Waseqa Ayesha Khan

Waseqa was born on 16 July 1969 to Niloufer Rahman Khan and Ataur Rahman Khan Kaiser. She completed kindergarten at Little Jewels School Chittagong. She then shifted to BAWA School for her Primary and High School Years and completed her SSC from there. She was a part of numerous extracurricular activities having to do with culture and competition throughout her school life. She completed her HSC (stood first among girls under Comilla Board in Commerce) from Chittagong Government Commerce College. Waseqa was actively involved in student politics from 1987 to 1991. She was elected from Bangladesh Student League to the Student Council 1987-89 of Chittagong Government Commerce College. She obtained her bachelor's degree in commerce from the same college under Chittagong University and her Masters in Accountancy from the same university.

Waseqa began her career by completing a four year long articleship at Hodavasi Chowdhury and Company under the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh. She then joined American Express Bank in 1997 and went on to work in various management positions until she left the bank in 2005 and joined Standard Chartered Bank. She worked in various capacities in Retail Banking in managerial positions for Standard Chartered until she left the bank in 2014 to take oath as a Member of Parliament in the 10th Parliament of Bangladesh. She occupied Reserved Women's Seat 31 and represented the constituents of the Chattogram and Cox's Bazar districts. During her first term as a parliamentarian, She served in the Public Accounts Committee as well as the Committee on Estimates. Waseqa was elected in 2015 to represent the women parliamentarians of the Asia-Pacific countries in the Inter-Parliamentary Union for a three-year term. She served as a vice-president in the Central Committee of Bangladesh Mohila Awami League from 2017. She became actively involved in Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non Proliferation and Disarmament, the Climate Parliament, and the Asian Women Parliamentary Caucus. She was also nominated by the Honourable Speaker of Parliament to the Senate of her alma mater, Chittagong University, during her first term. She was nominated for her Second Term in Parliament in February 2019. She currently occupies Reserved Women's Seat 7 and represents the constituents of Chattogram district. She is still active in the Public Accounts Committee, the Committee on Estimates, and the other aforementioned committees. Waseqa is also a member of the Parliamentary Caucus on Child Rights in her Second Term. She is currently serving as the Finance and Planning Secretary of Bangladesh Awami League.

Waseqa got married in 1995 and has two children. She has been an active Rotarian since 2008 and she is a Paul Harris Fellow. She is also a Capstone Course alumni of the National Defence College. Waseqa advocates for issues such as Access to Finance for Women Entrepreneurs, Cancer Awareness & Counselling for Women, Inclusive Education, Performance Management in the Public Sector, Climate Reality for Coastal People, and Women in Coding to name a few.

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