Abed among \\\'50 greatest leaders\\\'

BRAC's founder Fazle Hasan Abed has found a place in the US-based Fortune magazine’s list of the world's 50 greatest leaders. The list features leaders from politics and religion to corporate CEOs and heads of civil society organisations. Abed, the only Bangladeshi on the list, has been placed at number 32, the Bangladesh-based NGO said in a media statement on Friday. Pope Francis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ford Motor Co CEO Alan Mulally, US investor Warren Buffet and former US President Bill Clinton are the top leaders on the list. Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, singer-activist Bono, the Dalai Lama, actor Angelina Jolie and Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai are the others. Fortune magazine is best known for publishing the annual Fortune 500 list, which ranks the largest US companies on the basis of gross revenues. Listing his name, the magazine said Abed, 77, established BRAC (originally Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee) to aid the rural poor, including 10 million returning refugees after Bangladesh’s independence. "He has built it into the world's largest non-profit, with over 100,000 employees serving millions in 10 Asian and African countries." Abed was given knighthood in 2010, according to bdnews24.com.