Page 42 - ICE BUSINESS TIMES March 2020
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                                                                                                   Entrepreneurs'
                                                                                                   Organization
                                                                                                                                                                                business leader. One of the most   leaders in our EO board and it has                                                                                                                                                survive and need to balance it with   make it unique. This includes   organization of successful
                                                                                                                                                                                highly rated Board Room Session   been a wonderful experience                                                                                                                                                        goodness of life. We entrepreneurs   gaining access to important places   entrepreneurs. Since it offer
             A Tenacious                                                                                                                                                        leader of Bangladesh, Mr. Sk. Bashir   member is exemplary in their own                                                                                                                                              most important thing in our lives.   Networking with entrepreneurs   regional, national and internation
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     love our work, and family is the
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      and meeting global leaders,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        plethora of benefits, including loca
                                                                                                                                                                                was held with acclaimed business
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 working with them. Each board
                                                                                                                                                                                Uddin, MD of Akij Group.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      spread all over the world, having
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 right and in their own sector of
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     So we need to find harmony to enjoy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        events, and provides access to reall
                                                                                                                                                                                My second priority is to focus on the
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     family or in the community. Time
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        more on quality of service for the
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      breakthroughs by gaining insight
                                                                                                                                                                                importance of social responsibility   business. Hence leading the EO                                                                                                                                                 what we do, whether at work, with   business development           good resources, we are focusing
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 agenda has been a smooth ride.
             Trailblazer                                                                                                                                                        collaborative ways. Business leaders   is to manage the demand on our                                                                                                                                                work, delegation and building teams   growth through learning and   promoting very aggressively about
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 However, one of the main challenges
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     management skills, purposeful
                                                                                                                                                                                for us business leaders and find
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      from sector leaders and personal
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        existing EO members and we are not
                                                                                                                                                                                are constantly looking to find
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 time. Leading a business can be
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        new member recruitments. We are
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     that work proactively gives us a lot
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      experience shares.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 tough and the role requires
                                                                                                                                                                                solutions to problems and hence it is
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        only taking new members based on
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     of flexibility. Leading EO does take
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      One of the unique features of EO is
                                                                                                                                                                                also our responsibility to find
                                                                                                                                                                                solutions and to act in the best   round-the-clock dedication, and                                                                                                                                                   up a lot of time and volunteering my   the forum experience. Upon joining,   referrals from existing me
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     time, like many others in EO, have
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      members are assigned into a forum,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        the current process takes about 1
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 most times we are busy
                                                          Tahsin Aman reveals the recipe behind the                                                                             interests of the environment and   troubleshooting. As entrepreneurs                                                                                                                                                 been very rewarding and have been   a long-term group of about 8-10   month including vetting from glob
                  Tahsin                                  success of Entrepreneur Organization and                                                                              society as a whole. We have had a   we feel there is no clock-out time                                                                                                                                               instrumental in my personal growth.    people who meet on a monthly basis   and local board.
                  Aman                                    how the platform encourages to tailor                                                                                 successful agreement with EO     and you should always be working.                                                                                                                                                                                    to confidentially share the
                  President, EO Bangladesh                solutions to tackle adversities                                                                                       Switzerland to form a working    Obviously, it is rewarding to see the                                                                                                                                               How does EO differ                highlights and lowlights of their   What is your
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 business we have built to grow,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      lives, learning and helping each
                                                                                                                                                                                committee on how the EO members
                  Chairman, AYAT Education                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           from the rest of the                                               expectation with the
                                                                                                                                                                                from both countries can collaborate   evolve and flourish. But a                                                                                                                                                                                      other through shared experience.
                                                                                                                                                                                on social initiatives. Also the global   systematic way of organizing work                                                                                                                                           entrepreneurs                    These are not mentors, but rather a   impact award
                                                         What motivated you            scary at the same time. I felt the                                                       award event ‘Social Impact Business   and life is very important and                                                                                                                                                 organization, say                set of friends with businesses in   ceremony?
