Business Desk :
The “Gunijon Songbordhona 2025,” jointly organised by Bonik Barta and the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), was held on Tuesday at a city hotel in the capital.
This year, three eminent personalities of the country are being honoured: Syed Manzur Elahi (posthumously), Dr. Firdausi Qadri, and Professor Dr. Amirul Islam Chowdhury.
Syed Manzur Elahi, a visionary entrepreneur and national leader who transformed Bangladesh’s leather and footwear sector and built one of the country’s most influential export groups.
He served twice as adviser to caretaker governments and played key roles in major financial, academic, and policy institutions, leaving a lasting imprint on national industry and governance.
Professor Dr. Amirul Islam Chowdhury, an eminent economist, educator, and longtime faculty member of Jahangirnagar University. His research in urban economics, public finance, and land policy shaped academic discourse for decades.
Dr. Firdausi Qadri, a pioneering infectious-disease scientist and founder of ideSHi, whose research transformed vaccine development and public health in Bangladesh. Her work on cholera and typhoid vaccines reached vulnerable communities nationwide.
The main session of the program was moderated by Bonik Barta editor Dewan Hanif Mahmud.
Paying tribute to the three distinguished individuals, reflections and reminiscences are being shared by Finance and Science and Technology Adviser Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed; Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser Dr. Anisuzzaman Chowdhury; former commerce minister and BNP Standing Committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury; President of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Mahbubur Rahman; former adviser to the caretaker government and Executive Chairman of PPRC Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman; and Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr. Fahmida Khatun, among other eminent personalities.
Since 2014, Bonik Barta, in collaboration with the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), has been organizing the program “Gunijon Songbordhona.”
The initiative is designed to formally recognize and felicitate distinguished individuals and visionaries whose exceptional contributions have advanced the economic development, policy framework, and overall growth of Bangladesh.
This is the 8th “Gunijon Songbordhona” jointly organised by Bonik Barta and BIDS.
