Fahim Saleh — As I Knew, The CEO who Wanted to Change Tech in Developing Countries

This blog is a blog of despair! I write with anguish about the tragic story of Fahim Saleh, the visionary tech entrepreneur, whose life was cut too short by an assailant. He was only 33 when murdered brutally on July 13th in his multi-million-dollar NY apartment in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I have had the privilege to chat and know him personally. It was a fantastic experience. The story is based on my research and the account of my experience with him.

A Bangladeshi-American entrepreneur, Fahim founded Pathao and then Gokada, was a VC and investor in several other growing, promising startups. He was the founding partner of the Manhattan-based VC, Adventure Capital.

My interaction with him was brief. A Washington D.C. based attorney (who knew both of us) said I could connect with him for my startup Airposted, which is also much focused on Bangladesh (like Fahim’s founded Pathao) and growing internationally. We soon connected.

There was something unique about him. It was probably his never-ending energy and a captivating smile. He was bright and sharp. Like many VC partners or highly successful young tech founders, he did not have an attitude. He was grounded and helpful. And perhaps, we could relate to each other better than many; both being of Bangladeshi-American origin, coming off humble beginnings and our company’s business focused on developing countries. We chatted about Airposted(my company’s) growth and I congratulated him on his success at such a young age. I had founded Airposted while at college. Safe to assume, Fahim liked that. It was similar to his story of founding PrankDial.com, while he was at college.

Perhaps, Fahim’s biggest success came from Pathao. He had founded a startup incubator in Dhaka, Bangladesh called Hackhouse, from which Pathao arose. Pathao, based in Bangladesh, is one of the most successful (if not the most successful) tech company of the country. It discovered or rather invented the tech space in Bangladesh.

He had exited from Pathao some time back as he decided to venture with similar models into other developing countries. And then scale them! The idea was simple, but fantastic. Gokada, was one of them. Based in Nigeria, it was quite successful. Creating companies in countries you are not born or raised is a challenge, but he was not someone to say ‘NO’. He wanted to change the developing countries. I had many a time envisioned to replicate Airposted’s model in Ghana or say Liberia, myself! A developing country is ripe for accepting new technologies and their market potential is huge. While scalability, finding talent and running into legal challenges are big concerns, but as an entrepreneur, you can well have the chance to change a country’s infrastructure and touch millions of lives. How cool is that? Don’t we live for that?

I remember my phone falling from my hand when my eyes caught the news of Fahim’s murder. I was shocked, devastated, and speechless. As of this writing, police arrested a suspect who they consider to be the murderer. My deepest condolences go to his family, loved ones and the employees of Pathao, Gokada, and his other ventures. May the strength be with you all and the killer be soon brought to justice. No one, absolutely none deserves to have the same fate as him. What happened to him is a disgrace to humanity.

Thank you Fahim for giving this world so much joy and opportunity. RIP! You will always be missed, my friend!

About Rayan Rahman:

Rayan Rahman is a Bangladeshi-American entrepreneur and the founder of Airposted and Changing Bangladesh Foundation. He is a George Mason University alum and holds a position on the university’s business school board. He is the recipient of the ‘Prominent Patriot Award 2020’ and holds interests in technology and charity space.