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      different industries, picked so that
                                                                                                                                                                                Awards’ is going to be held in
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 knowing what is purposeful work is
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Bangladesh is a land of
                                                         to join EO?                   need to be with like-minded                              As a president what was         Dhaka, Bangladesh. This is a matter   important.                                                                                                                                                                     different business and            there can’t be a conflict of interest in   entrepreneurs and social in
                                                                                       people with an entrepreneurial
                                                         After I graduated as Industrial   mindset. I joined the business                                                       of great honor for us and EO     In EO so far we have had 6 training                                                                                                                                                 bilateral chambers?              the group. This is a unique learning   and it was a justified choice o
                                                         Engineer from USA and joined   chambers, but realized that I                           your first priority? How         member companies who have been   programs already among various                                                                                                                                                      EO is the only global network    experience that is intially guided   global MyEO Engage team to choose
                                                         my family business in Dhaka,   needed more than an                                     much did you manage             nominated from around the world   groups of members in areas such as                                                                                                                                                 exclusively for entrepreneurs. An   and moderated by EO. This access to   Bangladesh as the destination
                                                         the first thing that I wanted to   association around businesses                       to accomplish during            for their work in Social Impact   strategic planning, regular and                                                                                                                                                    entrepreneur is not just about work,   people with similar but different   the award event. This event
                                                         do was start new businesses   and its policies. As I was talking                       your tenure?                    Businesses will be presenting their   accelerated forum trainings etc. and                                                                                                                                           it very much involves family, social   experiences is something that you   bringing in many foreign EO
                                                         while bringing sizeable changes   to a friend of mine, he referred                                                     projects in Dhaka.               all these sessions focus on                                                                                                                                                         obligations and community that we   simply cannot not buy for any   members to Bangladesh and also
                                                         to the existing ones. I completed   me to  Entrepreneurs’                              Bangladesh being a fast developing                               teambuilding and how to work in a                                                                                                                                                   work in. Unlike the trading      amount of money.                  putting Bangladesh on the map of
                                                         my MBA from IBA and hoped     Organization (EO) in Toronto                             country, with a strong growing   Did you face any                structured manner, whether it is                                                                                                                                                    chambers, EO helps leading                                         the EO universe. The global team
                                                         my knowledge of business      and asked me to meet a few                               home market and with export                                      making annual plans or even how to                                                                                                                                                  entrepreneurs learn and grow     How are you trying to             will be announcing four divisional
                                                         administration will help me   members to understand what                               success as well, is causing a boom   challenge being the         conduct meetings among our EO                                                                                                                                                       through peer-to-peer learning,                                     winners: Division 1 – Europe/Latin
                                                         reach my entrepreneurial goals.   they do. And that was the ‘Aha’                      in private sector development.   president? How did you          members with the latest techniques                                                                                                                                                  once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and   promote EO among             America & Caribbean/MEPA,
                                                         I was full of ambition and    moment for me. I was                                     Hence, more and more            balance between your             and technologies.                                                                                                                                                                   connections to experts.          local entrepreneurs?              Division 2- Asia Pacific/North Asia,
                                                         optimism. I tried, succeeded and   introduced to a global                              entrepreneurial efforts are seen   hectic business               I, myself, have learned a lot from EO                                                                                                                                               There are many attributes of EO that   EO is a great, curated, global   Division 3 – South Asia, Divisi
                                                         even failed in a few business   organization that was all about                        across all sectors. It is often seen                             training on how to organize life and                                                                                                                                                                                                                   USA/Canada with one Hall of Fame
                                                         ventures. The whole experience   Entrepreneurs  and once I got to                      that large to small companies   schedules and activities         work. Work life balance is a myth. It                                                                                                                                                                                                                  winner and one Global Winner.
                                                         of being an entrepreneur was a   see what they do, I was                               conduct businesses with silo    of EO?                           gives a false notion that work is bad                                                                                                                                                                                                                  We are very happy to host the
                                                         bit wild and rewarding, as every   convinced that this is where I                      mentality and the concept of    We have a very dynamic group of   and it is something that we need to                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Summit and Awards event in
                                                         place that I looked showed me   should join. EO is an                                  competition and secrecy hampers                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Bangladesh in March. Our extensive
                                                         the need and opportunity that   organization that not just                             learning and makes the companies                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        program will include panel
                                                         had businesses solution with its   connects entrepreneurs globally                     static and not ready for growth.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        discussions on ‘Local Initiatives –
                                                         share of risks. It was fun and                                                         Hence a lot of entrepreneurial efforts                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Global Impact’ moderated by Brian
                                                                                       but focuses on the learning and                          fail after struggling for many years.
                                                                                       growth, and covers family and                            My first priority in EO is to instill                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Brault, past global chair of the boa
                                                                                       society as well, which is an                             the value of learning for continuous                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    of EO and current chair of the
                                                                                       integral part of entrepreneurial                         growth and focus more on                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                EO-UN SDG working group, project
                                                                                       ecosystem. I joined immediately                          collaborative knowledge rather than                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     presentations of the awardees, visit
                                                                                       and felt that I have met my                              the fear of competition.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                to exemplary local initiatives such
                                                                                       tribe. Even being members as                             So far we have had successful                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Brac and Sajeda foundation, tour of
                                                                                       entrepreneurs from different                             learning events with local and                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          heritage sites of Dhaka for our
                                                                                       countries we acted, talked and                           foreign experts. The most successful                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    foreign visitors, socials and
                                                                                       thought alike. It was very                               one was by Daniel Marcos who did a                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      networking events. It will be a big
                                                                                       refreshing.  That is how my                              workshop on “Scaling 10x Business                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       celebration for the social change
                                                                                       journey with EO started and I                            with less stress”.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      makers from around the world and a
                                                                                       am happy that we are able to                             At EO we also have an informal and                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      good recognition to their initiative
                                                                                       bring the immense value of EO                            very private discussion session                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         and will surely highlight the
                                                                                       to Bangladesh for our                                    called “BoardRoom Series” which                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         difference EO members are making
                                                                                       entrepreneurs.                                           takes place in the boardroom of the                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     locally and globally.
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