Women's role in tech sector rising fast

Sonia Bashir Kabir

Women's enrollment in technology and other sectors is increasing fast in Bangladesh, said Sonia Bashir Kabir, managing director of Microsoft Bangladesh.

In Bangladesh, women's main challenge is to stand on her own feet with confidence, she said.

“If someone fails to prepare her to face the challenges, none can give her confidence and she cannot blame the society only.”

International Women's Day is the time to celebrate the achievements of women, she said.

Kabir studied and worked for 20 years in Silicon Valley, a home to many start-ups and global technology companies. It is located in the southern San Francisco bay area of California.

She returned to Bangladesh in 2006 and joined Aamra Technologies. Kabir later joined Dell Bangladesh as country manager and finally took charge of Microsoft Bangladesh as the chief in 2014.

She also won the Microsoft Founders Award in 2016. The award is the highest honour a Microsoft employee can win, and 15 people among 100,000 employees won the award last year.

Kabir replaced Pubudu Basnayake, who had been serving the company since 2012.

“Sonia's leadership experience at Dell and her work with enterprise technology providers makes her a great fit for delivering Microsoft's 'mobile first, cloud first' vision in Bangladesh,” César Cernuda, president of Microsoft Asia Pacific, said about Sonia Bashir Kabir.

“At the same time, her passion for making a difference through technology will be key in our commitment to raise the national competitiveness of the country.”