Sobhan was born in 1940 in Calcutta during British rule into an aristocratic Bengali Muslim family of Khandakars.

[2] Sobhan was executive chairman, Board of Investment and special envoy to the Prime Minister from 1997 to 1999.

[2] Sobhan was a visiting professor at the Elliott School for International Affairs at George Washington University in 2003, where he taught a post-graduate course on South Asia.

He is the chairman of the board of trustees of the independent CSR Centre, an organization focused on corporate social responsibility, established in Dhaka in September 2007.

He is the chairman of an advisory committee on counter terrorism established in 2006, which includes senior officials of the government.