Rokeya Afzal Rahman

Rokia Afzal Rahman ( – 5 April 2023) She served as one of advisers of the caretaker government of Bangladesh in 2001.

Background Rokia Afzal was the eighth among 12 siblings of Khandkar Ali Afzal and Syeda Ali Afzal. Khandkar Ali Afzal was a barrister and the first Bengali secretary of the Bengal Legislative Assembly. In 1996, she founded Women in Small Enterprises (WISE) to promote the role of women in small enterprises and industries. At the initiative of the women’s affairs ministry at the time, she created an inter-ministerial committee which ensured awareness campaigns in 10 centres where women could cast their votes for the first time.

Rahman was the chairperson of the board of directors of the Asian University for Women Support Foundation in Bangladesh. She was the founding president of Bangladesh Federation of Women Entrepreneurs and the chairperson of MIDAS Financing Limited. Rahman was the founding chairperson of Presidency University in Dhaka.

Rahman was a member of the Business Advisory Council at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and South Asia Women's Network (SWAN).

Awards Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World in Monte Carlo Erum is the executive director of BRAC Institute of Educational Development (IED) and Imran is the director of Mediaworld Limited and Reliance Insurance PLC.

Rokia's sister, Khadija Afzal, served as a vice-president of the Bangladesh Federation of Women Entrepreneurs (BFWE).

Rahman died at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital in Singapore on 5 April 2023, at the age of 82.