Three individuals and businesses of the country have been awarded for their outstanding contribution to business. The award titled ‘Bangladesh Business Award 2021’ was given by the international logistics organization DHL and the English daily The Daily Star.

The award ceremony was organized at the Radisson Blu Hotel in the capital on Friday. The Chief Guest Planning Minister MA Mannan handed over the prizes to the winners in the 20th edition of Bangladesh Business Awards.

RS Subramanian, Senior Vice President of Commercial Affairs of DHL Express and India Manager of the organization, Mahfuz Anam, Editor and Publisher of The Daily Star, Country Manager of DHL Worldwide Express Bangladesh Limited were present among the organizers. Miarul Haque.

Bangladesh Business Award was given in three categories this year. Among them, MA Jabbar, Managing Director of DBL Group, received the award in the category of ‘Best Business Person of the Year’ or ‘Business Person of the Year’. Industrial group Pran-RFL Group received the award in the category of ‘Best Business Entrepreneur of the Year’ or ‘Enterprise of the Year’. Chairman and Chief Executive Ahsan Khan Chowdhury accepted the award on behalf of the company. And the country’s largest MFS institution Bikash Limited received the award in the ‘Best Financial Institution of the Year’ category. Chief Executive Kamal Qadir accepted the award.

In the chief guest’s speech, the Planning Minister said, ‘We are always encouraging and supporting the private sector. Hopefully, in this continuation, we can take the country’s economy to a trillion dollar house by 2041. But for this we need the cooperation of the domestic industrialists as well as the friendly countries of the world. MA Mannan thanked DHL and Daily Star for this arrangement to reward the businessmen.

RS Subramanian said in his welcome address on the occasion, ‘We are happy to honor the entrepreneurs. There has been a visible development of the economy of Bangladesh as a whole, including production, export and investment. This growth must now be sustained by increasing cross-border cooperation.

If you want to join the club of trillion dollar countries in the future, you have to start thinking big from today. Subramanian also said that for that, business leaders, entrepreneurs, experts and legislators of the country should be aware of the major trends in the global economy.

Daily Star editor and publisher Mahfuz Anam said, ‘When we started giving this award in 2000, the economy of the country was only 40 billion dollars. That economy grew 10-fold in two decades to now reach $465 billion. Bangladesh is doing well in all sectors including exports, expatriate income. This success has been made possible with the hard work, creativity and cooperation of the country’s entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs face many challenges. It is our responsibility to reward them for that.

Apart from this, the founder and CEO of online education platform Ten Minute School, Ayman Sadiq and Shahir Chowdhury, co-founder and CEO of Sikhor, were honored as youth icons in this event.

In the event, the Minister also presented trophies to individuals and organizations who received the ‘Bangladesh Business Award’ in 2020.

High Commissioner of India, Ambassador of China, foreign dignitaries, business leaders, industrialists, bureaucrats and civil society representatives were present on the occasion.