Interview with Nazir Alam, winner of Leadership Award 2016

Nazir Md Towhid Alam, chief executive officer of The Future Leaders Ltd (FLL) UK, has recently won the Annual Community Leadership Award for promoting excellence in entrepreneurship and leadership in developing countries.
Every year, this award is given to a person who makes outs-tanding contributions towards the development of leadership and entrepreneurship skills in developing countries.
The award was given to Nazir Alam by the Community Leadership Foundation in partnership with SOAS, University of London.
Nazir Alam described his career and work experiences to this correspondent, saying: “I started my career in UNICEF Bangladesh in 1997 in water and sanitation projects. Later, I joined the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) in the health and population services sector in 1999 and I got the opportunity to go abroad.”
After getting his bachelor’s degree in International Relations at the University of Dhaka in 1998, Nazir Alam went on to do his post-graduation from SOAS, University of London. He completed his post-graduation degree in Law and Leadership in 2011.
Nazir Alam has over 19 years of paid work experience with research-based organisations, non-governmental organisations, public and private sector organisations, and collaborative work with the corporate sector in Bangladesh and in the UK. He has been the Quality Assurance Mentor in Practical Quality Assurance System for Small Organisations (PQASSO), licensed by the Charities Evaluation Services (CES) UK.
At present, Nazir Alam is working as the chief executive officer of The Future Leaders Ltd and Kaleidoscopic Consulting Ltd.
 This correspondent has taken a face-to-face interview with the first Bangladeshi to have won awards in both the leadership and entrepreneurship categories.
Q: Please tell us about your experiences of leadership programmes in the UK and other countries. What experiences did you garner from these?
Nazir Alam: I concentrated on human skill industry development in 2001, especially for those with ethnic minority backgrounds.
In 2009, the Future Leaders Ltd (FLL) UK started to train those people who are economically inactive but ready to be employed within the shortest possible period.
The success rate of this project was enormous and 1,600 people have got employment for long-term periods.
In 2007, FLL UK started working with the government on a project called Learning Skills Council (LSC), where LSC brought together the skills of the training and enterprise councils to work with partners, employers, learning providers, community groups and individuals.
The external skills that we provide to the learners regarding this were effective communication, job readiness support, soft skills, etc.
The success rate of this project was 62 per cent, which focused on the fact that we were able to employ 2,200 people from this Learning Skills Council. These projects are fully funded by the government.
Linking Organisational Training and Skills (LOTS) was introduced by the FLL UK, and this programme assists anyone to convert strategic goals into action.
Practical Quality Assurance System for Small Organisations (PQASSO) has been a performance evaluation system and quality mark for charitable organisations in the UK.
Some 64 organisations have got the license of PQASSO standards so far. I am the only Bangladeshi licensed mentor and the only Asian Bangladeshi to get the licence.
 Q: Please tell us about the Future Leaders Programme (FLP).
NA: The idea of the Future Leaders Programme was extracted entirely from the Community Leadership Programme (CLP), completely designed by me. The CLP programme first began in the UK. The focus of the Future Leader Programme has been university students who are recent graduates and/or are graduating from different renowned universities in Bangladesh.
The Future Leader Ltd (FLL) is a registered company in the UK. It aims to recognise talents through structured and interactive processes and place them in wider roles with rightful progression.    
The FLL introduced the ‘FLP in Business’ in Bangladesh in 2012–13.
Three seasons of the FLP have been successfully completed in Bangladesh.
From the very beginning, we have seen students with different skills, like communications, teambuilding (organising skills), negotiations. Every participant is given a task of a 72-hour real problem solution, wherein the participants have to be attached to a top executive of a reputable company.  
Again, the FLL UK introduced the Global Leadership Programme (GLP) for focusing on women entrepreneurs to provide skills for enterprise development for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The skills we provide in the GLP category are: planning, management, promotion, fair trade negotiations and effective communication.
 Q: Can you give us an example of the types of tasks that are given to the candidates?
NA: Yes, we try to give prac    tical jobs to the participants in a way that can serve the national and economic interests of our country. For example, in Season One of the FLP, we assigned a task to promote jute items and take follow-up steps to sustain the business.
Season 2 of the FLP was designed to include the graduates from science and technology and business backgrounds as well.
Then Season 3 of the FLP has expanded into other areas and welcomed graduates from all academic disciplines.
The motto of this season was to make the business sustainable and durable.
Season 4 of the FLP is yet to arrive this year and is generating huge anticipation. The participants will get to learn about a job by working through the workday as a shadow to a competent worker.
This has been known as the ‘job shadowing’ work experience in the world.
 Q: Please tell us more about the leadership award. In which categories have you received this award?
NA: The leadership award is given to the ethnic minority group of people in the UK. This award is given to those people who have contributed individually to different categories of society. It is an individual award.
Some of the categories are: public service, health service and leadership and entrepreneurship service.
The award is given to those people who excel by promoting entrepreneurship and leadership in developing countries.
I am the only Bangladeshi and Asian who has got the award in both the leadership and entrepreneurship categories.

