BGAPMEA election: Oikko Parishad submitted nomination paper 

Oikko Parishad, a panel of the Bangladesh Garment Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGAPMEA), led by Adzi Trims Managing Director Al Shahriar Ahmad, submitted a nomination paper on 30 March.

The election board will announce the final candidate list on 22 April and the polls will be held on 11 May, according to the election schedule for the period of 2024-26. 

BGAPMEA, the apex body of the apparel sector backward linkage, is going to organise direct polls. Now the apex body is ruled by an administrator, who already extended his tenure for six months.

Oikko Parishad is participating in the polls with a full panel, and they want to make the organisation smart and dynamic to provide all out support to its members to overcome the existing challenges and march forward, said a press release.

Shahriar is a former director of BGAPMEA, Co-Chairman - Backward Linkage at the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and General Secretary of Bangladesh Apparel Youth Leaders Association (BAYLA).

As an entrepreneur Shahriar has mastered the art of running an organisation with more than 15 years of wide-range experiences within the apparel trims and accessories.

For his outstanding contribution in exports of trim and accessories items, Shahriar was awarded Youth Entrepreneur Award 2022, BGAPMEA. He also received The Bizz Entrepreneurial Award 2023 and was named in JCI TOYP (ten outstanding young persons of Bangladesh) -2021.

The candidates for Dhaka zone are –Meghna Packaging Managing Director Asif Jasim, Dynamic Packaging Managing Director Md Monir Hossain, Union Label and Accessories Director Moniruzzaman Molla, Rupom Packaging and Printing Managing Director Md Aziz Faruque, Siam Computerise Elastic Managing Director Md Mobarak Ullah Mazumder, AKH Packaging and Accessories Director Md Firoz Uddin, Button Tex Managing Director Md Azad Khan, Retail Technologies Managing Director Md Kamrul Hassan, Adzi Trims Managing Director Al Shahriar Ahmad, Inter Label Robust Director Kazi Ashraful Haque Juwel, Shova Trims Managing Director Taposh Kormoker, Asian Printing and Packaging Managing Director Mazaharul Haque Shahid, ZM Printing and Design Managing Director Md Abdul Kader Zilani, Outfit Kings Managing Director Md Shah Alom, Badsha Industries Managing Director Md Saiful Islam Shabuj and Global Premium Accessories Managing Director Mojammel Hossain. 

Former BGAPMEA president Abdul Kader Khan announced the panel and panel leader's name and said, "In my tenure, we have made the sector most effective and work for the members. To take the sector to the next level an efficient leader like Shahriar is very crucial. 

"Our guidance and blessings will be with him and he will make the industry more disciplined and modern," he added.  He is well connected to members and the younger generation are actively working for the country." 

Panel Leader Al Shahriar said, "We are contributing billions of USD every year to the country's economy. But our sector is still neglected. BGAPMEA is passing a critical moment, and we [Oikko Parishad] want to overcome the crisis. 

"We will work for cash incentive and policy support, if voters cast their vote in favour of my panel." 

The BGAPMEA started its operation in 1989, and it currently has nearly 1,900 members, who are contributing nearly $8.5 billion to the apparel export.

On August 8, BGAPMEA first vice-president Mohammad Belal sent a letter to the commerce ministry, claiming that the president of the trade body, Mohammad Moazzem Hossain Moti, renewed his membership using fake documents.

After a hearing and a show-cause notice, the ministry appointed senior assistant secretary Mohammad Moshiur Rahman as an administrator of the apex body on September 24 last year for six months.

In the order, the ministry said the administrator would prepare a proper voter list and complete the election to the executive committee of the BGAPMEA within the stipulated time, and hand over the responsibility to the elected representatives and notify the ministry about it.