10 women, 3 firms get BASIS Luna Shamsuddoha Award
Ten women and three companies have recently received a "BASIS Luna Shamsuddoha Award" for contributions in their respective fields.
The Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) organised the awarding ceremony at Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden.
The BASIS introduced the annual award this year to commemorate contributions of Luna Shamsuddoha, a pioneering information and communications technology (ICT) entrepreneur of Bangladesh, to the local ICT industry.
In 1992, when people of the country knew little about computers and the internet, Luna Shamsuddoha founded Dohatec New Media to provide software solution designs and development services to institutions, government agencies and corporations globally.
Dohatec has a global client base including World Bank, Pan American Health Organization, World Health Organization and United States Postal Service in Washington DC, and United Nations Development Programme in Dhaka.
It has also built e-procurement systems for Bhutan and Nepal.
Luna Shamsuddoha was the first woman to be the chairman of state-owned Janata Bank and the founding president of the Bangladesh Women in Technology. She was also a former board member and director of BASIS Executive Council.
She breathed her last on February 17, 2021.
Geeteara Safiya Choudhury, chairman of GraphicPeople and Adcomm and former adviser to a caretaker government, was presented a "Lifetime Achievement Award".
The other recipients are Zuena Aziz, principal coordinator (SDG Affairs), Prime Minister's Office; Saida Muna Tasneem, high commissioner of Bangladesh to the United Kingdom; Amena Begum, deputy inspector general of police at Bangladesh Police; Haseena Khan, microbiologist and professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Dhaka; Sonia Bashir Kabir, founder and managing partner of SBK Tech Ventures and SBK Foundation; Rawshan Arra Khanam, consultant at the department of respiratory medicine at United Hospital; Senjunti Saha, director of Child Health Research Foundation, Bangladesh; Humaira Azam, managing director & chief executive officer of Trust Bank, and Tamara Hasan Abed, managing director at Brac Enterprises.
Awards for employing the highest number of women went to Genex Infosys in BPO company category, BJIT in software company category and social enterprise Dnet in a male-female ratio category. All are members of the BASIS.
A panel discussion was also held on "Women's Contribution in Economy and Participation" at the ceremony.
Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury of Bangladesh Parliament was the chief guest.
Dipu Moni, education minister, Salman F Rahman, private industry and investment adviser to the prime minister, and Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for ICT, were the special guests.
Lilly Nicholls, Canadian high commissioner to Bangladesh; Nathalie Chuard, Swiss ambassador to Bangladesh; Rupali Chowdhury, managing director at Berger Paints Bangladesh; and Syeda Rizwana Hasan, executive director at Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, were the guests of honor.
BASIS President Russell T Ahmed presided over the event.
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