The winners of 21st Bangladesh Business Awards
Syed Manzur Elahi
Chairman, Apex Footwear Limited, former president of MCCI and Bangladesh Employers Federation
Life Time
Achievement Award
Syed Manzur Elahi, the chairman of Apex Footwear Limited, has charted an inspiring entrepreneurial journey.
Born into a well-to-do family in Kolkata in 1942, Elahi's destiny seemed to be set in stone. His family had predominantly engaged in civil services, his father was the chief justice at Calcutta High Court, a path his eldest brother also followed.
He was also in line to follow that path, but due to some circumstances deterring him from joining civil service, he joined Pakistan British American Tobacco.
It was only a chance encounter with a Frenchman more than 50 years ago that presented Elahi with his first opportunity into the business world. He was offered a deal to act as the man's agent, sourcing leather from Bangladesh for export to Paris and selling leather chemicals imported from Paris to Dhaka.
Despite not even knowing the difference between hide and skin, Elahi jumped at the opportunity.
After working as an agent on behalf of the Frenchman for years, Elahi finally bought the humble Orient Tannery in 1975 for about Tk 12 lakh.
That company diversified into sectors like footwear, alongside expanding its international reach, with their unwavering commitment to quality, innovation and ethical business practices.
Elahi's emphasis on adaptability to market changes and technological advancements has been key to Apex's sustained competitiveness.
His leadership philosophy for Apex's success underscores employee empowerment and talent development from within organisations.
To aspiring entrepreneurs, he prescribes dedication, integrity and perseverance as the core values for success in business.
Engr AKM Mosharraf Hussain
Managing Director,
Standard Group
Business Person of the Year
AKM Mosharraf Hussain is the managing director of a leading garment exporter Standard Group with a workforce of nearly 50,000.
Born in a river erosion-prone village in Sirajganj in 1942, he excelled at studies, particularly in mathematics and biology in school. He went on to study civil engineering in 1963 at the country's premium engineering school Buet.
After his graduation in 1969, he teamed up with his coursemate Atiqur Rahman to start a construction business called The Civil Engineers. The company mainly hired victims of river erosion from their village, thus giving the downtrodden people opportunities to rebuild their lives.
In 1976, they ventured into the labour-intensive garment sector by starting an export-oriented factory with 500 workers at Dhaka's Kalabagan.
Today, Standard Group boasts 20 fully compliant factories that manufacture shirts, trousers, jackets, sweaters and accessories worth about $500 million for the European and American markets. Its clients include household names like Asda, Gap, Uniqlo and Tommy Hilfiger.
It also undertakes various corporate social responsibility activities such as providing mosquito nets, skills training, financial services, educational loans, medical loans and warm clothing to its employees and the community.
Hussain also diversified his business into education, banking and insurance sectors. He is the chairman of International Standard University and a director of Jamuna Bank.
To prepare the next generation, he has put his three sons and his friend's two daughters on the board of the company.
Mosammat Shirajum Munira
Founder
Sutar Kabbo
Outstanding Women in Business
With just Tk 10,000, Shirajum Munira, a linguistics graduate from the University of Dhaka, founded Sutar Kabbo, a jute handicraft SME that in 2022 logged a turnover of Tk 1.85 crore.
But for underprivileged rural women in Parbatipur in Dinajpur district, Sutar Kabbo means more than just a place of work: it is a source of emancipation, self-assurance and financial independence.
For the 43-year-old Munira, who is also the CEO of Sutar Kabbo, getting here was not easy. Convincing the rural women to work outside of their homes was a tall task as they faced resistance from their families and communities.
"I wanted to give these women the opportunity to use their talents and achieve success," said Munira, who works as a research investigator at LAMB Hospital in Parbatipur.
Today, these women work at Sutar Kabbo's two factory units which boast facilities like bathrooms, kitchen, childcare and prayer rooms for its employees. As many as 700 rural artisans weave bags, mats, baskets and shatranji from jute that sell at home and abroad.
In 2021, Sutar Kabbo received the Best Jute Product Stall Award at the 9th SME Fair.
The company, which also has a training centre and a showroom, saw a 20 percent growth in turnover and a profit margin of 12 percent last year.
Munira, whose daughter has been diagnosed with blood cancer, believes she has built a sustainable enterprise in all respects.
Best Financial Institution of the Year
Brac Bank, which was founded in 2001 to provide financial access to unbanked SMEs, boasts a default loan ratio of less than 4 percent, a remarkable feat when the industry average is upwards of 10 percent.
Today, it is the market leader in SME financing and retail banking and has the highest credit rating among all banks in Bangladesh by Moody's Investor Services: B1.
The bank, which has corporate and retail clients other than SMEs, became the first and only bank in Bangladesh to achieve the milestone of $1 billion in market capitalisation and is the preferred stock of foreign investors.
In 2022, Brac Bank was the highest taxpayer, furnishing Tk 1,024.7 crore to the state coffer.
Brac Bank's managing director Selim RF Hussain attributed the bank's success to the values inherited from its parent organisation Brac, which is the world's largest NGO and a pioneering development organisation.
The bank operates with four guiding objectives: enhance customer services; increase revenue and the number of customers; reduce operational costs; and make the system completely transparent and auditable.
Brac Bank is constantly innovating its product lineup. The super app 'Astha', the digital lending app 'Shubidha', the corporate clients' online banking platform 'CORPnet' and the conversion of all EMV chip-based cards into contactless ones are just some of the latest innovations.
The bank is the first to launch 'TARA', its comprehensive women's banking service.
"Bangladesh is going through a difficult period. But it is said that the darker the night, the brighter and closer the dawn is. So, we are confident that we will overcome the difficulty."
"People, who do business with integrity, ethics, maintain corporate governance, put the country's interest at the heart of their operations, and do not make money-making their only motto, should be recognised because they will take the country forward in the coming days."
"Bangladesh will bring a revolutionary improvement to the logistics sector not only through capacity enhancement but also through efficiency on ground which will be our game-changer."