Raisul is dedicated to driving innovation through structured project management while fostering talent development and growth in Bangladesh.

Babar Ali is a doctor by profession and an adventurer by passion. Though he is engaged in different adventure activities such as cross-country hiking, running, cycling, kayaking, scuba diving, etc., he loves to introduce himself as a mountaineer. Born and brought up in Chattogram, the financial capital of Bangladesh, Babar obtained his MBBS degree from Chattogram Medical College. Later, he pursued his career in public health. He was first introduced to the mountains through a Bengali novel called ‘Chander Pahar’. Later, he got to experience hills for the first time back in 2010. After trekking extensively through the hills of Chattogram Hill Tracts, he stepped into the Himalayas for the first time in 2014. And then there was no stopping! He has climbed many 6,000-meter mountains in India and Nepal's Himalayas. Some notable expeditions are: Mount CCKN (6,303 meters), Mount Shiva (6,142 meters), Mount Yunam (6,116 meters), Mount Ramjak (6,318 meters), Mount Chulu Far East (6,059 meters), and Mount Lobuche East (6,119 meters). He completed the Basic Mountaineering Course in 2017 from NIM, India. In 2022, he became the first Bangladeshi to climb Mount Ama Dablam (6,812 meters). This year, he climbed Mount Everest (8,848 meters) and Mount Lhotse (8,516) in a single expedition. Apart from loving the challenge given by mountains, he loves to look deeply into the fascinating terrain of the Himalayas. As he had the privilege to explore the furthest corner of the Himalayas, he was in awe of the changes happening in the remote glaciers. This deteriorating condition of snow is driving him to raise his voice for saving the snow.

Babar Ali is also the founder of Chattogram, Vertical Dreamers, a renowned mountaineering club. Back in 2019, he hiked through all 64 districts of Bangladesh in 64 days. During his walk, he created awareness of the single use of plastic among the masses. He is also actively engaged in arranging cleaning expeditions in the remote hilly areas of Chattogram Hill Tracts on a regular basis. In 2023, he cycled 4000 kilometers from the northernmost point of India (Kashmir) to the southernmost point of India (Kanyakumari). He is also a photographer and a writer.

Humaira Azam serves as the Managing Director of LankaBangla Finance PLC, bringing with her a stellar 34-year track record in the financial sector. Renowned for her strategic vision and exceptional leadership, Humaira has consistently driven successful business turnarounds and thrived in challenging, multicultural environments. Her expertise and commitment to excellence continue to shape the future of LankaBangla Finance.

Humaira Azam is the first female Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of any bank and NBFI in Bangladesh namely Trust Bank Limited and IPDC Finance PLC. Her vast expertise spans corporate and commercial banking, foreign trade, treasury, retail banking, special assets, branch banking, Islamic banking, credit management, capital management, financial institutions and securities.

Mr. Mohammad Ali the Managing Director & CEO of Pubali Bank PLC, has built an impressive career within the bank, previously serving as Additional Managing Director. Renowned for his visionary leadership, he spearheaded the creation of the nation’s largest online banking network. Mr. Ali also introduced a KPI-based assessment system to transform the bank’s workforce into Human Capital, a strategic move toward achieving the bank’s mission and vision. He serves as an Ex-Officio Director for Pubali Bank Securities Limited, a subsidiary of the bank, and represents Pubali Bank as a Nominee Director on the Board of Directors of Uttara Finance and Investment Limited.

Mr. Ali obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). He also achieved masters degree on Development Studies (MDS) majoring in Economics from the University of Dhaka with Dean's Award for attaining first position. He further achieved MBA degree majoring in Marketing from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) of University of Dhaka.

Kabita Bose is a Bangladeshi development and humanitarian professional with nearly 30 years of achievements at strategic, management and operational level in diverse situations in South Asia, Asia, Pacific, West Africa and Latin America & Caribbean with national and international NGOs, Govt./UN agencies. She has incredible networking and representation at various national, regional and global platforms.

Her career has followed the trajectory of humanitarian and development playing various roles in shaping the national and international organizations’ development and organizational leadership to ensure humanitarian and development support to the vulnerable communities living in the farthest behind.

She has been working as Country Director of Plan International Bangladesh since July 2022, where Plan is implementing programme across Bangladeshi including Rohingya Refugee programme. She is former Strategic Executive Group member and also INGO Co-Chair, an Executive Committee Member of Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) in Bangladesh.

She was Country Director of Oxfam International in Liberia before her current role. She has worked as Regional DRR Adviser at Oxfam International and supporting 14 countries in the Asia Region on cash innovation programme keeping feminist Local Humanitarian Leadership at the heart of it on the COVID19 preparedness and response, enhance the capacity of country teams on the organizational readiness to respond to crises keeping local humanitarian leadership and localization and feminist leadership in the center of all preparedness and response work, and influencing and networking with different INGOs, networking with regional and international actors including but not limited to Preparedness Working group of IASC/UNOCHA, UNDRR, GIHA/UN Women, and government agencies in different operational countries of Oxfam. She was Regional DRR and Capacity Building Adviser of HelpAge International in South Asia where she managed and technically led a multi-country programme with multi millions budget on Community Based DRR and community led response program.

