Bangladesh Economic & Infrastructure Development - Updates & Discussions

[Bilal9]

Why our reserve is not $80 Billion and is now $40 Billion. Who is siphoning our money. Some usual suspects.

 

[Bilal9]

Picking up the Baton​

He represents the third generation of leading family business conglomerate Elite Group (of Elite Paint fame). He has left behind the lure of North American corporate life and devoted his time and energy to his family business. He is Shayaan Seraj.

In the span of five years, he handled multiple portfolios of the group and continuously innovated through new ventures such as NEW FACE fabric masks and Bashae K-Bab food delivery.

Kazi Sifat speaks to Shayaan Seraj to understand the dynamics of the group and challenges and opportunities of the Bangladeshi market.

Coming home to continue the family vision. Shayaan Seraj would leave all the comforts so that the family legacy lives on. Photographer: Kazi Mukul.

True Pioneers of Industry in Bangladesh
Elite Group, a multi-generation family business, has withstood the test of time. The journey of the group began with Serajuddin Ahmed establishing Elite Paint, the first local paint company of the country in 1952. As one of the region’s first industrial titans, his early days of perseverance have inspired many today.

He travelled the country, far and wide, personally transporting paint on ‘pushcarts,’ and ‘dinghies’ to his clients wherever they were. It was this attitude that led paint dealers to become fiercely loyal to him. And many even break down in tears when speaking of their relationship.

Understanding the growth trajectory of Bangladesh, he expanded aggressively into other portfolios including banking, garments, insurance, steel, tea and more. With a clear and distilled vision, he single-handedly dominated multiple industries and turned the Elite brand into an empire of enterprises. His business acumen resulted in placement on multiple committees of the government so that he could share his opinion on behalf of the private sector for critical issues such as International Trade and Public Finance. His contribution resonates across government offices till today with access provided by simply uttering his brand’s name.

Three Generations of Change Makers

Today, the second and third generations of Late Serajuddin Ahmed’s bloodline uphold some of the industries within the Group. One of the key members of the organization is Shayaan Seraj, the younger grandson of the late founder. Under the guidance of his father and uncle, Ramzul Seraj and Sajedur Seraj, he is energizing the relatively smaller but still mighty portfolios of paint and steel, Aqua Paints & Elite Steel.

Born from Paint—a New Brand in an Established Enterprise

British educated chemical engineer and oldest son of Late Serajuddin Ahmed, Ramzul Seraj set up a state-of-the-art paint and chemical factory in Tongi, Gazipur in 2001. Aqua Paints was established to give the family conglomerate a foothold in the capital of the country, Dhaka. His engineering strength can be seen through its backward linkage specialty of formulating and producing high-performance binders, resins and emulsions which can constitute up to 50% of a paint product. In addition to its own Aqua brand, the factory supplies these binders to paint companies across the country.

Asian Paints entered the market roughly twenty years ago. Akzonobel and Jotun, the global leaders in decorative and marine respectively, joined around five years ago. Nerolac recently purchased a local company’s operations. There are rumors of American based Sherwin Williams’ interest in the market too. As a reference, per capita, paint consumption in Bangladesh is 1.15kg against the Indian average of 4kg and global consumption of 15kg. This is why there is so much interest in the local paint market.

According to Shayaan, there is a need to differentiate brands. What appeals to the masses may not appeal to niche audiences. Youth today are digital natives. They are tomorrow’s consumers of paint and need to be approached differently.

The word, ‘Aqua’ comes from Latin and is intended to symbolize one of the earth’s most natural and purest resources, water.

Through its moniker and actions, the organization takes climate change seriously. It was the first paint factory in Bangladesh to install an Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) to treat wastewater and reuse it in production processes. The greenery inside the factory compound was an industry first and meant to show both workers, suppliers and clients the importance of preserving the natural environment while doing business.

Product packaging is designed featuring social messages that include, ‘Gaach Lagaan, Poribesh Bachaan’ (Plant a Tree, Save the Environment) as well as the latest prevention tips against COVID-19. It was also the first paint company to innovatively colour circles outside tea stalls, pharmacies and wet markets to demonstrate how to maintain social distance.

With deteriorating air quality and a general lack of awareness from several industries on issues such as global warming, Aqua Paints aspires to lead the next generation of leaders in joining the fight against climate change. This is exactly what Shayaan believes to be the spirit of the Aqua Paints brand.

