A CPD seminar titled “Entrepreneurship Development in Bangladesh” was held at the ICAB Auditorium of the city on April 8, 2010. Chaired by Mr. Matiul Islam FCA, a senior Chartered Accountant of the country and Chairman of Industrial & Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited, the seminar was blessed as Chief Guest by Mr. Salman F Rahman, President of the Association of Publicly Listed Companies. A thematic presentation on the topic was made by Professor Abdul Mannan School of Business, University of Liberal Arts, Bangladesh in the seminar organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh the regulatory body of the accountancy profession in the country.

Mr. Jamaluddin Ahmed Ph.D FCA, President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh offered an address of welcome to the audience and discussed in details the robust growth in entrepreneurship in Bangladesh which he said has given birth to the recent SME concept. Mr Jamaluddin referred back to the era of Industrial Revolution that took place in the United Kingdom around the 18th Century and spread later to entire Europe and America and commented that great momentum was added to the development of entrepreneurship from that time all the world over. As for Bangladesh Mr. Jamal said the real economic growth of the country started with the birth of Bangladesh as a sovereign state in 1971 when members of the younger generation who were running after clerkship during the reign of Pakistan started to promote themselves as entrepreneurs. He said the achievement of Bangladesh as a rising economy and the recent official recognition of the Bangladesh Economy rated as BB- in the long term by Standards and Poor’s (S&P) a sovereign world class rating agency proves successful the contributions and efforts of the country’s entrepreneurs. This demonstrates that there has been tremendous entrepreneurship development in Bangladesh which over the last few decades has generated a stable economy for the 150 million people of the country.

Mr. Salman F Rahman in his speech as the Chief Guest expressed great optimism about the role of the rising entrepreneurship in the country and narrated his own life as a successful entrepreneur.Mr Rahman a self promoted businessman and a renowned personality in the corporate sector highly lauded the role of financial, non financial and non-governmental organizations in promoting entrepreneurship which in turn has been contributing greatly in strengthening the wheel of the economy. Mr. Rahman thanked ICAB for organizing the seminar on such an important topic directly linked with all the segments of the economy.

Professor Abdul Mannan in his presentation on entrepreneurship development in Bangladesh gave a resume of the progressive phases of the entrepreneurship development in the country which has been generating strong input to economic growth. At the last phase of the Seminar Mr. Matiul Islam FCA the Chair of the Seminar nicely conducted a widely participated floor discussion and after interactions summed up that “Entrepreneurship Development in Bangladesh” is the core driving force of the economic wheel of the country.