Sajeeb Wazed Joy’s 47th birthday today

Published : 27 Jul 2017, 12:32

Sahos Desk

Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed (Bengali: সজীব ওয়াজেদ; born July 27, 1971), also known as Sajeeb Wazed Joy, is a Bangladeshi businessman and politician.

He is a member of the Awami League and serves as Advisor to the Government of Bangladesh on Information and Communication Technology.[1] Wazed divides his time between Washington DC and Dhaka.

He is the architect of Digital Bangladesh. The policies taken by him as the Prime Minister’s ICT Advisor opened a new horizon of ICT usage in Bangladesh as the country continues to improve rapidly in all indicators of technological advancement including mobile phone users, internet users, accessing public services digitally, mobile banking, and earnings from ICT exports.

His policies has already contributed to Bangladesh receiving investment from Silicon Valley. It is a paradigm shift for Bangladesh to reach such a height in ICT from what it had been even less than a decade ago.

Having a political leaning from family by virtue of being the grandson of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, he was one of the key persons behind enabling Bangladesh to become a lower middle income country from a lower income one for the first time since its independence. Bangladesh is now set to reach the goal of becoming a higher middle income country by 2021 and a developed one by 2041 by harnessing the power of science and technology.

Personal life

Wazed was born in wartime Dhaka during the Bangladesh Liberation War on 27 July 1971. His parents were nuclear scientist Dr. M. A. Wazed Miah and Sheikh Hasina Wazed, the daughter of nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

His birth during the war and subsequent victory of Bangladesh lead to him being nicknamed by his grandfather as Joy (meaning "Victory" in Bengali). In August 1975, his grandparents and uncles were assassinated during a military coup in Bangladesh; he and his mother, father and aunt survived as they were visiting West Germany.

The family was barred by the military regime from entering the country until 1981. After returning to Bangladesh in 1981, his mother assumed the presidency of the Awami League and spearheaded the campaign for the restoration of democracy, along with her arch-rival Khaleda Zia. Wazed 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 in Harvard University, where he completed his Masters 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.[2] Since 2009, Wazed has divided his time between Bangladesh and the United States.

Awards