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Co-Founder, Data Bird Tanveer Ali is co-founder and director of Data Bird, a Bangladesh internet startup comprising ShareTrip, Ridmik and Deshi. He is also a director of Olympic Industries, the largest biscuit producer in Bangladesh, and co-founder and director of Frontier Nutrition, a US company focused on treating and preventing malnutrition by offering fortified and nutritious products to low-income mass market consumers (and its Bangladesh subsidiary, Care Nutrition). Tanveer has lived in Bangladesh since 2006 and has served as independent director of Genex Infosys, a publicly listed IT company. He is one of the earliest angel investors in Bangladesh, seeding 20+ startups including Pathao, Chaldal and ShopUp, among others. Tanveer received his BA in Political Science from the University of Waterloo and his MBA from IE Business School and Brown University.

Oli is the Founder of Intelligent Machines. The team builds enterprise AI products and also provides data science services. In five years, Intelligent Machines has deployed 32 AI products. Prior to starting Intelligent Machines, Oli worked at British American Tobacco where he led eight global and regional projects for 25 countries in the Asia Pacific region. He is married and blessed with two daughters.

Commissioner of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission Dr. Shaikh Shamsuddin Ahmed is a Commissioner of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission. Prior to his current assignment, he was a Professor of Finance in the University of Dhaka. Dr. Ahmed earlier served as a Senior Economist of the World Bank. He studied Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Commerce degrees in Finance from the Faculty of Business Studies, University of Dhaka. He earned a PhD degree from the University of Birmingham in the UK as a fellow of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission with a research focused on monetary policy and economic growth for developing countries. His research interests include capital market, fiscal and monetary policy, economic growth and human development. Dr. Ahmed’s current responsibility as a Commissioner of BSEC includes development of policies, issuing equity and debt capital, corporate financing, supervision of issuers of capital, corporate governance, financial technology and financial literacy.

Sami Ahmed is the Managing Director and CEO of Startup Bangladesh Limited (SBL), a flagship Venture Capital Company of Government of Bangladesh. Startup Bangladesh Limited invests in startups in the seed and growth stage and is also involved in policy formulation, supporting targeted and strategic impact investments for the Government, and in supporting the growth of the startup eco-system. Prior to joining Startup Bangladesh Limited, Mr. Ahmed was the Policy Advisor and team leader of the Leveraging ICT (LICT) Project of the Bangladesh Computer Council, ICT Division. Mr. Ahmed’s core responsibilities included Bangladesh IT-ITES Industry promotion and talent development. He has also played a vital role in many policy reforms for the ICT sector. He was the Executive Director of the Bangladesh Association for Software and Information Services (BASIS) and was instrumental in many policy reforms for the industry and in organizing key ICT events in the country. Mr. Ahmed also worked at the a2i Project of the Prime Minister’s Office where he was part of many national initiatives under the Digital Bangladesh platform and played several roles including leading the Innovation team. Mr Ahmed has also worked in the private sector in various roles: as Chief Operating Officer, Head of MIS and as a startup co-founder. Mr. Ahmed is also a member of the Smart Bangladesh Taskforce, which is chaired by the Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Managing Director & CEO, Pathao Fahim Ahmed is the Managing Director & CEO of Pathao, the largest digital platform for ride-sharing, food delivery, e-commerce logistics and fintech in Bangladesh and Nepal. Fahim is an entrepreneur, executive and investor with over 20 years of experience in technology, investment banking, private equity, and venture capital in Bangladesh, South Asia and the US, spanning organizations that include Goldman Sachs, Royal Bank of Scotland, American Securities and Small Enterprise Assistance Funds. Fahim also serves as the Vice President (Finance) of Bangladesh Association of Software & Information Services (BASIS). He graduated summa cum laude from Middlebury College in Vermont, USA, with a B.A. in economics, and is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak is the Honourable Minister of State for Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. He has held this position since January 2014 as the youngest Minister of Bangladesh and currently serving his second term. He has been involved in active politics of Bangladesh for the last 25 years. He became a Member of Parliament (National Assembly of Bangladesh) in January 2009, being the youngest Parliament Member of Bangladesh till date. He was Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of ICT Ministry and Private Members’ Bill and Co-Chair of Parliamentary Committee on Climate Change from 2009 to 2013. Born in 1980, Zunaid Ahmed Palak has led the ICT Ministry with great vigor and is taking forward the vision of ‘Digital Bangladesh’ with commendable foresight and phenomenal initiatives. Under his leadership Bangladesh is setting up 39 High-tech Parks and incubators launched the world’s 7th largest Tier 4 Data Centre to support technology companies. Initiatives such as setting up of Sheikh Russel Digital Labs, specialized computer labs in educational institutions of all the districts are helping to accelerate the expansion of computer education, digital literacy, job opportunity, employment skills, and language competency of Bangladeshi students. Startup Bangladesh Limited was launched in March 2020 as the first venture capital company wholly owned by the Government of Bangladesh and one of the first few in the world. Porichoy, the e-KYC and identity management platform; EkPay, Bangladesh’s largest leading payment processor; National Emergency Service 999; and National information service 333 are other notable initiatives of the ICT Ministry. To mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and encourage economic and entrepreneurial activities, the ICT Ministry launched programs such as Call4Nation (a nationwide call for developing solutions to combat the pandemic – reaching over 1,000+ application), Food4Nation, Eduhub, Maa Platform (a2i), and online education solutions for Education Ministry by Startup Bangladesh Ltd. COVID Accelerator, organized by Startup Bangladesh Limited in collaboration with Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park was focused on building resilience of Startups during COVID-19. During his tenure, more than 18,000 government offices across the country were brought under a dedicated high-speed intranet and one of the world’s largest web portal consisting of 25,000 government websites was established. These initiatives have been recognized and Bangladesh has won several awards and accolades including ICT’s Sustainable Development Award and World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+10 Award from International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), the Public Service Excellence Award from World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) at World Congress of IT at their Global ICT Excellence Awards. World Economic Forum listed him as a young global leader for his astute leadership in regard to developing the country. He was also listed as “World’s 100 Most Influential People in Digital Government” in 2018 by Apolitical, a London-based international organization. He received the National Award on Environment in 2010 in recognition for his role in the large-scale tree plantation movement. Minister Palak is a lawyer by profession and is enrolled as an Advocate in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.

