From Awareness to Action: My Journey as a Speaker at Bangladesh's First Dedicated AI Summit

Last Friday, I had the privilege of standing on stage at Bangladesh's first dedicated AI summit — and I confess, it felt like a small piece of history in the making.

The MY WINDOW Presents HOLD AI Summit 2026, powered by AI4BT, was organized by the House of Learning & Donating (HOLD) in Dhaka on 21 August. For an entire afternoon, the venue brought together HR professionals, business leaders, brand and marketing experts, technologists, policymakers, and academics — all asking the same question: how do we turn artificial intelligence from a buzzword into a force that actually works for Bangladesh?

The summit opened with a heartfelt welcome from Muhammad Nur E Alam, founder of HOLD, a human resources professional and social worker who has championed learning-driven development for underserved communities. His message set the tone for the day: AI, adopted responsibly and inclusively, can become a powerful catalyst for national progress — creating new opportunities for organizations and individuals alike.

I was honored to co-present the session "AI Leadership: From Awareness to Action" alongside Md. Mahmudul Hasan, CEO and AI Transformation Consultant at AI4BT Global. Together, we tackled the gap that I see every day in my consulting work: most organizations are stuck in the awareness phase. They have attended the webinars, read the articles, and watched the demos — but they have not yet moved to action.

Our session focused on exactly that bridge. We walked the audience through the practical steps of adoption: auditing business processes to find high-impact use cases, starting small with measurable pilots, building a clean data foundation, and — most importantly — investing in people and change management, because technology alone never transforms an organization. The energy in the room told us this message landed. Leaders are no longer asking "what is AI?" — they are asking "where do we begin?"

The lineup that afternoon was remarkable. Imteaz Mustafa, Head of OD & Talent Management at Fakir Fashion Ltd., delivered a sharp session on AI for HR professionals, exploring how the function is being reinvented. Md. Mahabubur Rahman Bhuiyan, DIG (PRL) and advisor for security, crisis management and international affairs, spoke on AI cyber security solutions — a timely reminder that with every new capability comes new responsibility.

The highlight of the day was the panel discussion, "Bangladesh's AI Leaders Discuss What's Next — for Careers, Businesses, and the Country's Competitive Edge." Moderated by Muhammad Redwanul Haq, Senior GM at Robi, it brought together an extraordinary cross-section of national experience: Professor Dr. Mohammed Shadrul Alam, Group Captain Md. Abul Hossain (retd.), former Secretary ASM Mahbubul Alam, renewable energy expert M. Rafiqul Islam, and Md. Faisal Hossain, Group CTO of BD Finance PLC. Together they painted an ambitious picture of the next five to ten years — covering public services, business productivity, workforce transformation, healthcare, energy, financial services, and cybersecurity. The thread running through every answer: responsible adoption, human capability, governance, and the ecosystem we must build together.

One line from the day stayed with me. Tarif Mohammed Khan of Dekko ISHO Venture Capital put it beautifully: "AI will not be our competitor; rather, it will become a partner in our work." That is the mindset Bangladesh needs.

The summit closed with a networking dinner, where conversations continued well into the evening — old connections deepened, new collaborations began, and ideas for an AI-ready Bangladesh took shape.

For me, this was more than an event. It was proof that the AI conversation in Bangladesh is maturing — moving from awareness to action, exactly as the session title promised. I left Dhaka inspired, and deeply grateful to HOLD and my co-presenter Mahmudul for the opportunity. The journey has only just begun.