Mustafa Jabbar set to lead BASIS

Mustafa Jabbar, owner of Ananda Computers, is all set to be the next president of the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services, after his panel clinched seven out of the nine director posts at the triennial election.

The panel of Sonia Bashir Kabir, managing director of Microsoft Bangladesh, won the remaining two posts of BASIS at the election, which was held yesterday.

The newly elected directors will now choose a president, senior vice-president, vice-president, secretary general, joint secretary general and treasurer among themselves.

“We want to set up the foundation during our tenure so that it helps the government achieve its vision of a 'Digital Bangladesh' by 2021,” Jabbar said.

This year's election created hype, especially in the ICT industry, as BASIS, in the last few years, organised different international standard programmes in collaboration with the government at home and abroad. Moreover, some ministers supported the two panels and took part in open campaigns.

Of the cabinet members, Tarana Halim, state minister for telecom, backed the Sonia Bashir-led panel, while Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for the ICT division, supported the Jabbar-led panel.

From the general category, Farhana A Rahman, a contestant from Jabbar's Digital Brigade Panel, bagged the highest number of votes.

She got 185 out of the 305 votes cast in between 10am and 5pm at the Karwan Bazar office of the national trade body for software and IT-enabled services.

Jabbar bagged 181 votes, M Rashidul Hassan 177, Russel T Ahmed 175, Riyad SA Hussain 165 and Mostafizur Rahman Sohel 163.

Kabir, who led the Change Maker Panel, bagged 152 votes and Syed Almas Kabir 174 votes.

From the associate category, Uttam Kumar Pal, who contested under Jabbar's panel and the existing secretary general, won after bagging 68 out of the 107 votes.

A total of 22 candidates contested for the eight posts of director from the general category, while two contested from the associated category for one post.