Mohammad Mustafa Surzil
SID: 02-0-71-812-131
Commonwealth Executive MBA (CEMBA)
Last 20-May-2022 CEMBA Reunion was organized at Sampan Restaurant. Last two years the reunion was organized by my sole effort, this time with the help of Mahmudul Islam Bhai (Opsonin Pharma) and Dr. Swapan Bhai, my difficulty is less. Good response is also getting from Sibley Bhai from third batch. It seems that something big will happen this time. The purpose of completing the article in a hurry is that the newcomers need to know the history and since I have been involved with it since the beginning in various events, maybe they can be more motivated if they hear interesting stories from me. Many events have already happened around this organization, all of which we do not know. Two of our people have also passed away. New comers don't know about them. So I wanted to finish this article before May 20th because my memory like a log book will be useful but it didn't happen anyhow. Anyway, as now I have time, I will start from the very beginning so that the major setbacks of this organization that I have seen with my eyes will come out. I will mention all the flow of events as I am from first batch or level so that its continuity is correct.
My SSC from Dhanmondi Govt Boys High School, Dhaka in 1989. Later I studied in Adamjee Cantt College and Titumir College. My Job career started in 1998 in a web development firm “Karna-IT” in Kakrail, Dhaka. I was alone when I used to upload Manav Zamin magazine online. At that time there were only one or two web based magazines. After that, in 2001, I resigned as a faculty (instructor) at the India-Beximco-KDS franchise computer training center NIIT, Sylhet Ambarkhana Center and moved to Dhaka and joined Dhanmondi (Canadian franchise) Techno-Kids as a computer instructor for children. I was looking for a new good course to advance my studies, what can be done, where can be done. MBA can be done in various private universities but it was not possible to do regular MBA while working. And then I did not think that I will enter the job in Sonali Bank. Suddenly one day I saw an advertisement in the paper that the Commonwealth Executive MBA course was going to start in Open University for which the date of admission test and other information was given. I was very interested after seeing the ad, after that I received detailed information about the same ad in my e-mail. More interest came out. I went to Dhaka RRC (Regional Resource Center) and got the prospectus from there and prepared according to the admission test pattern. 250 candidates were selected from around 3000 candidates by renting the entire Tejgaon College of Dhaka. Luckily I was among those 250 people. It was very good to see the sirs of Bangladesh Open University or BOU’s School of Business at the new entrance ceremony. Salma Appa's lively speech in particular gave rise to good inspiration. The class will be held in the Faculty of Commerce of Dhaka University and the tutorial classes will be taken by the professors of Dhaka University. Along with the job, studies and only 16 tutorial classes in each subject. The professors of Dhaka University used to take classes well, but there were some who came to class and just sat. The idea is that this is a tutorial class, so if the students don't ask questions, there is nothing to say. Seeing this, we complained to Salma madam and she also took action. By that time, the classes of the second batch have also started. It was heard that Salma Apa was rejected for the arrangement of sitting in the Faculty of Commerce and arranged AC classrooms in Dhaka RRC. Which means, we will no longer have classes in Commerce Faculty of Dhaka University. After knowing this, there was an adverse reaction among the students of the first and second batch. We wanted to stay in Dhaka University, but we, the students of Open University School of Business, and our sirs and madams insisted, since Commerce Faculty of Dhaka University doesn't care about them, we don't need their AC class room, instead they will teach their students in their own class rooms. On the day when our Sir-Madams are sitting in the new AC class room of Dhaka RRC waiting for us, we are sitting like a sit-down strike in the Faculty of Commerce of Dhaka University. When I heard that the sirs and madams of our school of business were getting angry, I with few of us explained to everyone and went to Dhaka RRC. Classes have started at Dhaka RRC campus since then. CDs from IGNOU (Indira Gandhi Open University) of India came in handy as study material. The BBC's special program on CEMBA and the PDF files stored on their website also provided great inspiration. All the PDFs were downloaded and read and I am very happy to have the magazine of CEMBA, it has come in handy too. Although many expressed dissatisfactions with the study material at that time. In our time books were photocopied and spiral bound. The course books sent by the Canadian Commonwealth of Learning were still out of print.
