Arafat Ashwad Islam (Bengali: আরাফাত আশওয়াদ ইসলাম) is a Bangladeshi entrepreneur and politician. He is the Country Managing Director of Orkin Bangladesh, the only international pest management brand in the country, and a franchisee of the American pest control company Orkin. He began his entrepreneurial career with Acorp Limited in 2016 and currently holds the position of Managing Director.

Arafat is an executive committee member of the Gulshan Society and is the convenor of the civic services and utilities committee.

He also serves as board secretary at the Anu Memorial Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization named after his late uncle, A M Nurul Islam Anu, a former bureaucrat and politician.

Arafat Ashwad Islam was awarded the Mahatma Gandhi International Peace Award 2023 by the India-Bangladesh Cultural Council in Kolkata, West Bengal, for his community service contributions .

He was also presented the Desher Daak Personality Award (2023) in recognition of his contributions to business and social service from the Desher Daak weekly newspaper.

Arafat Ashwad Islam published an academic research paper, "Transition from Autocracy to Democracy: How it Affected Bangladesh's Economy?" in the International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research. 

He regularly writes on contemporary sociopolitical issues in leading national dailies. Read recently published newspaper articles.

Arafat Ashwad Islam participated as an independent candidate (symbol: balloon) in the twelfth parliamentary elections from the Dhaka-17 constituency. However, he was defeated by the Bangladesh Awami League's candidate Mohammad Ali Arafat.

During the nomination vetting process, he alleged that the Election Commission had improperly permitted the incumbent MP to run for office despite failing to submit his tax return. He went on to formally contest the election results, citing serious concerns about their fairness and credibility.