Rubana Huq, Managing Director of Mohammadi Group, has been elected as the first female President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) as her panel won all 35 posts of Directors in the biennial election of the trade body today on 6 April. Rubana Huq is scheduled to take over the post of BGMEA President on April 20 with the victory.
The election was held at the BGMEA offices of both Dhaka and Chattogram that began around 8:00 am and continued till 4:00 pm.
Around 1,492 voters out of total 1,956 cast their votes in Dhaka and Chattogram for electing their leader of the BGMEA for 2019 and 2021 tenure. In Dhaka, some 1,204 out of 1,597 and in Chattogram some 288 out of 359 votes were cast in the election.
This time Sammilito Forum and Shadhinata Parishad contested for 26 posts of directors as all nine directors were elected unopposed from Chattogram zone earlier.
A total of 35 directors needed to be elected for the formation of the BGMEA board.
Sammilita Forum, led by the Mohammadi Group Managing Director Rubana Huq has swept to victory in the biennial election to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), bagging all the 35 posts of Directors.
The 26 Directors elected for the Dhaka region are: M.A. Rahim (Feroz), Rubana Huq, Arshad Jamal (Dipu), K.M. Rafiqul Islam, Inamul Haq Khan (Bablu), Miran Ali, Md. Moshiul Azam (Shajal), Md. Mohiuddin Rubel, Md. Nasir Uddin, Md. Rezwan Selim, Md. Kamal Uddin, Mohammed Nasir, Md. Sajjadur Rahman Mridha, Md. Munir Hossain, A.K.M. Badiul Alam, Mohammad Abdul Momen, Md. Shahidul Haque Mukul, Iqbal Hamid Quraishi (Adnan), Md. Shehabudduza Chowdhury, Masud Quader Mona, Md. Mosharraf Hossain Dhali, S.M. Mannan (Kochi), Sharif Zahir, Nazrul Islam, Asif Ibrahim, and Faisal Samad.
Also Read: ‘Is it only the suppliers who need to pay the price for sustainability?’
The nine Directors elected unopposed for the Chattogram region are: A.M Chowdhury (Selim), Anjan Shekhar Das, A.M. Mahbub Chow., Mohammad Atique, Mohammed Abdus Salam, Mohammed Meraj-E-Mostafa, Enamul Aziz Chowdhury, Mohammed Musa and Khondaker Belayet Hossain.
The newly elected 35 Directors will elect a President, a First Vice-President, a Senior Vice-President and Five Vice-Presidents for the Executive Body.
“If the factory owners think that they have needed the help from the BGMEA in case of price bargaining with the buyers, we will set up a separate cell in the BGMEA to assist them,” Rubana Huq said after the election.
She said many small and medium factories are in trouble and they are facing even the closure of their units.
“They need immediate help. We need to stand beside them in time of their bad days. We will try to find out the way how to save their factories,” she said.
Earlier, the BGMEA election was held in 2013 and the board continued up to September 2015. However, in 2015 the election was not held as both Sammilito and Forum panels jointly decided to elect the board in consensus.
So, Siddiqur Rahman, the current BGMEA president, ran the trade body for three years and seven months — although the tenure of an elected BGMEA president is for two years — with a frequent extension from the commerce ministry.
