Chairman (Newage Group)

Abu Sayeed Mohammad Quasem is a 1963 graduate in Mechanical Engineering from BUET. He founded Newage Garments Ltd. the first company in the Newage Group in 1984. Since then the group expanded manifold to include three garment manufacturing units, one composite Knit Textile mill and a plastic injection molding plant. His group currently has almost 9500 employees and an annual turnover of about USD 100 million. Mr. Quasem is also a co-sponsor of Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Ltd that is now the largest credit rating company in the country.

Mr. Quasem takes active interest in trade politics. He served as President of Bangladesh Employers Federation in 1999-2000, President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 1997 and Vice President of ICC-Bangladesh for several terms. He was the founder Chairman of BIMST-EC Business Forum (1998-2000), a regional forum of business communities of Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of Dhaka WASA, Bangladesh Services Ltd (owner of Hotel Intercontinental) and Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR).

Mr. Quasem traveled extensively. He travelled to around 150 cities in over 40 countries spread over six continents and participated in many national and international conferences, seminars and workshops. He was on the list of Consultants of the International Trade Centre (ITC), a UN organization affiliated with the UNCTAD and WTO that took him to Malawi and Mozambique in Africa and to Cuba and Bolivia in Central and South America for rendering consultancy services for development of their textile and clothing sector. He also carried out a few consultancy assignments in his home base in Bangladesh as ITCs National Consultant.

Mr. Quasem is the Managing Trustee of Gulshanara Razzaque Foundation, a family trust dedicated to the upliftment of the fate of the poor and the underprivileged. This Foundation runs a free primary school with about 600 students in Dhaka, a 30-bed hospital in Dohar equipped with modern healthcare facilities, a Nursing Institute and a Nursing College to produce quality nurses with Diploma and graduation degrees.

He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of RADDA MCH-FP Centre, a large NGO that operates in the Mirpur area providing health care services for mothers and children, and family planning, and the DCCI Foundation, another NGO set up by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry providing social service to the needy.