Bangladesh Brand Forum (BBF) organised its flagship initiative, Leadership Summit, for the 6th time on Saturday.The ptogramme held at Hotel Le Méridien Dhaka was supported by United Group in association with Team Group, The Daily Star and the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Dhaka (MCCI). This year the theme for the summit was “Transformative Humane Leadership During Extraordinary Times.”
The day-long summit gathered leaders and experts from various industries from home and abroad who shared their experiences and knowledge through distinguished panel discussions and keynote sessions. Opening the summit, the Founder and Managing Director of Bangladesh Brand Forum, Shariful Islam, said, “As a nation, we have performed extremely well to reach middle-income status while celebrating our 50 years of independence.”
The 6th Leadership Summit was comprised of 4 Panel Discussions, 4 Keynote Sessions and 1 Insight Session. The discussions began with the only insight session of the day. Conducted by Prof. Dr. Syed Ferhat Anwar, Professor, Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka; President, Asia Marketing Federation, the session on ‘Outlook of Bangladesh’ showcased the role of leadership for a sustainable and growth-driven future of the country.
Later, the panel discussions and keynote sessions were held at consecutive intervals with each other. The discussions created scope for the audiences to the subject matters.Vivienne Read, director, leadership trainer Complexability Pty Ltd., Australia, conducted the first keynote session on ‘Uncertainty and Complexity: Leadership Opportunities’. The key message of her keynote session was that leadership should be simple but not simplistic.
Three other keynote sessions were conducted by Tausif Ishtiaque, Partner, Boston Consulting Group, Malaysia, on ‘Creating Business Leaders of the Future’; R Gopalakrishnan, CEO, The Mindworks; Former Director, Tata Sons Ltd.; Author, and Corporate Advisor, on ‘the Soft Aspects Of Business Transformation’ and Prof. Roger Levermore, Dean & Associate Professor, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand.
The four panel discussions featured around pertinent topics like ‘Future of Bangladesh’; ‘Leaders Role in Creating Organization Culture’; ‘Driving Creativity & Originality within Future Employees’; ‘Why Corporate Governance is Key for Sustained Business Growth.
Other speakers in the event were: Moutushi Kabir, senior director, people, culture and communications, BRAC; Beth Macdonald, chief people officer, Biocellion SPC; leadership trainer, Manila, Phillippines, director, Future Considerations; Anis A. Khan, director, Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI); chairman, Valor of Bangladesh; Md. Saiful Islam, President, Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Dhaka, (MCCI); Miran Ali, vice president, BGMEA; MD, Misami Garments Ltd.; Russell T. Ahmed, president, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS); Yasir Azman, CEO, Grameenphone Ltd.; Nazia Andaleeb Preema, visual artist; president, Women in Leadership (WIL); director, Bangladesh Brand Forum; founder, Bangladesh Creative Forum (BCF); founder, Preema’s Atelier; Deepal Abeywickrema, MD, Nestlé Bangladesh Ltd.; Shehzad Munim, MD, British American Tobacco Bangladesh; Barrister Nihad Kabir, Chairperson, BUILD & Former president, Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Dhaka (MCCI).