My CEMBA course started and ended with two great persons. In the beginning with LGED engineer Ali Hussain Bhai (currently in Australia with his family) and ended with NCC Bank’s Sadiq Bhai. Meeting these two wonderful person and having the opportunity to study together has been a great achievement in my life. I met Ali Hossain Bhai while depositing the first course fee at Janata Bank opposite of Dhaka College. He was not very happy to hear that I will take four courses in first semester. He sat down and said you can't take more than two courses. I said I can, but he didn't let me take four. As he said, I deposited the money for two courses. Later, on his request or suggestion, I took the BCS exam together with him and stayed together till Viva. Both of us ended up in Viva. Later I got the job at Sonali Bank Limited and Ali Bhai went to Australia with his family after several years. While in DU's Commerce Faculty, it was heard that Madam Asha of Commonwealth of Learning is coming from Canada to visit our course in Dhaka and we should give her our advantages and disadvantages in written form. I asked her a few questions, among them 1) Why is our course 90 credits called Executive MBA, can it not be called Regular MBA? The answer said that this program was planned 10 years before its launch so its name cannot be changed easily. 2) I asked that since the difference between CEMBA and CEMPA is only two subjects, if someone takes both subjects simultaneously, can he be given CEMPA certificate along with CEMBA? In reply she said, does it ever happen that you are given a master's degree in a subsidiary subject? That is not possible.
Marketing management exam was held three months late, so I had the opportunity to read Philip Kotler's marketing management book well and I was very upset to get a lower than desired score with a very excellent test given. Once we left for BOU on the initiative of MM Masud (Dada) Bhai to demand postponement of the exam. Masud Bhai is called Dada because he was working in Dhaka EPZ Korean DADA Head War Company in high position (probably DGM rank). And his enthusiasm was also extraordinary. Anyway, we met the dean and told the reasons behind our exam, I don't remember what happened later, but on the way, I remember having a great meal at the catering service office of Biman Bangladesh Airlines. On the initiative of this Masud Bhai, a picnic was organized with the second batch along with some of the first batch (including me). After taking part in it, I fell into great embarrassment. Some of the first batch were angry inside. Jahangir's brother was probably in Premier Bank at that time, a meeting was called in his office, on the issue, why did the second batch students leaving the first batch for a picnic, I very shyly attended that meeting. Especially, Jahangir's brother said on the phone whether it is necessary for me to be present. It was said that some first batch students also attended that picnic. Where I was thinking myself as a criminal, luck did not catch me in an unusual way. Anyway, the picnic was fun and great. We had a great time together playing football and singing together. I met Brig. General Retd. Mofiz Bhai at that picnic, he saw my card and said that I was a young banker. Since then, I used to see Mofiz Bhai collecting everyone's cards and getting to know everybody, even today I see his interest and enthusiasm the same. This is undoubtedly one of his great qualities. I heard that Bipu Bhai (Uttar Bank) had a ceremony of his marriage on Mofiz Bhai's home’s rooftop. Bipu Bhai did several trips with Mofiz Bhai and Bhabhi, I along with my family went with them on Nijhum Deep tour on behalf of Uttara Back Travel Luxury Organization named Vromon Bilash, the ship got stuck on the way back from Nijhum Deep, when Mofiz Bhai phoned the Coast Guards. Which Came rushing to help us. I heard that Bipu Bhai, Masud-Munni and others visited Khagrachari with Mofiz Bhabi, where Mofiz Bhabi's head was cut off in an accident and Army people helped them on Mofiz Bhai's phone call.
