As a part of the “Dr. Anwarul Abedin Lecture Series”, a regular development initiative of the American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB), an informative webinar entitled, “Business at a Crossroads in Post-Pandemic and Way Forward” was held on 17 June 2021.The webinar was organized by the Faculty of Business Administration in the honor of AIUB’s visionary Founder Chairman Dr. Anwarul Abedin who catalyzed in the substantial transformation of AIUB into its present status.

Mr. Asif A. Chowdhury, Honorary Consul for Chile in Bangladesh, CEO and Managing Director of Chowdhury Group of Companies, President of Japan Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce, and Industry (JBCCI) for the year 2020-2022, was the esteemed guest speaker of this event. During the webinar, Mr. Asif shared his valuable knowledge and experience of 27 years in international business and trade. He discussed current trade situation of Bangladesh with Chile and Japan. He highlighted the areas where students should focus while starting their own business. According to him the mantra of successful business is ‘Investing on Employees: Understanding their Necessity”, providing quality product to the customers knowing their requirement, need and want. He mentioned that in current pandemic situation the greatest challenge is to make a balance between health issues of mass people and prosperity of business & economy of the country. According to him, shipment, both air and ocean is a great challenge in this pandemic situation as shortage of container and restrictions on shipment are affecting the supply chain of freight forwarding business. He emphasized on the fact that E-commerce is the future of business. He discussed numerous valuable ideologies with the participants on related topics. During the question-answer session, Mr. Asif enthusiastically responded to queries raised by the students and faculty members attending the event.

Professor Dr. Charles C. Villanueva, Vice President (Academic) and Dean, Faculty of Business Administration of AIUB delivered an inspiring welcome message. He underscored the role of social media on business in this pandemic situation as   business is one of the most affected sectors due to pandemic. After the keynote session, Professor Dr. Nisar Ahmed, MBA and EMBA Program Director, Faculty of Business Administration, AIUB delivered the vote of thanks. He expressed appreciation to the distinguished speaker, to the participants and to Ms. Shahnaz Zarin, Asst. Professor, the organizer of the successful event. After the expression of thanks, Prof. Dr. Charles C Villanueva, presented a digital Certificate of Appreciation to Mr. Asif A. Chowdhury as a token of gratitude for sharing his valuable time and insight, and eventually motivating the students to be successful in their career.

The whole event was held in the Zoom online platform and was joined by about 150 participants. Additionally, more than 1600 viewers witnessed the event in Facebook. The event was well moderated by Ms. Shahnaz Zarin, Assistant Professor, Department of Operations and Supply Chain Management, AIUB.