Matlub Ahmad is new President of FBCCI

Nitol Niloy Group Chairman Abdul Matlub Ahmad has been elected President of the apex business body FBCCI.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 25 May 2015, 12:06 PM
Updated : 25 May 2015, 06:46 PM

Former BGMEA president Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin has become the First Vice President while Chittagong Chamber’s Mahabubul Alam has been elected as Vice President.

All three won without any contest. 

They came to the FBCCI board as nominated directors of the Chamber and Association groups.

Newly-formed Board of 52 directors met at the FBCCI on Monday to choose their leaders.

Ahmad, Mohiuddin and Alam were the only ones to submit nominations for the top three posts.

Election Commissioner Professor Ali Ashraf declared them uncontested winners.

In Saturday’s polls, contestants from Ahmad-led ‘Byabsayee Unnayan Parishad’ (businessmen’s development council) won 25 of the 32 seats for directors of Chamber and Association groups.

The victory ensured that Ahmad would lead the apex business body.

He is the founding president of the India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry and known to be ‘supported’ by the prime minister.

First Vice President Mohiuddin is a nominated director from the BGMEA.

Vice President Alam is a nominated director from the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Ahmad’s Nitol Motors began its journey in 1981 and expanded into other sectors over the years. From the early 1990s, it began marketing TATA vehicles in Bangladesh.

It was later renamed Nitol-Niloy Group after his sons Abdul Mussabbir Ahmad (Nitol) and Marib Ahmad (Niloy).

The group has 10 companies in such sectors as paper, sugar, plastic, tourism and insurance.

Ahmad, born in Dhaka in 1952, studied economics at Oxford University.

His wife Selima Ahmad is President of the Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

She received the Oslo Business for Peace Award as the second Bangladeshi last year.

Anger as no elected directors in top posts

Many are irate since no directly elected director came to the top FBCCI posts (president and vice president) this year.

Ahmad, Mohiuddin and Alam, who will take over from May 28, are from among the 20 nominated directors.

There are 52 members on the FBCCI board. Of them, 32 directors are elected through polls from Chamber and Association groups.

Twenty others sit on the board as nominated members from 10 important chambers and as many associations.

Monday’s results did not buck the trend of several past FBCCI polls.

Many accuse the government of manipulating the apex business body and preventing elected directors from holding top office.

Outgoing FBCCI chief Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, member of ruling Awami League’s Advisory Council and Chairman of Standard Bank, was a nominated director of the Bangladesh Association of Banks.

Many were filled with indignation following Monday’s elections.

Several directly elected directors were heard lamenting the fact that none from among them could win the top posts.

“It’s really regrettable that none of the 32 elected directors could become part of the main leadership,” Shoaib Chowdhury, who won the director’s post from Ahmad-led panel, told bdnews24.com.

Like Chowdhury, many wonder how much the nominated leadership would be able to serve the interest of the businesses.

“I believe the democratic process is being hampered the way unelected directors are assuming top leadership of the FBCCI at the expense of elected [directors],” Chowdhury added.