A three-time MP from the same constituency, Mannan was born in 1942 at his ancestral home in Noakhali. He had his schooling at Noakhali Zila School. After obtaining HSC degree from Feni College, he joined Pakistan Army. In 1962 he graduated from Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul as a commissioned officer.

After taking retirement from Bangladesh Army in 1974, Mannan went into trading business by setting up Azim Mannan Ltd. Later he developed a fish-processing unit in Cox's Bazar and soon emerged as a leading entrepreneur of the country.

In 1979, he founded Azim Mannan Garments Ltd and in subsequent years he set up a number of export-oriented industries in various sectors that include garment, sweater, chemical, textile weaving, etc.

He set up insurance, industrial leasing, housing and land development companies before starting aviation business.

The yearly turnover of his export-oriented industries now stands at $150 million.

He launched a mother and child healthcare programme -- Save the Mother And Children -- which operates both in urban and rural areas of 10 districts.

To provide financial aid to the poor students, he established Mannan Foundation in 1987 and raised a micro-credit financial institution Daridra Bimochon or DABI to help the rural poor find a way out of poverty.

Mannan won his first senior government post in 1991 when he was appointed as a state minister. He was at the helm of the Ministry of Textile, Civil Aviation and Tourism until 1996.

He was the senior vice president of Dhaka City unit of Bangladesh Nationalist Party and chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on Ministry of Home Affairs until his resignation from the party as well as parliament on March 10 this year. The same day he joined Bikalpa Dhara Bangladeh as its member secretary.