The person behind “Digital Bangladesh”

 

Digital Bangladesh is the political goal in Vision 2021 of the Bangladesh Awami League Manifesto during the National Elections of 2008. Digital Bangladesh implies the broad use of computers and embodies the modern philosophy of effective and useful use of technology in terms of implementing the promises in education, health, job placement, and poverty reduction. The party underscored a changing attitude, positive thinking, and innovative ideas for the successes of “Digital Bangladesh”

Vision 2021 was the political manifesto of the Bangladesh Awami League party before winning the National Elections of 2008. It stands as a political vision of Bangladesh for the year 2021, the golden jubilee of the nation. The policy has been criticized as a policy emblematic of technological optimism in the context of Bangladesh and the state repression of media, low internet penetration, inadequate electricity generation. The Vision 2021 is an articulation of where this nation needs to be in 2021 – the year which marks the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence.

The person behind the Digital Bangladesh concept is not other than Sajeeb Wazed Joy, ICT Advisor of Bangladesh Awami League & also the Advisor to the Government of Bangladesh on Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Sajeeb Wazed Joy believes in the 4th industrial revolution, Bangladesh can be an Asian superpower with the ICT industry & its impact on GDP on a large scale like other industries in Bangladesh.

His dream was to be a nation that had its own satellite, now Bangladesh world’s 41st country who has its own satellite. The Bangabandhu Satellite-1 (Bangabandhu-1) is the first Bangladeshi geostationary communications and broadcasting satellite. It is named after the father of the nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It was manufactured by Thales Alenia Space and launched on 12 May 2018. The satellite was the first payload launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket.

A recent @IRIglobal poll showed that Bangladeshis are increasingly confident that #Bangladesh is headed in the right direction. pic.twitter.com/If3d1n4xOd

— Sajeeb Wazed (@sajeebwazed) February 3, 2020

Source: Twitter post of @sajeebwazed

He is the President of the US-based firm Wazed Consulting Inc. Wazed is regarded as the mastermind of the Digital Bangladesh initiative and promoting the Vision 2021 manifesto of the Awami League. Wazed was listed by the World Economic Forum as one of its Young Global Leaders. Wazed is also a lobbyist and columnist on behalf of the Bangladeshi government.

Sajeeb Wazed Joy attended boarding school in India, including St. Joseph’s College in Nainital and Kodaikanal International School in Palani Hills, Tamil Nadu. He studied computer science at the University of Bangalore; then transferred to The University of Texas at Arlington in the United States, where he graduated with a BSc in computer engineering. Subsequently, Wazed attended the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he completed his Master’s in Public Administration.

Wazed was settled in the United States for over two decades. He married Kristine Ann Overmire on October 26, 2002. They have a daughter named Sophia. Their house is located in Falls Church, Virginia. Since 2009, Wazed has divided his time between Bangladesh and the United States.

SAJEEB WAZED, www.sajeebwazed.albd.org