Struggles of joining the Family Business Conglomerate
Elite Group is a vast empire having its roots entrenched in multiple industries. As Group Director, Shayaan Seraj is involved with influencing key decisions across the business. However, it was quite a challenge to adapt to the local climate and culture of Bangladesh.

Shayaan graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto in Canada where he specialized in Finance and Economics. While studying, he was kept on a tight budget by his father and worked multiple part-time jobs to earn money. He worked at a call centre reaching out to alumni for donations and even acted as a brand promoter for multiple brands including Coke Zero. He proudly claims that these menial jobs taught him essential skills in communication, it gave him the confidence to approach anyone and everyone.

Upon graduation, during the recession of 2009, for a brief period, he worked as an assistant at a VOIP company and even made coffee runs for his senior colleagues. This grounded Shayaan and made him appreciate the contributions of junior colleagues.

Understanding the growing influence of digital media, Shayaan moved to and progressed the ranks in three global communication agencies, British WPP, American Interpublic and French Publicis. While in the latter, he managed the multi-million-dollar media budget of Canada’s largest financial services company, TD Bank.

He drove multi-channel marketing and led the bank’s efforts in using technology to retarget customers across their digital journeys. This resulted in numerous awards including the distinguished Rising Stars by New York-based Gramercy Institute and he also helped the bank in achieving YouTube’s Most Viewed for one of their videos.

In late 2015, Shayaan returned to his homeland, Bangladesh. Bright-eyed and hopeful, he wanted to implement what he learned in Toronto in the family business. This however was not going to be easy. He realized that the work culture was completely different. The people were completely different, their attitudes, their behaviours and their integrity.

Technology was not familiar to all. Teams were afraid to use email for fear of record keeping. Many were unfamiliar with Excel or Word. There was a reluctance to adopt new technologies due to the transparency it brought.

To acclimatize, Shayaan apparently had to ‘unlearn’ everything that he knew and ‘relearn’ how to work locally. With time, the relationship with his team grew stronger. This was accelerated when the team saw Shayaan travel all over the country, far and wide, visiting clients and project sites. Whether large contractors or shop boys, chief engineers or assistants, ‘montris’ or ‘mistiris’, his grounding allowed him to mix with everyone and adapt to all environments. The hardware stores who worked with his grandfather were reminded of the times when Late Serajuddin Ahmed travelled and carried goods physically to each site.

One difficulty that persists with Shayaan in local business is the system of ‘credit sales.’ He feels that in Bangladesh, the weak enforcement of contracts makes it very challenging. Once products are sold on credit, if the customer defaulted or fled, it becomes next to impossible to realize the funds. Many dealers simply refuse to work with security instruments such as post-dated cheques and bank guarantees. Shayaan hopes that the government increases financial oversight among retailers, grants power to legal bodies to ensure enforcement of contracts and brings a higher degree of transparency in transactions.

Shayaan Seraj looking towards a bright future for Aqua Paints

Formula for Success in the Paint Industry
Whether it be painting your bedroom, kitchen or even megaprojects such as the Padma Bridge or Metrorail, the business is influenced by painters or colloquially known as “rong mistiri.” A person rarely looks for a painter himself. He usually asks the house or building caretaker. There is a Do-It-For-Me culture here compared to Do-It-Yourself in the west. As such, painters are the gatekeepers of the industry.

Shayaan’s strategy with clients involves ‘deep linking.’ When asked, he says, “this is essentially connecting the client’s operations with mine to such an extent that both are integrated and accessible 24/7 in real-time to address each other’s needs. It brings together all functions of the business across levels, from the managing director to production and supply chain, even the delivery drivers.”

This insight was generated during Shayaan’s Canadian work experiences and his menial part-time roles while studying. Everybody can contribute if given the opportunity to. ‘Deep linking’ enables fast communication and coordination. For rong mistiri specifically, through WhatsApp voice notes alone, he can have the product delivered to the site with minimal effort.

Shayaan coined terminology for each product in their paint portfolio to align with the current generation’s philosophy. His exterior protective coating or paint is called DEFENDER, intended to echo thoughts of a football player protecting his team from getting scored against. It is meant to demonstrate a Captain Planet styled superhero protecting one’s home. While the luxury interior paint category is called Silk nationally, he developed the brand Muslin for their own. This was for users to envision Muslin as superior to silk due to its delicate and fine handwoven legacy from early Bengal. “Essentially, nobody wants to provide a below-par product, almost everybody is on par, we are all trying to differentiate through brand.”

Shayaan is focused on youth empowerment and has allowed internships every quarter in their organization. By allowing them a high degree of access increases their ability to learn and impact the organization. This mentality likely comes from his time in junior roles in Toronto.

