Latifur Rahman receives 'SAARC Outstanding Leader' award

Transcom Group Chairman Latifur Rahman has been honoured with the prestigious “SAARC Outstanding Leader” award for setting a “rare example” of doing business by upholding moral values while also fulfilling the organisation's social responsibilities.

Ravi Dhariwal, former chief executive officer of The Times of India, India's largest newspaper group, handed over the award on behalf of CEO Awards, the organiser, at the Taj Lands End Hotel in Mumbai on Friday night.

In an instant reaction, Ravi said the organisers were proud to honour an “appropriate personality” with the award.

PepsiCo's India Region Chairman D Shivakumar introduced Latifur to the Banquet Hall where more than 50 top CEOs and industrialists were present.

Shivakumar said the Transcom Group chairman set the example of building a business empire through honesty, kindness and punctuality in personal as well as professional life.

Latifur Rahman is the first non-Indian to have received the award.

He expressed his gratitude in an emotion-choked voice and said he was overwhelmed to have received the accolade as the first foreigner.

He also thanked the organisers for selecting Bangladesh for the award.

Bangladesh and India have become real friends and the entire subcontinent can benefit from it, he noted.

In his speech, Shivakumar recalled the family tragedy of Latifur, mentioning the deadly militant attack on the Holey Artisan cafe that took the life of his grandson, Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain, along with 19 other hostages in Dhaka last year. 

Son of Simeen Hossain, managing director of Eskayef Bangladesh Limited, and Muhammad Waquer Bin Hossain, Faraaz was an undergraduate student at the Emory University in Atlanta, US. The 20-yaer-old had come to Dhaka for summer vacation. 

Recalling the fateful night of July 1, Latifur said Faraaz and his two friends, Abinta Kabir and Tarishi Jain, lost their lives at the hand of terrorists.

“Faraaz has taught us what friendship really is,” he said, adding that since the incident he often wondered if he could show the courage Faraaz had shown.

He dedicated the award to Faraaz, saying he was proud to be the young man's grandfather.

Sanjiv Mehta, CEO, Unilever, who was one of the awardees last year, explained the selection process.

He said 50 leaders were primarily selected in each category from out of around 1,500 CEOs from India and abroad. After that judges select one from each category.

About picking Latifur Rahman in CEO category (abroad), Sanjiv said the Transcom Group chairman always upheld social values and fulfilled the organisation's responsibility towards the society.

Other awardees in different categories are N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Group; Harsh Mariwala, chairman and managing director, Marico; Sajjan Jindal, chairman of Jindal Steel; Narayanan Vaghul, founding chairman of ICICI Bank; Piyush Pandey, chairman of Ogilvy; Pawan Goenka, managing director of Mahindra and Mahindra; Hari Menon, founder and CEO of Bigbasket; Jayshree Vyas, managing director of SEWA Bank; and Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala, adviser of India's power ministry.