Bangladesh Business and Disability Network (BBDN) has signed an MoU with Foreign Investors Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) on September 30 to outline mutually benefiting activities focused on disability inclusion amongst multinationals.

Rupali Haque Chowdhury, FICCI president and managing director of Berger, and Murteza Rafi Khan, CEO of BBDN, signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organisations.

The agreement outlines some mutually benefiting activities focused on disability inclusion amongst multinationals, which can comprise of FICCI, FICCI members, BBDN and other mutually agreed relevant stakeholders. The core purpose of this collaboration is to increase the number of FICCI members who are actively becoming disability inclusive organisations by building their institutional disability confidence.

To this end, FICCI being the national apex body of the foreign investors can play a key role to expedite policy influencing with its members, the broader business community and the government, while facilitating a window of opportunity in employment creation and setting standards in provisioning an appropriate work environment for people with disabilities. Skills building activities for persons with disabilities and recruiting skilled candidates with disabilities through apprenticeships, internships and jobs are also within the scope of the collaboration.

Salahuddin Kasem Khan, chairman of BBDN, welcomed the positive consideration of FICCI to collaborate and emphasized the importance of all its multinational members to actively work on disability inclusion, which is aligned with the SDG goal of inclusive growth by "leaving no one behind".

Rupali Chowdhury reiterated the commitment of FICCI to collaborate effectively with BBDN by undertaking practical action, in an effort to change the existing scenario of disability inclusion in the labour market, in alignment with the diversity and inclusion mandates of their members and meeting the skills and employment needs of people with disabilities in Bangladesh.

MHM Fairoz, FICCI vice-president and managing director of Singer; Naser Ezaz, FICCI board member and CEO of Standard Chartered Bank; Nurul Kabir, FICCI executive director; Aziza Ahmed, head of operations of BBDN; and Rusafa Khan, FICCI executive, communication and PR, were also present at the signing ceremony.