One day Faisal Bhai of Jamuna Bank (currently working in South Bangla Bank) came to Dhaka RRC and said that he has finished all the semesters and will not be able to take the exam. I wrote down him the length of the semester in the notebook and showed him that he still had one semester left. He passed all the other subjects by taking the test while having fever. I heard from this Faisal bhai and Bipu bhai that Mahmud bhai and Jahangir bhai have taken initiative in Alumni forming and registration form is also available. Tahmid bhai was the manager of a tea garden in Sylhet then, he was also with the initiative. By that time the third batch classes have started. I met Shahriar Mamun bhai (now deceased) and Omar Farooq bhai a well renowned English teacher. Both of them were very excited and very happy to do the CEMBA classes. Due to the pressure of office work, I forgot which subjects I had passed and which ones were left, so I wrote a letter and went to BOU's School of Business, from there I came to know what is left. I still have financial accounting left, wondering what to do. Sadiqe Bhai (of NCC Bank) came after an exam and said, do you have any remaining accounting subject? Not to mention the interesting thing about Sadiq Bhai, he has been in NCC Bank since long ago. When I was working at TechnoKids in 2001, I went to NCC Bank on Saat Masjid Road, Dhanmondi on a Thursday to deposit money. Sadiqe Bhai was the manager there, I didn't know him well in those days. When I went to deposit the money in the afternoon, he laughed and said that I can keep the money but the money will be deposited on Sunday. I agreed and left the money in his custody. At that time I did not even know that one day with this Mr. Manager There will be a close relationship with me related to study. This happened in 2001 before I started studying CEMBA and in 2002 when I started studying CEMBA. However, we both were concerned with accounting subject. I was looking for my former colleague Chandan Da from NIIT. I heard that he left that job and joined New Model Degree College. He was an accountant at NIIT. At such a time, on a rainy wet day, I met him by chance at the bus stop below Sonali Bank's head office in Motijheel. Both of us very happy to see each other after many days. I asked him for help on this occasion and after that I, Sadiq Bhai and Mini Apa took classes for several days at the place where he coached the students. After that I gave the test. On the day of exam results I reached RRC earlier, I found that I had passed and Sadiq Bhai was coming in a rickshaw and asked what's up with him? I said bring sweets. Both of us passed together and came out at that stage. I could not find the Mini apa, it seems that she didn’t pass. I and Sadiq Bhai then had a meal together at a restaurant at the intersection of City College.
There was a big fuss over my project paper. Under the supervision of School of Business Associate Professor Dr. Md. Mainul Islam sir, my project or master paper was a comparative study on the recent global economy and Islamic economy and the title was "A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL ECONOMIC SYSTEM AND ISLAMIC ECONOMIC SYSTEM". At that time I was so busy with official works that it was not possible to work on the project as per my mind with a lot of time, after that I called Sir when it was time. He got a call and said that he is very sick and admitted in the hospital. Meanwhile my registration time is about to end. I called the school of business, another sir picked up, I said to him, how can I meet him if I don't get a day off from office? He replied should I then come to you instead? Having received such non-cooperation, I went to the school of business with anxiety in my mind. I was shocked to go there. In the office of Mainul Sir was present with no serious health disorder, he showed anger and said are you saying others that I am admitted to the hospital, where I do not have any illness. My eyes widened. I checked the phone number. I mistakenly called my uncle's friend Manju Mama, Head of Department of Dermatology, Dhaka Medical College, he is also a professor and he thought one of his students called. This is what made me want to slap myself on the cheek after realizing the mistake. Anyway, after completing the project I met Mainul Sir several times, the last time I remember was to go to East-West University when he went to take classes there. He asked to publish the project paper in the form of a book. My Project papers marks was given to others in the tabulation sheet, that too was fixed by Mainul sir at that time. CNG taxi caught fire while fetching my provisional certificate. When I came to know that the provisional certificate will be issued, I left the office with my private CNG taxi towards BOU. When I was coming back after collecting the certificate from there, a motorcyclist rider passing by showed me with his hand and said that the silencer pipe was on fire. Where my stupid driver had put some hard paper under the silencer pipe to make sure it didn't make noise. The fire started from that paper. After hearing that there was a fire, he quickly stopped the car and poured a jug full of water from the nearby shop. If we had not noticed that there was a fire under the car that day, this world would have ended for me on that day. On the day of the convocation, the great program of the day was almost equal to pain and joy due to hot weather. Meet Sankar Da at the beginning of the program. Together we wore a tye, convocation gown and hat. It is like seeing the huge pandel being fried in a very hot oven, it was not realized earlier that it will be so hot that day. But after receiving the certificate, I, Sadiq Bhai, Sumi Madam, Sankar Da and Omar Farooq Bhai did lot of photo sessions. Then There were many others including Swapan bhai and Engineer Khair bhai but I did not know them that well before that day. Sankar Da, Bipu Bhai, Mofiz Bhai were also together. But I remember the extreme heat. After the convocation, I remember Omar Farooq bhai’s lot of talks while we were crowded in Bipu bhai's car and returned to Dhaka.