On another note, when asked about his views on solving business problems and advice for peers, he strongly advocated that the key to solving problems was to go to the root. According to him, Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is one of the easiest tools. What’s the problem? Why did it happen? What will be done to prevent it from happening again? And make sure to probe why continuously till you reach the root.

Reinforcing Foundations with High-Grade Steel
Through Elite Steel’s marketing efforts, Shayaan has been able to differentiate its Pure 60 Grade features. Although there are over 100 steel factories in Bangladesh, the market is dominated by the Big 4 of BSRM, KSRM, AKS & GPH. “With our brand, I host countless seminars and virtual dialogues to prove the due diligence we practice in our manufacturing. We are one of a handful that can claim the Pure 60 label due to the ASTM guideline chemical composition of the rods,” says Shayaan.

Due to capital limitations, he cannot become a titan in this sector but would like to play a role as a reliable partner for government infrastructure.

Innovate, Innovate and Continuously Innovate
While people speak of innovation as coming from startups only, Shayaan feels that it comes from manufacturing too. In July of last year, he experimented with fabric masks under the NEW FACE brand and to his surprise, there has been only praise. Along with the quality of fabric and workmanship, he wanted the masks to bring about a change in attitude. The brand, once worn, was supposed to give the person new energy, a new spirit and a new philosophy. Diplomats such as the Turkish and Dutch Ambassadors are regularly seen wearing the masks.

Understanding the growing importance of satisfying the youth while in lockdown, and to keep people home, he is experimenting along with a few partners on delivering unique cuisines such as Balinese and Uzbek Bukhara Kababs. Through Bashae Balinese and Bashae K-Babs, he hopes to soon get into peoples’ stomachs. “I think it’s important to give people tasty food while at the same time controlling the levels of sugar and salt to make it healthy,” says Shayaan.

Breaking the Hierarchy— Connecting Teams
“Everybody should be able to come to my room [and share ideas]”, said Shayaan in his interview with COLORS. Being the down-to-earth person that he is, Shayaan believes one should be equally comfortable going to lunch with both the president and the peon. Such humility in corporate leaders is very rare in Bangladesh. The philosophy behind this is that if the corporate leaders directly connect with the employees, it produces a truly collaborative workforce. And forces every member to communicate and be accountable. It was his initiative to develop the free-flowing organic structure of communication instead of hierarchical.

Shayaan played a critical role in ‘deep linking’ teams in Aqua Paints and Elite Steel. He introduced WhatsApp in 2017 and made group chats for each department in the organization as well as their ecosystem of suppliers. By studying Toyota’s supply chain, one can understand the importance of free-flowing information, from the widget to the finished car.

Personal Life of a Young Changemaker
Since 1952, the seeds planted by Late Serajuddin Ahmed have journeyed a long way. Elite Group along with its many business units travelled quite some distance. Now, it rests in the hands of a new generation of leaders such as Shayaan Seraj.

Aside from work, he stays active with social work and sports. Shayaan is the on the Executive Committee of Gulshan Society and the Convener for both the Traffic Management and Civic Utilities Teams. Continuing his drive to digitize, he raised sponsorships to give each of his community police and cleaners a smartphone with data. This resulted in him coordinating his team to assist Dhaka Metropolitan Police in keeping away pedestrians from the 2019 Gulshan 1 Market Fire. He is also the Country Alumni Representative for the University of Toronto and one of the drivers of the Canada Bangladesh Alumni Association.

Shayaan is a superfan of Manchester United and happy to see his childhood idol Ole Gunnar Solskjaer manage the football club and feels it has been tough since the club’s glory days under Sir Alex Ferguson. “It takes a while to bring about stability after the departure of such an experienced manager.” He is also a runner and misses his freedom on the paths, trails and parks of Toronto. As a nature enthusiast, he misses hiking. He fondly remembers the oxygen-rich environments of the Rockies in Alberta. Banff National Park holds a special place in his heart. In addition, he plays squash and practices yoga believing it to bring calmness to the mind and soul.

Shayaan is extremely passionate about music with tetra bytes of audiophile-grade music spanning classical to jazz, rock to metal, deep house to the world. However, it is the emerging genre of Lo-Fi that has caught his attention and occupies his playlist these last few years.