Founder & CEO, Chaldal Waseem Alim has over a decade of leadership experience in Information Technology, Venture Capital, Product Development, and Resource Management. He is the Founder and CEO of Chaldal and a Director at BanglaMeds. Under his leadership, the organisation has become a leader in e-commerce in Bangladesh. Waseem graduated from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and obtained a degree in Finance and Entrepreneurship. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and an Edmund Hillary Fellow.

Zubair Ahmed "Zubi" is a Bangladesh and Singapore based Entrepreneur and TEDex Speaker. He has the knowhow of all the steps of Cross Border Merger and Acquisition, Venture Capital, Raising and Running companies, Raising funds and Management Consulting. He also Specializes in identifying companies with high growth potential around the world. He identified "Uber" as a potential investment target in early 2012 while their valuation was a mere US $12 Million. Today "Uber" is valued at over US $80 Billion. Zubi has closed 7 M&A Deals in 1.5 years which is a top tier performance for any Investment Banker. He has lead all the deals from Initial Contact till Closing. He has also planned a detailed Post Merger Integration plan and led the execution from the front in a record 1 year. During the planning phase, he has developed the Corporate Platform, Legal Platform, Accounting Platform, HR processes, Marketing strategy, Sales Plan, Mid Term Business Plan, and Budget for the company. He is Very well connected among VCs, Incubators, Investors, and Entrepreneurs in Singapore, Japan, Korea, HongKong, USA, UK, Germany, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia. Industry experience include: Information Technology, Computer Software development, Business Process Outsourcing, Consulting. Business Process Automation, Distribution business

CEO and Managing Director, Unilever Bangladesh Limited Zaved Akhtar CEO and Managing Director of Unilever Bangladesh Limited and joined Unilever in 2000 after 3.5 years in British American Tobacco. He has worked in multiple business units across Bangladesh, India, Philippines, and Southeast Asia and demonstrated the ability to thrive across different cultures. He has rich international experience in brands, innovation, communication development and business management. In his immediate past role as Vice President, Digital Transformation & Growth, Zaved led a comprehensive end-to-end digital transformation program with impact. He has also institutionalized Market Development and drove Net Revenue Management in Unilever’s business in South Asia. Zaved is a graduate from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka. He is also a Director of Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industries.