Around 2005 or 2006, first batch Mahmud bhai (Millennium Software) and Jahangir bhai (then in Prime Bank, now in AB Bank) first raised the issue of CEMBA Alumni Club with second batch Tahmid bhai (now in UCBL) Bipu bhai (then in Uttara Bank) and first batch Faisal Bhai (then was in Jamuna Bank) they were very active. Some time around 2008 or 2009, Munni had a serious kidney disorder which cost her a lot, then she got help from CEMBA Alumni Club. Munni's marriage with second batch Masood Bhai (then was in BIBM now in One bank) is another wonderful event which led to their being called the CEMBA Couple. One such time, Tahmid bhai called a meeting in which a proposal was made whether CEMBA Alumni Club will be registered in RGSC or not and if so when. I said like a fool, why should it be registered in a joint stock company where the type of organization we have is voluntary?, Tahmid Bhai gave a big laugh. When the name of Brigadier General (retired) Mofiz Bhai was proposed as the chairman of the committee, he agreed to it but Dr. Khaled brother (Dr. Khaled Samsul Islam Doller) or Dollar Bhai (Ministry of Health) was saying why Mofiz bhai will be made chairman unopposed. Khaled Bhai went to Canada to study CEMBA but from there he heard that it is starting in Bangladesh along with India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, then he returned to his country and did the CEMBA course. He has been to more than 64 countries in the world in government work and management. Anyway, Bipu bhai, Faisal bhai used to go to Khaled bhai's house and were traveling companions for several trips. They went out together to Kuakata, India and Bandarban. I also went with them on the Bandarban tour. It was then that Khaled had a close conversation with me. Khaled Bhai was childless and had untimely death saddened us all. For some unknown reason, he fell on the road while getting off from a local bus at Shamim Sarani of Shawrapara to meet someone, blood came out from his ear, then the construction engineers of Concord's Anamika Tower at Shamim Sarani lifted him from the road and poured water on his head. My house is a little inside this Shamim Sarani. I didn't even know about this accident in that time I was in office, I came to know later. No one knew him so no one was doing anything, two strangers, one was returning from a job interview with her boyfriend and they went to Al Helal Hospital taking wounded Khaled Bhai. The doctors there came to know that he was a senior doctor of the Ministry of Health, and immediately he was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. He had a brain hemorrhage. Efforts were also made to send an air ambulance out of the country but all went in vain. He left us on the other side.
Several programs of CEMBA Alumni Club are held, among them the program at the Golf Club of Dhaka Cantonment, the Sampane program at Dhanmondi and the Captain's Kitchen program at Mahakhali are worth mentioning. I was not among the initiates but just participated. But technically I was always connected. Opening Facebook pages and groups (even though Messenger wasn't tagged with Facebook yet). I was instrumental in opening Viber groups, WhatsApp groups. The Viber group was opened on an Eid when Bipu Bhai's Viber was receiving a lot of messages. I asked if this is a new CEMBA group, Tahmid bhai said it is Bipu bhai's own id and we can open a CEMBA group on viber too. I do that then. I used to update this group regularly. At such a time I contacted CEMBA Alumni of Sri Lanka on Facebook. One from Pakistan was also connected but none from India. They asked us to provide a movie clip with some of our speeches when they heard that they would be reuniting in Sri Lanka. I informed everyone about the initiative. We made a movie clip at Mahmud Bhai's office and then we were connected live from Mofiz Bhai's house in the reunion of CEMBA Alumni of Sri Lanka. After that a long time passed and no initiative was seen anymore. Of course I am not sitting idle. Mahmud Bhai (Millennium Software) made an online form from Google Docs after seeing my attempt to create an entry form and Excel database for online data collection. I was sharing my made Microsoft Word forms online as well as links to Google Docs. And I was making the database of the collected return forms but the work was progressing very slowly. At such a time, at the request of a brother from Trust Bank, after many days, another reunion program was successfully held at Captain's Kitchen in Mohakhali on 1st November 2019 on my sole initiative. In that event, I proposed to have a panel who will give speeches on various social issues on behalf of CEMBA the White Lions Alumni through press conference on welfare issues of the society and work like a social pressure group. They will have a second tier for this task who will act as an aide to that front panel. Mamun Shahriar Bhai of the third batch did the work of collecting money very well in this event. After several months, his death was reported by his wife on his Facebook ID. Bipu bhai knowing the news told me, I called Mamun bhai's number, then his wife told the truth of the bad news. Mamun Shahriar was a very active and lively person, so his untimely death was very sad.