She was the Associate Country Director for Oxfam International in Bangladesh (CD of Oxfam Hong Kong) from 2011 to 2015. She served as a Knowledge Management Specialist of UNDP, a joint project of UNDP and Government of Bangladesh. Her significant achievement was to support build capacity of officials of Ministry of Disaster Management, and develop different disaster management strategies, reports, and draft policy documents for the ministry. She was DRR Project Coordinator at Oxfam in Haiti, from 2007 to 2008 and Humanitarian Coordinator/ Humanitarian Program Officer for Oxfam in Bangladesh from 2005 to 2007, and different roles in Oxfam in Bangladesh from 2001-2005. Before that, she worked in different roles in Anando, 1997 to 2001.

She was holding the position of the Chair of the Asia Surge Inter Agency (ASIA) Platform (platform comprised of 6 INGOs), and General Body (GB) member of Resilience Knowledge Hub (RKH), Oxfam and also Steering Committee Members of Asia Resilience Hub. She has led the Asia Response Team (ART), surge team of Oxfam in Asia pulling out the staff from 15 countries across Asia.

She holds the Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Economics (Dhaka University) and another Post-Graduation degree in Disaster Management (BRAC University). She facilitated, moderated and chaired different national, regional and international conferences and workshop e.g. Asian Ministerial Conferences and Global Platform on DRR held in Mongolia, Delhi, Mexico, Geneva, Thailand and other places organized by ICVA, UNDRR, UNs, GIHA, Oxfam, and others. Kabita is an advocate of gender equality and women’s and girls’ rights, localization, feminist LHL and humanitarianism. Her passion is to coach and mentor who want to pursue senior leadership positions at the humanitarian and development sector.

Khurshid Almeher is an architect and project management consultant with over 20 years of experience in the real estate sector. He holds a PhD in architecture from the University of Tokyo and has successfully led numerous complex projects for global Fortune 100 companies. Khurshid's diverse experience spans across various sectors, emphasizing sustainability, with projects achieving LEED and EDGE certifications. He is also an adjunct professor at multiple universities in Bangladesh, sharing his knowledge and mentoring future industry leaders. As the founder of Kaymonto & Partners, Khurshid remains committed to improving project management practices and supporting local industry development.

Abhishek Sharma the Chapter Engagement Manager for PMI South Asia. Abhishek brings over 23 years of experience, having held significant roles in project and program management with renowned organizations such as Cisco, EMC, HP India Sales, and Computer Science Corporation. Now, in his role with PMI, he is deeply dedicated to association management and community building, working closely with volunteers to drive purpose-driven impact. Abhishek currently resides in Bangalore with his family, and his passion for community engagement shines through in every initiative he leads. Let's give him a warm welcome.

Shariful Alam is a Regional Partner Manager at Odoo in Dubai, overseeing strategic partnerships in the Bangladesh market. With over six years of experience in software consultation and a background in business from IBA, University of Dhaka, he has worked across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Shariful has helped clients solve complex business challenges through digital transformation in industries like manufacturing, retail, e-commerce, real estate, and IT.

His approach centers on identifying core business pain points, addressing the implications of unresolved issues, and implementing tailored solutions that go beyond simply delivering software. Shariful’s commitment to sustainable business growth and his deep understanding of ERP solutions make him a trusted advisor in the realm of digital transformation.

Mominul Islam is the Chairman of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) PLC, bringing 25 years of expertise from top-tier global and local banks and financial institutions. Known for his exceptional leadership and strategic insight, Islam has consistently excelled in both strategic and technical roles, contributing to his reputation as a transformative figure in the financial industry.

Islam is the founder of Clink Advisory, a strategic financial advisory firm focusing on M&A, investment, distress asset management and strategic transformation. He previously worked in IPDC Finance Limited and worked in different capacities before becoming the youngest managing director of a non-banking financial institution in Bangladesh at the age of 35.

Md Mokerrobin Mannan serves as the Chief Digital Officer at BRAC Bank. Known for his in-depth understanding of cutting-edge technology and digital innovation, Mokerrobin brings a wealth of expertise gained from leadership roles at prominent multinational companies. Before joining BRAC Bank, he held various positions, including Chief Digital Officer, Chief Technology Officer, and other strategic technology roles at organizations such as Ericsson-Kenya, Grameenphone Ltd., Robi Axiata, bKash, Nagad, and UPAY.

He holds an EEE degree from the Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET), an MSc in Telecommunications from École Normale Supérieure de Cachan, Paris, France, and an MBA under Executive program from IBA, Dhaka University.

Zia Uddin Ahmad is a learning & development professional, instructional designer, and educational technology entrepreneur. As CEO and Lead Trainer at Competence Central, he drives impactful skill-building programs that prepare individuals for a competitive future. With over 15 years of experience, including leadership roles at Citibank N.A. (Bangladesh) and Mutual Trust Bank (MTB) PLC, Zia combines corporate expertise with a passion for innovation in education. His mission is to bridge traditional learning with modern workforce demands, creating transformative, tech-driven learning solutions for success in an evolving world.