With the Chessboard pieces in place, it is Time to Thrive
All four sons, Ramzul Seraj, Selim Ahmed, Feroz Ahmed and Sajedur Seraj and their respective children are leading different establishments laid by the founder, Late Serajuddin Ahmed. From banking to steel, all members are working hard in their own ways.
With such a strong guiding business principle, Shayaan is confident that the brands, Elite, Aqua as well as their recent introductions in fashion and food are here to last.

“Inshallah, through dedication and perseverance, we hope to carry forward the light set forth by our parents and grandparents!” Shayaan ends.

 

[Bilal9]

A Day late and a Dollar short. That's what happens when you award contracts to Indian Banya companies.

And this is supposedly one of their best, L&T. 300% late and cost increased 500%. I have no words.

 

[Wergeland]

A Day late and a Dollar short. That's what happens when you award contracts to Indian Banya companies.

And this is supposedly one of their best, L&T. 300% late and cost increased 500%. I have no words.

Thats BAL stooges in a nutshell.
Indian bootlickers to the core. I say send these stooges to their motherland India.

 

[Bilal9]

Warning: I include the article here, but the bias of the article is evident. Read with a pinch of salt.
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Bangladesh Tightens Its Belt as Forex Crisis Looms​

THE DIPLOMAT AUGUST 4, 2022

Amid declining foreign exchange reserves due to rising import bills, Bangladesh has sought a $4.5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

According to economists, who participated in a recent discussion at the Centre for Policy Dialogue in Dhaka, Bangladesh is facing an “economic crisis,” one that will not end soon as the global economy is roiled in turmoil too.

The crisis was not unexpected, it seems. “We expected a deterioration in the current-account deficit due to lower remittances, lower demand for exports, and of course high fuel and food prices,” according to a sovereign analyst at Moody’s in Singapore.

On July 27, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina claimed that the crisis was not imminent. The country has enough foreign exchange reserves to import food for six to nine months, she said. “We have money in our hands to import food grains and others (essential items) for at least three months during any crisis.”

However, signs of an economic crisis are evident. The cost of the U.S. dollar against the Bangladeshi taka has risen sharply and the Bangladeshi currency is being devalued almost every week. A dollar, which was worth around 85-90 takas in May, is now being sold at 112 takas in the kerb market.

Bangladesh’s forex reserve fell to below $40 billion recently for the first time in two years. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, forex reserves exceeded the $48 billion mark in August 2021, the highest ever in Bangladesh’s history. It has been declining since then.

This is largely because of the trade deficit. Even though export earnings hit a record high of $52.08 billion in fiscal year 2021-2022, the trade deficit also recorded a high of $33 billion. The high trade deficit is to some extent a fallout of the Russia-Ukraine war, which has affected food and fuel supply across the world. Global inflation has been affecting Bangladesh’s reserves too.

Foreign remittances are Bangladesh’s lifeline. According to the World Bank, Bangladesh is the seventh highest remittance recipient country in the world. Its remittance inflows hit a record high of $24.77 billion in fiscal year 2020-21 but fell to $21.03 billion the following year.

Bangladesh is listed as one of the 30 leading money laundering countries in the world. Some analysts describe this problem as the cancer of its economy. According to the U.S.-based think tank, Global Financial Integrity (GFI), Bangladesh is among the countries that are worst affected by the scourge of trade-based money laundering. GFI statistics indicate that Bangladesh launders an average of $7.53 billion each year through international trade.

A recent report of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) says that “the amount of money deposited by Bangladeshis in various banks in Switzerland stood at 871.1 million Swiss francs” (around $916.92 million) at the end of 2021. The report reveals that the amount increased by $310 million in just one year.

At present, Bangladesh has over $90 billion in foreign debt. Its debt doubled over the last five years due to the implementation of mega infrastructure projects. These projects, which are part of the Awami League (AL) government’s “More Development Less Democracy” strategy, enabled the AL to manipulate and win general elections in 2014 and 2018.

These mega projects could now become a major source of concern for the government. It will have to find the foreign exchange to repay debts incurred on these projects.

According to Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow at CPD and convener of the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, “Bangladesh may face major shocks in 2024 and 2026 in regards to its foreign debt repayment of 20 major mega projects.” This amounts to around $43 billion owed mostly to Russia, Japan, and China.

With an economic crisis looming, the Bangladeshi government has begun taking measures to curb foreign exchange spending. The Bangladesh Bank has tightened its import policy for luxury and non-essential items like sports utility vehicles, washing machines, and air conditioners.

Meanwhile, the Hasina government is cutting the expenditure of its officials. Overseas trips of government officials have been canceled. They have been asked to cut their use of electricity by 20 percent and limit the number of vehicles they use.