During Corona pandemic there was no movement outside thus without zoom meeting we had no other option. So a zoom meeting was called on 18th December 2021, this time also Sankar Da and my initiative was the key. Sankar Da was then in UCBL's capital market and Tahmid Bhai is at the secretary level in that same bank. Tahmid Bhai would unofficially tell Sankar Da to keep the work going and Sankar Da's office was near my office, so he used to come whenever he got time. Sadiq Bhai of NCC Bank also used to have office on the 11th floor of Motijheel head office of NCC Bank. Once on his invitation, I with Sankar da had lunch on the top floor of NCC Bank Tower in Motijheel where there was a discussion like a small meeting on CEMBA. In the zoom meeting on 18 December 2021, I met opsonin pharma’s Mahmudul bhai, he said that the name of BOU’s general MBA alumni is Bouma, whose constitution he has and we can make one taking it as a model. We asked him to send a copy of it to Dr. Swapan bhai. He sends that to me and Dr. Swapan bhi. Among these, a Zoom meeting was held at the initiative of Md. Abul Kalam Azad Dean Sir, in which he informed that a survey is being conducted by COL (Commonwealth of Learning). The main objective of the survey was to find out how much the current condition of those who have completed the CEMBA course has improved. Sir told all of us and asked to enter the link and participate in the survey. We participated as many as we could. Since then, we have two groups on WhatsApp, one of Azad sir's and the other of our previous group.
Mahmudul bhai (Opsonin Pharma) took an initiative of Iftar party in Dhaka RRC during the fast of Ramadan of 2022 but due to lack of time I did not contact enough CEMBA met, I discussed with Tahmid bhai and proposed to postpone the program and hold Eid reunion with which Mahmudul bhai also agreed. Later, Dr. Swapan bhai gave the proposal on WhatsApp and received a good response. A post-Eid Zoom meeting was then called on May 11, 2022, where it would be decided where and when the reunion would take place. Since I initiated Zoom meetings, they can be recorded and saved on YouTube and the link can be shared with everyone. But since this meeting was organized by Mahmudul Bhai, we don't have any recorded version of it. So this meeting was decided to be held again in the evening of 20th May 2022 at Sampan restaurant in Dhanmondi. There was a good conversation with Shibli bhai about the meeting and Mahmudul bhai went to the spot and informed me the next day. 86 confirmed the highest attendance of CEMBA Alumni for this event so far. Preparations were also well taken. During the program subscription collection was done by Nuruddin Akash Bhai and the program was conducted by Qutubuddin Bhai. This sampan event, according to me, is the 11th event of online offline meetings of CEMBA alumni Bangladesh. We are hopeful that the organization will stand well after such a big event. Mofiz Bhai was accepted as the convener and me as the member secretary in the program. The subsequent activities are still ongoing. Meanwhile, on 18th June 2022 another Zoom meeting was held for general discussion in which Mawla Bhai of Chittagong was present. At present the meeting minutes of the program on 20th May 2022 are being prepared under the coordination of Mofiz Bhai. It is expected that the organization will be well organized if everyone's sincere cooperation is received.
Update History: 15 May 2022> 22 June 2022> 29 June 2022> 6 July 2022> Translated from Bangla to English on 30 December 2022>
