University of Karachi. Photo: Nomi887, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Audio_Visual_Centre_KU.jpg)
Career
Gallery of Salman Rahman
IFIC Bank. Photo: Dhakaiya, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IFIC.jpg)
Gallery of Salman Rahman
Jatiya Sangsad. Photo: Rossi101 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sangshad_Assembly_Hall.jpg)
Jatiya Sangsad. Photo: Rossi101 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sangshad_Assembly_Hall.jpg)
Salman Fazlur Rahman is a Bangladeshi industrialist, philanthropist, and politician. He co-founded Beximco Group, served as president of major business organizations, represented Dhaka-1 in Parliament, and was Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's adviser for private industry and investment from 2019 until 2024.
Background
Salman Fazlur Rahman was born on May 23, 1951, in Dohar, Bangladesh, to Fazlur Rahman and Syeda Fatina Rahman. Dohar is an upazila of Dhaka District in central Bangladesh, a region connected to the capital through the Dhaleshwari and Padma river systems.
He came from a family that became prominent in Bangladesh's commercial and public life. In the early years after Bangladesh's independence in 1971, Rahman and his brother Ahmed Sohail Fasihur Rahman entered business and established the enterprise that developed into Beximco Group.
Education
Rahman received a degree from Karachi University, now formally known as the University of Karachi, a major public research university founded in 1951 in Karachi, Pakistan. The university developed during the postcolonial expansion of higher education in South Asia and became an important center for professional and scientific education.
His university education preceded his entry into the business environment of newly independent Bangladesh, where private firms were expanding in trade, manufacturing, finance, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and export-oriented industry.
Rahman began his principal business career in the early 1970s when he and his brother Ahmed Sohail Fasihur Rahman founded Bangladesh Export Import Company Limited, later known as Beximco Group. The group initially operated in commodities trading and expanded into textiles, pharmaceuticals, ceramics, real estate, construction, media, financial services, energy, information technology, and other industries. Rahman became the group's co-founder and vice chairman, helping develop it into one of Bangladesh's largest diversified private-sector business organizations.
His corporate positions extended into banking, media, and business policy. He served as chairman of IFIC Bank and held leadership roles associated with The Independent newspaper, Independent Television, and the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute. The institute is a Dhaka-based public-policy think tank concerned with economic development, governance, and regional affairs.
Rahman was president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry from 1994 to 1996 and president of the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the 1995–1997 term. He also led or chaired organizations representing textiles, pharmaceuticals, television broadcasters, and other private-sector interests. These roles placed him within the institutional network through which Bangladeshi businesses advocated trade, investment, industrial policy, and regional economic cooperation.
He entered electoral politics after founding Samriddhya Bangladesh Andolan and later joining the Awami League. He was elected to the Jatiya Sangsad from Dhaka-1, the constituency covering Dohar and Nawabganj, in 2008, 2014, 2018, and 2024. In January 2019, Sheikh Hasina appointed him Private Sector Industry and Investment Adviser; the position was honorary but carried the rank and status of a cabinet minister. His advisory work focused on investment promotion, private industry, and the business environment. After the collapse of the Awami League government on August 5, 2024, he was arrested in Dhaka in connection with a police case and subsequently faced additional legal proceedings.
Rahman co-founded BEXIMCO Group in the early 1970s with Ahmed Sohail Fasihur Rahman. The enterprise grew from commodities trading into a diversified Bangladeshi conglomerate with activities in manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, textiles, finance, media, construction, energy, and other sectors.
He helped connect private-sector business organizations with national and regional economic policy through his presidencies of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Politics
Salman F Rahman entered politics in the mid-1990s after a career in business. He founded Samriddhya Bangladesh Andolan and later joined the Bangladesh Awami League, becoming an adviser to Sheikh Hasina on private-sector development and subsequently serving as the party-backed member of Parliament for Dhaka-1.
His political work centered on private investment, industrial development, trade, and closer cooperation between government and business. After winning the Dhaka-1 constituency in 2008, 2014, 2018, and 2024, he served as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Private Sector Industry and Investment Adviser from 2019 until the fall of her government in August 2024, with the rank and status of a cabinet minister. His political career unfolded during a period marked by the Awami League's long tenure in government, rapid industrial expansion, and increasingly contentious national elections.
Membership
Rahman participated in Bangladesh's principal business and industry associations and held leadership positions in organizations representing commerce, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, textiles, broadcasting, and regional South Asian trade. His business-association work connected corporate interests with national economic policy and regional commercial cooperation.
President
Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry
,
Bangladesh
1994 - 1996
President
SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry
1995 - 1997
President
Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry
,
Bangladesh
President
Bangladesh Textile Mills Association
,
Bangladesh
President
Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries
,
Bangladesh
President
Association of Television Channel Owners
,
Bangladesh
Connections
Salman Fazlur Rahman is the son of Fazlur Rahman and Syeda Fatina Rahman. He is married to Syeda Rubaba Rahman and has a son, Ahmed Shayan Fazlur Rahman.
His brother Ahmed Sohail Fasihur Rahman was his business partner and became chairman of Beximco Group. Together, the brothers established the enterprise that developed into the Beximco conglomerate.
Father:
Fazlur Rahman
Rahman's father.
Mother:
Syeda Fatina Rahman
Rahman's mother.
Wife:
Syeda Rubaba Rahman
Son:
Ahmed Shayan Fazlur Rahman
Brother:
Ahmed Sohail Fasihur Rahman
Co-founded BEXIMCO Group with Salman Fazlur Rahman and later became its chairman.
References
BEXIMCO Group: About Us
Documents the founding of BEXIMCO by Ahmed Sohail Fasihur Rahman and Salman Fazlur Rahman in the 1970s and describes the group's expansion across manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, textiles, finance, media, energy, and other sectors.
BEXIMCO Pharmaceuticals Annual Report 2018–2019
Provides a corporate biography describing Rahman as BEXIMCO Group's vice chairman, a Bangladeshi industrialist, philanthropist, and politician, and the Prime Minister's Private Industry and Investment Adviser.
