BASIS (Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services), has completed the election of its Executive Council for the term 2024-2026 in a joyful and participatory manner. The good news is that M Asif Rahman – the serial entrepreneur, investor, and also the founder of Startise & 5 other successful brands, has been elected as BASIS Director for tenure (2024-2026) in Bangladesh. With 20 years of experience in information technology, he always aimed to take Bangladesh’s IT industry to new heights.

Let’s have a look at how the election day went, who were the participants in different teams and categories, & how M Asif Rahman has pulled it off as BASIS Director.

BASIS & Its Executive Council Election (2024-2026)

BASIS (Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services), established in 1998, is the backbone of Bangladesh’s Software & IT Enabled Service industry. What began with just 18 members has now turned into a vast community of over 1800 members.

This growth reflects BASIS’s commitment to nurturing the nation’s tech industry. Today, BASIS members play a pivotal role in the country’s software & IT services revenue, showcasing the organization’s significant impact on industry development.

To keep the development process ongoing, every two years BASIS arranges the election of its executive council. With the continuation of it, this year’s election took place on May 8th, 2024, Wednesday, at the Bangladesh Shooting Sports Federation in Gulshan, Dhaka.

The day-long voting started at 10:00 AM and concluded at 5:00 PM. Following the end of voting, the election management board of BASIS declared the results, where M Asif Rahman, a candidate from ‘One Team’ in ‘General Category’, was elected as BASIS Director for tenure (2024-2026) in Bangladesh.

M Asif Rahman: Encouraging Millions of Young & Bringing Changes to the IT Industry

With the vision of bringing changes to the IT industry and encouraging young entrepreneurs M Asif Rahman took part in this year’s BASIS Executive election. In total 33 candidates competed across three panels.

Of the 11-member Executive Committee, 24 candidates contested for 8 posts in the General Member category, three candidates for one post in the ‘Associate Member’ category, three candidates for one post in the ‘Affiliate Member’ category and three candidates for one post in the ‘International’ category.

However, M. Asif Rahman has been working with BASIS for the last 5 years and is now one of its directors. This year, the election saw a big change with 6 new young directors joining, all set to make a difference in Bangladesh’s IT industry.

Here’s the list of all winners of the election are as follows:

1. M. Asif Rahman – Founder of AR Communications
2. Russell T. Ahmed – Chief Executive Officer of Team Creative
3. Md. Mostafizur Rahaman Sohel – Advanced ERP (BD) Ltd. 
4. Mir Shahrukh Islam – Managing Director of Bondstein Technologies Limited
5. M. Rashidul Hasan – Management Director at SysTech Digital Limited
6. Dr. Muhammad Riasat Siddique – Chairman of Analyzen Bangladesh Limited
7. Ikbal Ahmed Fakhrul Hasan – Chief Executive Officer of Divine IT Limited
8. Didarul Alam – Chief Executive Officer of Shooting Star Limited
9. In the Associate category, Syed Abdullah Jayed – Chief Executive Officer of Finalitics
10. In the Affiliate category, Biplab Ghosh Rahul – Director of Carnival Assurance Limited
11. In the International category, Syed Mohammad Kamal – Country Manager of Mastercard

Leading the Bangladesh Tech Industry Through BASIS Leadership

Several people have asked M Asif Rahman why he is doing BASIS election despite having various successful ventures. The answer was pretty clear, 

“I want to take the Bangladesh tech industry to new heights by creating a billion-dollar company, which is very much possible.”

In the past five years, he has been actively involved with BASIS. He has worked on important things like getting cash incentives, facilitating dollar transactions in Bangladesh, and fixing problems in the IT sector. Now that he has become a BASIS Director, he thinks he can really help Bangladeshi companies grow internationally with the help of BASIS.