TBT DESK: M A Kashem has been re-elected chairman of the board of directors of Southeast Bank PLC.

He was unanimously re-elected at the bank’s 796th board meeting held on Aug 9, 2026.

Kashem is the founder chairman and sponsor director of Southeast Bank. He is also a member and former chairman of the Board of Trustees of North South University (NSU) and a founder life member of the NSU Trust Foundation.

He has served as chairman of the NSU Board of Trustees four times and has also chaired the university foundation’s Endowment Committee on several occasions. He is chairman of Rose Corner (Pvt) Ltd.

Kashem is a former president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), the apex organisation representing the country’s business community. He also served as chairman of the FBCCI Arbitration Tribunal.

He is a former chairman of the Association of Private Universities of Bangladesh (APUB), which represents private universities in the country.

Kashem served for an extended period as a member of the Board of Trustees of Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf) Bangladesh. He was also president of the Society for Assistance to Hearing Impaired Children (SAHIC) Trust, a voluntary organisation providing ear, nose and throat healthcare services to underprivileged patients. He is a life member of SAHIC.

An industrialist, education patron and philanthropist, Kashem has received several awards for his contributions to industry, exports, education and social welfare.

He received the President Export Trophy in 1982-83 and 1983-84 for outstanding export performance. He was awarded the C R Das Gold Medal in 1995 for his contribution to the industrial sector. He was recognised as the highest taxpayer by the National Board of Revenue in 2011 and 2016-17. More recently, he received the Abu Rushd Memorial Award for promoting higher education.

Kashem led a 20-member FBCCI trade delegation to Far Eastern countries in 1986. In 1987, he led government delegations to the UK, the US, and Canada, sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). He also led a 12-member Export Promotion Bureau delegation to European Economic Community countries in 1985.

He has travelled extensively for business and as the leader of trade and university delegations.

Through the M Kashem Trust, he has supported education for primary and secondary-level students in his locality. The trust has also established the 20-bed Tareque Memorial-Ibrahim General Hospital in Chhagalnaiya, Feni, as a non-profit facility.

The trust has provided stipends and scholarships to meritorious students and established Kashem Complex at Darogarhat in Chhagalnaiya, comprising a madrasa, mosque, Eidgah, public graveyard and training centres. It has also built free homes for poor people in the area.

Kashem is a member of Kurmitola Golf Club, Baridhara Cosmopolitan Club Ltd, Gulshan Club Ltd, Rotary Club of Dhaka West, National Shooting Club and Bangladesh Diabetic Association. He is also a life member of Anjuman Mufidul Islam, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, and Shishu Hospital, Chittagong.