Syed Mamnun Quader

About Syed Mamnun Quader

Syed Mamnun Quader is the Founder, Managing Director, and CEO of Southtech Group, one of the earliest software companies to operate in Bangladesh. His path there ran through more than a decade of international banking before he ever wrote a business plan for a technology company.

A Career Built in London Banking

Quader started his career in 1983 as a bank management trainee in London. Over the next several years he worked for Banque Nationale de Paris Plc in London, Banque Paribas in London, and Investcorp Bank EC in Bahrain, building experience across retail, commercial, and investment banking.

He holds an MBA from Cass Business School in London, earned during this stretch of his career in international finance.

The Decision to Come Home

By the mid-1990s, Quader had spent roughly a decade in banking but had grown increasingly interested in technology. In late 1995, he decided to relocate to Bangladesh, a move that marked the real start of his entrepreneurial career.

It wasn't an obvious jump. Bangladesh's software industry barely existed at the time, and there was little precedent for a banker moving into it.

Founding Southtech in 1996

Quader founded Southtech Limited in 1996, at a point when there was very little software development activity in Bangladesh to speak of. The company had to build both its technical capability and its market from close to zero.

That early positioning gave Southtech a long head start over software companies that entered the Bangladeshi market years later.

Growing Into a Six-Entity Group

Under Quader's leadership, Southtech evolved from a small local IT company into an international ICT solution provider. Southtech Group today comprises six entities, two based in Bangladesh and four operating in other countries.

Along the way, Quader was responsible for the creation of a number of financial and enterprise software products now used in both domestic and global markets.

A Founding Voice in BASIS

Quader is a Founding Member of the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), the country's national trade body for software and IT-enabled services, and later served as its Senior Vice President.

He has also served as an Independent Director on the Board of Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) and as a Director at the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI).

Recognition as an ICT Pioneer

In 2022, The Daily Star named Quader ICT Pioneer of the Year for 2021, recognition that reflected nearly three decades spent building one of Bangladesh's foundational software companies.

Quader is widely regarded as an iconic figure in the country's tech industry, not for a single breakout product, but for having been present, and building, since before there was much of an industry to speak of.