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Selina Quader was born on June 3, 1947 in a respectable family of Jessore.
Her father was a reputed Lawyer of Jessore bar and mother was an affectionate house wife. She is sixth amongst her 13 brothers and sisters. Her school education began in Momena Girl’s High School and she passed the Matriculation examination from the same school in 1962. She took active part in school sports and different cultural events along with studies and obtained several prizes in different events of competitions held both within and outside the school.
Her intermediate and graduate level studies began with Michael Madhushudan College, the then renowned educational institution of the south. Apart from her affinity for extra-curricular activities, she actively participated in student politics. Her admirable personality and distinctive leadership quality allowed her to be elected as the girls’ representative of the college for three consecutive terms. She was graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in 1967.
She was married to Dr. Shaikh Abdul Quader, an agricultural scientist, in 1968. Selina is a mother of one son and a daughter. Because of her husband’s transferable nature of job, she had the opportunity to travel different parts of the country and reside in different places knowing different shades of people particularly those of farm people of the remote villages. This allowed her to know their backwardness and understanding their sorrows and miseries intimately. Her intimate social attachment and ability to come closer to different shades of people through her amiable and pleasant personality, she got admiration of everybody with whom she happened to come in contact.
While at Chuadanga, she was moved to see the miseries of the oppressed women of all shades of the society. She took initiative to bring all political parties of Chuadanga to form a social body named “Nari Nirjatan Protirodh Committes†and became the President of the body through unanimously. This forum practically worked quasi-judicially to give verdicts of the disputes to prevent oppression of the women who did not have the capability to take shelter of law. Selina worked for this forum for ten year as its president.
While at Chuadanga, Selina started an agribusiness venture with its base at grass-root level farming communities and started a farming venture in 1985 in an infertile and barren land of the village Garabaria under upazilla and district of Chuadanga. The initiative was designated as “Agroconcern†and later created another organization “Farm Fresh Enterprise†for operating its business enterprises. Poverty, illiteracy and unemployment of the adjoining villagers attracted the attention of Selina. Over years of concerted efforts, a silent revolution took place to convert Chuadanga and beyond into an important vegetable belt of the country changing the economic condition of the farming communities very sharply. This testified the success of Selina and her agribusiness model. Smuggling and preparation and selling of wine out of date juice ceased to continue because of generation of remunerative and alternative job opportunities. Selina also assisted institutional development of the farmer groups to cope with the production surge of vegetables in the locality.
Outcome of the farming approach at Garabaria, helped Selina conceptualizing her future agribusiness projects. The agribusiness projects now being operated by Selina stands as follows:
1. Farm management:
a) Production of seeds of potatoes, vegetables, cereals etc
b) High value fruits and vegetable production and marketing in big cities
c) Conducting trials and demonstrations of seed varieties
2. Indenting, Importation and marketing of imported Seed Potatoes
3. Marketing of farm grown high value vegetables and fresh fruits to big
cities
4. Production of export quality potatoes through contract growers
Marketing of seed potatoes and vegetable seeds countrywide through its dealer network.
6 Export of a) potatoes and b) tomatoes
Unique role of Selina having high national significance was to promote export suitable potato variety, granola, in the country which now accounts for 90% of the national export volume and enabling Bangladesh to export potatoes round the year. It also introduced and promoted production of export suitable exotic variety of tomato and started exporting this agro-product in this year for the first time in the history of Bangladesh. It is developing other agro-products including French Bean also to find their export markets.
It also pioneered high value farming in the country and serving export substitute production. After silent revolution in production of early winter vegetables at Garabaria, Selina dreams for a second revolution with high value farming in due course of time. This will also be initiated through formation of farmers’ cooperatives.
Business growth of Agriconcern registered a sharp increase over the last five years. As against turnover of a of Tk. 50.00 Lac in 2007, the turnover raised to Tk. 3874.00 Lac in 2011.
Selina undertook tours to different countries of the world for the purposes of business and as a member of business delegations as well. She had the opportunity to be selected as an entourage of the Hon’ble Prime Minister to visit India.
Selina look forward now to strengthen her business endeavors to the benefit of the common people and earning foreign exchange for the country. Her other goals are to work for social development in areas of agriculture, health, education and environmental protection. With these ends in view, she is re-modeling her agribusiness approaches.