The book “M. A. Kashem : A Living Legend” was authored by Sameya Priom and published by “Toitomboor” presents illustrious life of a renowned entrepreneur, a well-known patron of education, a noble humanitarian,  a dynamic social worker and one of the promoter and founding members of North South University, M. A. Kashem.  

Being a successful businessman, he engaged with different trade organizations in many capacities. . Kashem is one of the past Presidents of the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI). The present office of FBCCI was his unique contribution to the history of this apex business body of the country. Before his tenure, FBCCI was suffering from various problems but his business doctrine and able leadership earned the firm its organizational structure, vibrant work environment, name and fame in business world both at home and abroad.  His outstanding performance as president of FBCCI was recognized by the Ministry of Industries and Commerce of Bangladesh, which was also not common at all. The then Deputy Prime Minister Moudud Ahmed, in-charge of Ministry of Industries and Commerce, in a personal letter, congratulated. Kashem for his remarkable years as a President of FBCCI. Nevertheless,  M. A. Kashem’s contribution to nation building is far greater than his role as a leader of business communities. He possesses vision and ambitions. He envisioned something new for the society and something sustainable for the country. His thoughts enlightened the horizons of our present day: education and banking. He was the sole person in bringing up the idea of private banking practice and private higher education system in our country.  Additionally, he was the founder of North South University- the very first private university of Bangladesh. Not to mention, he was also the pioneer of the National Bank, a private bank in Bangladesh. Interestingly, at one point, he was even about to get private banking license in his own name but later on, changing his mind, he established the South East Bank instead. If one scanned through the pages of history of financial institutions of Bangladesh, one can find the name of National Bank as the first private bank of Bangladesh. M A Kashem played a crucial role in establishing the bank. Eminent banker Mujibul Haider Choudhury was a huge influence on him to formulate the private banking practice in Bangladesh. Back in 1983, the then government agreed on principle to operate banking system in private sector to bring back efficiency in banking sector, which the public sector banks failed to deliver.   M. A. Kashem –a far sighted entrepreneur – always thought of a private sector led financial institutions, quickly picked up the idea and with other fellow entrepreneurs established the National Bank – the first ever private bank of Bangladesh. However, he took himself out of the business due to the differences of opinion with other owners of the bank. Furthermore, he nurtured the thought of setting up a modern banking facility in the country and after passing of ten years, he established the South East Bank in 1990. In fact, he applied for bank after his own name, he even got the nod from Bangladesh Bank but he abandoned the idea and went for a general name. This bank is now considered as one of themost successful and modern bank of the country and along with progressive banking services, it also integrates CSR motif in its core banking practices, which is acclaimed by all.     

The story of setting up the North South University is even more interesting. Back in late 1980’s, the idea of establishing private university began to get nurtured in the country. As a syndicate member of Jahangirnagar University and Bangladesh Open University for six consecutive years, he already had acquired knowledge of the rudimentary elements of a university infrastructure, along with all the issues and challenges faced by universities in public sector. He started dreaming of a true knowledge bearing higher educational institute in the country. His eventual visits to various foreign university campuses made him more knowledgeable, inspired and eager to establish an educational endeavor in his own home country. When Muslehuddin Ahmad proposed to him to help establish a private university in the country, the project back in 1980s. He met with the then President HM Ershad, who showed positive attitude to the idea and after getting the initial nod, he along with Muslehuddin Ahmad, started to explore the regulatory and other academic issues but the process was not that easy of course. Other than financial and academic issues, legal and socio-political barriers were also very siginficiacnt. At that time, there was no law to operate university in private sector. Left leaning political quarters vehemently opposed the idea of setting private university. Amidst the unfavorable conditions, a 30 member organization: the foundation for ‘Promotion of Education and Research’ was established. Muslehuddin Ahmadwas elected as the President of North South University and M.A. Kashem was made the Chairman of endowment committee of the foundation to collect fund for the university project. Eventually the university started its operation on January, 1993 with only 60 students who were admitted through a competitive admission test. M.A. Kashem’s contribution did not confine only to establishment of the university. He was elected the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for consecutively three times and under his able leadership, North South University bought the land and moved to its present permanent campus at Bashundhara. He also served as the Chairman of the Endowment Committee of NSU Foundation several times since its inception. At present, North South University is considered as a premium higher educational institute of this region. As he was one of the pioneer players of the private university sector, he tried to contribute to the development of the sector as the Chairman of Association of Private Universities of Bangladesh with utmost dedication.                 

This book on M. A. Kashem is not simply a book of biography; it’s actually the story of both a social and a business development of the country. He was engaged in indenting business in Pakistan period when no other Bengalis were interested in the business and in barter business and this was during the later period of the liberation war, when the country needed it the most due to foreign currency crisis. With the background of trade and commerce, he moved to the  industry sector to grab the opportunity  of buying a rope making factory,‘Bangladesh Rope Work’ which was placed on auction in 1976; as it was on the list of loss making factory of Bangladesh Sena Kallyan Sangstha and was remained closed for a longtime. His industrial zeal was revealed - the company renamed as ‘Mutual Jute spinners’, and became a 100% export oriented industry and eventually listed in the stock market in 1983. He took a loan of Taka five crore from a bank for expansion of Mutual Spinners and repaid the whole loan on time; setting an example of good business practice where loan default culture is well established. This is how the nation got its prominent industrialist M.A. Kashem. In fact, after reading the book, one will find M.A. Kashem as an entrepreneur whose entrepreneurial zeal touched down different aspects of social and business world of the country. His name is associated with BIRDEM, Hamdard, Anjumane Mofidul Islam, Rotary Bangladesh and many other successful enterprises of the

country.

Kashem is also engaged with many social and philanthropic endeavors. He is a passionate golfer and also a distinguished Rotarian. He founded M Kashem Trust, with an objective of supporting the educational endeavors of disadvantaged through need and merit based scholarship.   His noble mind also induced him to set up a ‘state-of-the-art non-profit 50 bed hospital’ in the name of his disappeared son “Tareque Memorial Hospital” in his village to stand by the poor people of his locality for serving the health care needs of the people there, especially the ones who needed the facility in urgency and at an affordable cost. His contribution was also recognized by the government and the society. He received the “President Export Trophy”, “C R Das Gold Medal” and the honor of Long Term and High Tax Payer-2011 honor in recognition to his contribution to industry, trade and the economy as a whole.

M. A. Kashem was born in 1940 in Feni to an aristocratic Muslim family. He graduated from the University of Dhaka. He is married to. Jusna Ara and the couple was blessed with two daughters and one son.         

The story of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurships should be a basic reading for not only the researchers but also students for knowing the real-life scenarios. It has found outthat due to the lack of local content, our academia is heavily dependent on foreign business cases for reference and analysis. We need more research and publications on our nation builder entrepreneurs like. M. A. Kashem so that we can organize our local contents for facilitating the business education in a more organic way.

The writer is a freelance writer