Manzuma Murshed, entrepreneur, activist and an advocate for gender equality, has a unique vision of highlighting female entrepreneurial talent in the country.
Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in improving the lives of women over the past decades. As more female leaders are stepping up, the future looks promising in ensuring gender equality in the country. Manzuma Murshed is a female entrepreneur based in Chattogram who has been working relentlessly in empowering aspiring female entrepreneurs in the country.
She has carved a dual role for herself which includes yearning to foster economic independence among young women and recognising that commercial success needs education and skill. Her second forte is to counsel the students in making the right career choices. Manzuma’s professional interests are seamlessly blended with her social interests, she is a passionate advocate of women’s rights, never failing to highlight the role women play in society and their contribution to the growth of the country. From her experience in working with young women from across 16 countries at Asian University for Women (AUW), she gained insights into how the millennial generation thinks and acts. In her role as Assistant Director of Admissions, she was instrumental in bringing in hundreds of young women from several Asian countries to AUW Bangladesh which transformed their lives. Later on, in her role as Dean of Students, she ensured students’ mental and physical wellness by bringing in requisite policies and structure. Later, at East Delta University (EDU), in her capacity as Director of Placement Cell and the Registrar, Manzuma guided both students and alumni in career planning and developing soft skills. She also worked to enhance the visibility and reputation of EDU by developing strong relations with the corporate world and building the University’s overall brand image nationally, and internationally.
Subsequently, Manzuma embarked on her journey as an entrepreneur and took over Mentors’ in Chattogram. Using her leadership skills, she revived the institution which has now become the primary choice for the students seeking to study abroad. Manzuma is also the Managing Partner of Winning Magnitude Bangladesh. Winning Magnitude Sdn Bhd is a renowned organization for student recruitment based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with a network spread across six countries. Recognising the dearth of women in businesses Manzuma set up M&M Business Communications with a unique vision which is to highlight the entrepreneurial talent of women. Hence, M&M conceive, plan, design, and organize exhibitions, training, community dialogues, and other social events to promote the economic activities of women and to highlight their undeniable nation-building role. The platform provided by M&M has successfully launched the careers of several young women entrepreneurs. In the past few years under Manzuma’s great natural ability to organise people and activities, M&M has conducted several successful events. They ranged from Conference on Women Empowerment & Leadership in collaboration with United Commercial Bank (UCB), Wedding Expos in partnership with Radisson Blu Chattogram, Eid Exhibitions with participants from Dhaka, Chattogram, Dubai, India and beyond. Manzuma is deeply passionate about her work and always gives her full attention to whatever project she works on. As a member of the Chittagong Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and other similar forums using her rich experience and single-mindedness she contributes towards a society where gender parity is practised in all aspects of life.