As part of its austerity measures, Hasina has called for scheduled electricity power cuts across the country, although her government celebrated 100 percent electricity coverage for the first time in the history of Bangladesh in March. Some power stations have been shut down to cut down on fuel consumption.

In addition, the government has categorized its development projects into three groups. Nearly finished projects (A category) will be continued, while B category projects can only use up to 75 percent of their budget. Category C projects will remain suspended till the economic crisis eases.

The AL government has started taking measures in anticipation of an economic crisis. Will it prevent Bangladesh from going the Sri Lanka way?

 

[Bilal9]

Foreign Secretary (Senior Secretary) Ambassador Masud Bin Momen moderated the draft Data Protection Act 2022 stakeholder consultation, which was held in Dhaka on July 16. The workshop was chaired by the Hon’ble State Minister for ICT Division Mr. Zunaid Ahmed Palak, MP. Hon’ble Minister for the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Mr. Anisul Haque, MP attended as Chief Guest.

 

[Arthur]

In more port news.


Patenga containee terminal starts trial operation.

Deal for final design of Bay Terminal signed. South Korea bags the deal.

 

[Bilal9]

Imported DEMUs that had gone out of commission were repaired at one eighth the cost locally and successfully trialed.

Great example of BR Engineers using locally resourced batteries, power electronics and inverters to re-activate these DEMUs. Which is a great example of what is possible using local talent and technology.

EPZ factory in Chittagong producing large portion of needed electricity from solar installation on roof.

 

[Bilal9]

Prefabricated Steel: Local businesses largely satisfy local consumers’ demand​

by Analysis Team

August 9, 2022



Due to increased capacity and experienced labor, local producers now own 90% of the formerly heavily imported prefabricated steel market, according to insiders in the sector.

According to figures from the Steel Building Manufacturers Association of Bangladesh(SBMA), the domestic prefabricated steel market is currently worth over Tk 4,000 crore, up from Tk 2,000 crore in 2010.

At the moment, Bangladesh requires at least 3 lakh tonnes of prefabricated steel annually. Around 2.7 lakh tonnes of the total demand are supplied by local industries, with the remainder being satisfied by international suppliers.

According to the president of the SBMA, more than 50 active enterprises have generated almost 2 lakh prospects for direct employment. With the exception of the pandemic years in 2020 and 2021, the sector has grown by an average of 15 to 20% annually since 2010, according to the managing director of Tiger Steel Bangladesh.

Prefabricated Steel: Local businesses largely satisfy local consumers’ demand

Due to increased capacity and experienced labor, local producers now own 90% of the formerly heavily imported prefabricated steel market,

bizdatainsights.com

 

[Bilal9]

 

[Bilal9]

Mixing Business with Pleasure​

To some he is a restaurateur, to others, he is the country manager at Cotton USA. A multitasker, Ali Arsalan has carved a niche for himself in both the food industry and the cotton sector. Lamyaa Yushra of Colors has had an inspiring tête-à-tête with the colourful personality over a cup of coffee.



Ali Arsalan’s mantra is simple for everything. Enjoy what you do and work won’t be tiresome ever. Photographer: Kazi Mukul.

It is difficult not to notice him for his blithe demeanour. Ali Arsalan is one in many: a restaurateur, a country representative at Cotton USA, a disc jockey by hobby and an enthusiast of interior designs. Possibly for his cheerful indifference to life, his father introduced him to the cotton sector and familiarized him with this line of work without pushing him into this business. ‘My dad knew there were some people looking to hire someone Bangladeshi with western experience and I fitted into that criterion. It was never an obligation that I had to do or anything of the sort. It’s like he showed me a road and it was up to me whether I wanted to take it or not.’

Arsalan completed his schooling from Scholastica before being enrolled into a school in London for his A-levels and finally, he got his Construction Management degree at University College, London (UCL). Although initially, he wanted to pursue his studies in Civil Engineering but after a year he changed his major to solely focus on Construction Management. ‘I had a very utopian idea that I would come back to Bangladesh and try to fix the roads but when I came back, I realized that it’s not my cup of tea. But thankfully massive infrastructure development projects are underway and once completed Bangladesh will enter the next phase of growth trajectory,’ he added gaily.

It has been well over a year that he is working in cotton but for an organization called The Cotton Council International, a non-profit organization with an aim is to promote and facilitate the use of US cotton. ‘Usually when I go to people now, they kind of look at me a little surprised because I am not selling anything. We don’t charge for our services. We just introduce customers to high-quality US cotton and expect them to use them in their factories.’

