Rajeeb Samdani

Rajeeb Samdani
Born	28 March 1974 Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Occupation	Businessman
Nationality	Bangladeshi
Spouse	Nadia Samdani

Rajeeb Samdani (born 28 March 1974) is a Bangladeshi industrialist. He is currently the managing director of Golden Harvest Group^[1][2] and the founder and trustee of Samdani Art Foundation which produces the Dhaka Art Summit.^[3][4] He is also the founding committee member of Tate Museum, United Kingdom, South Asian Acquisition Committee^[5] and in 2014 he was invited to be the committee's Co-Chair. Recently, Rajeeb and Nadia Samdani joined Tate's International Council. He is a member of the New Museum International Leadership Council in New York, and advises regional initiatives such as the Singapore Art Fair and the Colombo Art Biennial. ^[6]

Career

He started his career as a commodity broker with Stemcor. Over the years, his company, Golden Harvest expanded its business into Information Technology, Commodities, logistics, food processing, agriculture, dairy, aviation, insurance and real estate.^{[7][8][9][10][11]}

Golden Harvest has expanded business into Logistics Industry with its Japanese partner Nippon Express, the largest logistic company in Asia and the 7th largest logistic company in the world.^[12][13][14]

Philanthropy

He is the Trustee & secretary general of the Bangladesh Human Rights Foundation, founder of the Alvina Samdani Trust & Taher Ahmed Choudhury Charitable Hospital. The Samdanis have organised the Dhaka Art Summit,^[15][16][17] every two years which is a non-profit event and is solely funded by Samdani Art Foundation. ^{[18] [19] [20] [21] [22]} The foundation has commissioned several projects by established South Asian artists like Rashid Rana, Shilpa Gupta, Jitish Kallat, Mithu Sen, etc., for public viewing including Dhaka's first ever public art project by Raqs Media Collective ^{[23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28]} .^[29] Through the Samdani Art Foundation, he funded the Kunsthalle Basel's first exhibition of a South Asian Artist, Naeem Mohaiemen. They also support Bangladeshi artists to produce works for exhibitions such as the Kochi Muziris Biennale.^[30] The Samdani Art foundation is a donor for the 56th International Biennale di Venezia, supporting the projects of artists Naeem Mohaiemen and Raqs Media Collective in the main Biennale exhibition: All the World’s Futures.^[31][32][33]

Personal life

He is married to Nadia Samdani who is the President of Samdani Art Foundation and the Founder and Director of Dhaka Art Summit. ^{[34] [35]} The collector couple is well known for their local and international art collection as well as their art philanthropy ^{[36] [37] [38] [39] [40]} . They are also well known for hosting the Samdani Art Award, which is a bi-annual fellowship programme where a young Bangladeshi artist is granted with a three-month residency at the Delfina Foundation in United Kingdom.^{[41] [42]} .^[43] Founders Rajeeb and Nadia Samdani were recognized on the 2015 Top 200 Collectors list by Artnews and the Power 100 list by Art Review.^[44][45]

References

1. New Year's Resolutions. The Daily Star. 1 January 2012
2. Golden Harvest takes up $33m expansion plan The News Today. 15 November 2010.
3. Master strokes Dhaka Art Summit in April. The Daily Star. 7 February 2012
4. Dhaka Art Summit – a beginning!. The Wall, 6 May 2012
5. Bangladeshi Rajeeb Samdani appointed founding member. The Daily Star. 7 November 2012.
6. Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani nominated for Forbes India Art Award . The Daily Star 8 March 2014
7. Daily Star
8. Putting Bangladesh on the Arts Map. The New York Times. 5 December 2013
9. Grey Advertising Bangladesh Limited was Assigned as a Creative Agency of Golden Harvest Ice-cream. Bangladesh Brand Forum November 2013
10. STOCK & CORPORATE. The Financial Express. 29 May 2013
11. . The News Today.
12. Nippon Express: 19 April 2012
13. Nippon Express Bangladesh. The Financial Express. 19 April 2012
14. Nippon Express Bangladesh. News Today, 19 April 2012
15. Dhaka to Host Bangladesh’s First Art Summit Boulin Art Info 22 March 2012
16. Bangladesh Strives to be the New ‘India’ of Art. The Wall Street Journal. 10 April 2012
17. Taka Art Summit. The Times of India, 7 April 2012
18. Dhaka Art Summit. dna 16 February 2014
19. WHERE LINES WENT FOR WALKS. The Daily Star. 13 February 2014
20. Dispatch: Dhaka Art Summit art agenda 27 February 2014
21. Second Dhaka Art Summit announced. The Sunday Guardian. 9 November 2013
22. Samdani Art Foundation to stage second edition of Dhaka Art Summit. The Economic Times 5 November 2013
23. The Dhaka Art Summit Financial Times. 21 February 2014
24. The rise and rise of Dhaka. Business Standard. 8 March 2014
25. Dhaka Art Summit 2014 Opens on a Serious High. BLOUINARTINFO 8 February 2014
26. Shining a Spotlight on South Asian Art at the Dhaka Art Summit. VOGUE. 7 February 2014
27. Dhaka Art Summit 2014: ahead of its opening this week, we talk to artistic director Diana Campbell Betancourt Wallpaper 4 February 2014
28. COUNTDOWN TO DHAKA ART SUMMIT 2014: PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS DHAKA, BANGLADESH ¦ 7–9 FEBRUARY 2014 theartcollector 21 January 2014
29. Dhaka Art Summit 2014 7–9 February ArtReview
30. Artist Project Support kochimuzirisbiennale
31. The Art Newspaper
32. Financial Times
33. 5 Art Collectors You Probably Didn’t Know Were Involved In The 56th Venice Biennale Larry's list
34. 4 Reasons We Loved The Dhaka Art Summit This Year: A Pictoral Journey! POPXO 26 February 2014
35. Dhaka Art Summit 2014 takes off DhakaTribune
36. Art destination Dhaka. The Indian Express. 18 February 2014
37. Art summit in Bangladesh showcases works of South Asian artists. Business Standard. 10 February 2014
38. Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani dna 5 January 2014
39. Art in the air. livemint. 31 January 2014
40. Dhaka Art Summit: don’t call it an art fair. The Art News Paper. 23 December 2013
41. Ayesha Sultana wins Samdani Art Award 2014. New Age. 9 February 2014
42. Ayesha Sultana wins Samdani Art Award. Dhaka Tribune. 10 February 2014
43. Samdani Art Awards announced The Daily Star. 17 April 2012
44. 2015 TOP 200 COLLECTORS