Md. Mafizur Rahman is the Managing Director of the Small and Medium Industries Foundation. He is a Former Additional Secretary of the Government of Bangladesh. Md. Mafizur Rahman joined as the Managing Director (MD) of Small and Medium Industries Foundation (SMEF) on 28 December 2020. Prior to joining this post, he was the Director General of Bangladesh Industrial Technical Assistance Center (BITAC) from 27 February 2018 to 31 August 2020. Dr. Rahman was born on 01 September 1971 in an aristocratic Muslim family at Hijla upazila of Barisal district. His father was a captain of Bangladesh Army and mother was a housewife. He passed B.Com (Honors) (first place in second class), M.Com (first class) from the Department of Management, University of Dhaka. After entering the career, he obtained LLB as a Private Examiner from National University, Post Graduate Degree in Management Control and Management Information System (MCMIS) from Maastricht School of Management, University of Maastricht, Netherlands and PhD Degree in Environmental Studies from IBS under Rajshahi University.
He started his career in 1987 as a Probationary officer at Bangladesh Bank. As he got the opportunity to teach at the university and passed the Bangladeh Civil Service (BCS exam) at the same time, Dr. Rahman joined the BCS administration cadre on 15 February 1988. He served as Assistant Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner (Land), LAO, Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO), District Council Secretary, Director of Bangladesh Public Administration Training Center in Noakhali, Rangamati, Mymensingh, Gaibandha, Sunamganj and Jhalokati. In addition to his field duties, he served as Senior Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Shipping, Environment and Forests, Ministry of Food and in the Secretariat of the President at Bangabhaban and Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock.
Though he was a member of the administration cadre, he got the opportunity to work in Bangladesh Mission abroad twice. He worked as a Hajj Counselor from the Ministry of Religion in Saudi Arabia (June 2007 to January 2009) and as an Economic Counselor at the Bangladesh Embassy in Rome, Italy (August 2012 to January 12, 2018) under the Economic Relations Division immediately before joining BITAC. He represented Bangladesh as the Alternative Permanent Representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Program (WFP) in Rome. Dr. Rahman is the only Bangladeshi to be the vice-chair of the G-77 Rome Chapter in 2015 and the chairperson in 2016. As bureau member, he served as chairman of two subcommittees of Committee on World Food Security (CFS). He also served as an elected member of the FAO's Program Committee, Finance Committee, and Legal Committee. The United Nations declared the period from 2016 to 2025 as the Decade of Nutrition, following the adoption of his proposal in the Rome Declaration of the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) in 2014. Through his efforts, Bangladesh was elected a member of the Executive Committee of the World Food Program for the period 2016-2018. He also served as Chairperson / Panelist / Moderator at various events, including almost all FAO, IFAD and WFP Committees and Subcommittees.
During his tenure as the Director General of BITAC, he enacted the BITAC Act 2019, 57 years after the establishment of BITAC, won the Public Administration Medal for BITAC and formulated a long-term visionary master plan for the organization under which various development activities of BITAC are now underway.
In addition to working in Saudi Arabia and Italy, as part of training and government responsibilities, Dr. Rahman visited Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Vietnam, USA, UK, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Greece, Switzerland, France, Thailand, Morocco, Laos, Ecuador, Nepal, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Samoa, , Traveled to the United Arab Emirates, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, Serbia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, India, China, Australia and Japan.