Interview with Nazir Alam, winner of Leadership Award 2016

Nazir Md Towhid Alam, chief executive officer of The Future Leaders Ltd (FLL) UK, has recently won the Annual Community Leadership Award for promoting excellence in entrepreneurship and leadership in developing countries. Every year, this award is given to a person who makes outs-tanding contributions towards the development of leadership and entrepreneurship skills in developing countries. The award was given to Nazir Alam by the Community Leadership Foundation in partnership with SOAS, University of London. Nazir Alam described his career and work experiences to this correspondent, saying: I started my career in UNICEF Bangladesh in 1997 in water and sanitation projects. Later, I joined the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) in the health and population services sector in 1999 and I got the opportunity to go abroad. After getting his bachelors degree in International Relations at the University of Dhaka in 1998, Nazir Alam went on to do his post-graduation from SOAS, University of London. He completed his post-graduation degree in Law and Leadership in 2011. Nazir Alam has over 19 years of paid work experience with research-based organisations, non-governmental organisations, public and private sector organisations, and collaborative work with the corporate sector in Bangladesh and in the UK. He has been the Quality Assurance Mentor in Practical Quality Assurance System for Small Organisations (PQASSO), licensed by the Charities Evaluation Services (CES) UK. At present, Nazir Alam is working as the chief executive officer of The Future Leaders Ltd and Kaleidoscopic Consulting Ltd. This correspondent has taken a face-to-face interview with the first Bangladeshi to have won awards in both the leadership and entrepreneurship categories. Q: Please tell us about your experiences of leadership programmes in the UK and other countries. What experiences did you garner from these? Nazir Alam: I concentrated on human skill industry development in 2001, especially for those with ethnic minority backgrounds. In 2009, the Future Leaders Ltd (FLL) UK started to train those people who are economically inactive but ready to be employed within the shortest possible period. The success rate of this project was enormous and 1,600 people have got employment for long-term periods. In 2007, FLL UK started working with the government on a project called Learning Skills Council (LSC), where LSC brought together the skills of the training and enterprise councils to work with partners, employers, learning providers, community groups and individuals. The external skills that we provide to the learners regarding this were effective communication, job readiness support, soft skills, etc. The success rate of this project was 62 per cent, which focused on the fact that we were able to employ 2,200 people from this Learning Skills Council. These projects are fully funded by the government. Linking Organisational Training and Skills (LOTS) was introduced by the FLL UK, and this programme assists anyone to convert strategic goals into action. Practical Quality Assurance System for Small Organisations (PQASSO) has been a performance evaluation system and quality mark for charitable organisations in the UK. Some 64 organisations have got the license of PQASSO standards so far. I am the only Bangladeshi licensed mentor and the only Asian Bangladeshi to get the licence. Q: Please tell us about the Future Leaders Programme (FLP). NA: The idea of the Future Leaders Programme was extracted entirely from the Community Leadership Programme (CLP), completely designed by me. The CLP programme first began in the UK. The focus of the Future Leader Programme has been university students who are recent graduates and/or are graduating from different renowned universities in Bangladesh. The Future Leader Ltd (FLL) is a registered company in the UK. It aims to recognise talents through structured and interactive processes and place them in wider roles with rightful progression. The FLL introduced the FLP in Business in Bangladesh in 201213. Three seasons of the FLP have been successfully completed in Bangladesh. From the very beginning, we have seen students with different skills, like communications, teambuilding (organising skills), negotiations. Every participant is given a task of a 72-hour real problem solution, wherein the participants have to be attached to a top executive of a reputable company. Again, the FLL UK introduced the Global Leadership Programme (GLP) for focusing on women entrepreneurs to provide skills for enterprise development for small and medium-sized enterprises. The skills we provide in the GLP category are: planning, management, promotion, fair trade negotiations and effective communication. Q: Can you give us an example of the types of tasks that are given to the candidates? NA: Yes, we try to give prac tical jobs to the participants in a way that can serve the national and economic interests of our country. For example, in Season One of the FLP, we assigned a task to promote jute items and take follow-up steps to sustain the business. Season 2 of the FLP was designed to include the graduates from science and technology and business backgrounds as well. Then Season 3 of the FLP has expanded into other areas and welcomed graduates from all academic disciplines. The motto of this season was to make the business sustainable and durable. Season 4 of the FLP is yet to arrive this year and is generating huge anticipation. The participants will get to learn about a job by working through the workday as a shadow to a competent worker. This has been known as the job shadowing work experience in the world. Q: Please tell us more about the leadership award. In which categories have you received this award? NA: The leadership award is given to the ethnic minority group of people in the UK. This award is given to those people who have contributed individually to different categories of society. It is an individual award. Some of the categories are: public service, health service and leadership and entrepreneurship service. The award is given to those people who excel by promoting entrepreneurship and leadership in developing countries. I am the only Bangladeshi and Asian who has got the award in both the leadership and entrepreneurship categories.