First Bangladeshi knowledge sharing social platform VoB starts journey

The first of its kind in Bangladesh, Valor of Bangladesh (VoB), the knowledge sharing social platform, has started its journey. The inauguration ceremony for the launch of VoB was held on Wednesday, 10 February, 2021 at The Royal Park Rooftop in Banani, Dhaka.

VoB is an initiative of Lighthouse Bangladesh. It will serve as a platform to facilitate constructive dialogue amongst industry leaders, corporates, and academia. Its aim is to deconstruct and enlighten the ecosystem as a whole regarding multifarious national and global priorities and issues. This informs about the decisions that need to be made in order to create better, brighter and a more sustainable present and future.

The inaugural ceremony began with a welcome speech by Najmus Ahmed Albab, CEO of Lighthouse Bangladesh and Executive Director of VoB. Anis A. Khan, President of VoB, shared a few words on VoB's vision in the programme.  Later the signing ceremony took place and the VoB journal was launched, followed by Q/A sessions and speeches by founding members.

On this occasion Anis A. khan said, 'VoB is a unique platform of leaders from three communities who are the driving forces behind the development of the economy of Bangladesh. The communities are corporate, social and academia. This is the first time that a platform has been set up to bring together these leaders for a better consensus in complementing policy making'.

He said, 'The platform is not going to make any policy. But this platform comes together to compliment policy making. It will make policy making easier. Because these three kinds of leaders usually work separately on their own platforms. When they come together, they will take each other's points into consideration.

On this programme, it is also informed that Lighthouse Bangladesh has conducted a series of insightful virtual discussions, which were in need due to the pandemic and succeeded in bringing leaders and minds from various institutions of the country together under one platform. There have been in-depth discussions leading to insights about the challenges of working through a pandemic world, and beyond, thus allowing resilient organizations to emerge under a "Resilient – Radical – Responsive" leadership. In lieu of the engagements of Lighthouse Bangladesh resulted in the emergence of 'Valor of Bangladesh' in short VoB.

VOB has three fundamental objectives which are engage leaders and experts, focus on national priorities and recommend strategic inputs.

The Trustee members of VOB are Anis A. Khan (Advisor to the board of Tyser Risk Management), KAM Majedur Rahman (CEO of AK Khan Group), Syed M Kamal (Country Manager of Mastercard), Syed Mamnun Quader (CEO & MD of Southtech Group), Raihan Shamsi (Chairman & CEO, Devotech), Dr. Shah Md. Ahsan Habib (Professor of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management), AZM Saif (Chief Creative Officer & MD, Paper Rhyme), Mahzabin Ferdous (Co-founder and MD, CThreeSixty), Zoheb Ahmed (Managing Partner, Digitech), Najmus Ahmed Albab (CEO of Lighthouse Bangladesh), Shehzad Munim (MD of BATB), Imran Rahman (Dean of ULAB School of Business), Shams Mahmud (MD, Shasha Denims), Masud Khan (Chairman of Unilever Consumer Health Ltd.) and Md. Nasser Shahrear Zahedee (Chairman of Radiant Pharma).

The Founding members are Community Bank, Guardian Life Insurance, IPDC, Ispahani, MasterCard, MTB, SciTech, Shasha Denim and UCB.  The Valued partners of VoB are BANCAT, CThreeSixty, Digitech Communication, Paper Rhyme, and Southtech.