The Cotton Council provides a range of free services including organizing conferences, sharing knowledge. They even organize virtual vendor visits for renowned brands mainly from Europe and introduce them to factories in Bangladesh through HoloLens. It’s like a virtual reality helmet with a high-resolution camera. The high-resolution camera helps one see the fabric quality and the way the material falls. As the brands are unable to travel because of COVID-19, this is a very interesting way for them to see garment products. This service is completely free. They set up meetings but do not involve themselves in business deals.

He said, ‘whether the factories have any business or not it’s entirely up to them. We don’t take commission for anything. We are just there to facilitate, advise and help. Then we bring in experts from abroad, so if a spinning mill has a problem processing US cotton we can bring in a consultant from abroad. They can stay in their factory for 7-10 days whatever improvements that need to be made that will be made and again there’s no cost for this. So, that’s now my main work other than that of running Izumi, which I started 11 years ago.’


Ali Arsalan takes up everything in life with a big smile

A high-end restaurant specializing in Japanese cuisine Izumi was launched back in 2010 by Arsalan along with a quadruple of partners. It wasn’t conceived out of passion but rather because he wanted to do something fun and owning a restaurant at the time suited his mood. “I didn’t have any idea about the restaurant business but as we got into it, gradually by managing the business we learned everything. We are very lucky that we have a great Japanese chef and that has made our life a lot easier. One of our main partners Sadat manages the place on a day-to-day basis. I look at more of a macro kind of marketing and strategy but he’s there day in day out on the floor, sometimes even serving customers.’

In service business, he believes, ‘you can’t just expect to put up a business and throw some money at it and hope that it will do well. You either need to put in the time yourself or you need to find a partner or an employee who has vested interest in the business and has some kind of a profit-sharing for everything to really drive them and give them the motivation.’

Apart from being involved in a desktop profession, he is an occasional DJ with shows being held in Thailand and Berlin and has organized events in the city too. It’s a hobby that he pursued out of a pure passion for music.

The shows are very underground. The last one he did was in early March at the Westin rooftop and the other one was at the end of December last year at Banani on a commercial rooftop. It was only promoted through Facebook groups, through friends of friends. ‘So, it’s not promoted openly. I don’t do it for money, it’s just for the sake of having fun and being able to do that. The other thing is that I prefer daytime sunset things now because I have a son who is 8 months old and most of my friends have children also so we don’t like to stay out at night because it means the next morning is going to be very difficult. Your children don’t care where you were last night. (laughs) So yeah, it’s nice also to see things evolving and people growing up but still being able to have fun throughout the journey.’

One of the beauties of living in Bangladesh is its untapped market and the ample amount of opportunities to become whatever a person aspires to be. ‘For example, if you want to open a Japanese restaurant in Mumbai or Delhi there’s already a lot of competition, it needs hard work to get into that sector. Here, you have greenfield. Though you have to do everything by yourself, there’s the reward also of pioneering something, whether it’s being a DJ who doesn’t play chart music or whether it’s opening a new type of restaurant.’

‘I think one of the most important skills I picked up is how to sell myself. When you are giving a presentation in front of people who don’t have much time, have a very short level of patience and in that short time span convincing somebody is challenging. What is most important is to be sincere and transparent.’​

Fifteen years in an industry allows you to have your own perspective and the set of skills one might master at. Arsalan explained the most important aspect of being a country manager is to be as convincing as possible. ‘I think one of the most important skills I picked up is how to sell myself. When you are giving a presentation in front of people who don’t have much time, have a very short level of patience and in that short time span convincing somebody is challenging. What is most important is to be sincere and transparent.’

The challenges keep changing. He said, ‘What works in another market may not always work over here. So, I think it’s at times a diplomatic role where you’ve got to balance, you know, what your company’s trying to do versus the feedback that you are getting from the customers here. Being a country representative means you’re on the frontline and sometimes the people sitting abroad don’t always understand the full nature of a situation without being present in person. So, it’s a balancing act but it’s one that I enjoy.’

The pandemic may have brought about a round of changes in businesses but as slowly we adjust ourselves to this new normal some businesses did suffer in the last one year while others were hanged by a thread to survive during the pandemic. He is no exception. He shared his insights and what were the changes that followed and what is the priority to hold on among the chaos of time. “Being the owner of Izumi I see the nature of the service industry and how that’s being impacted. I think we are very lucky that we started Izumi 11 years ago, so we are in a much better position to absorb the losses of the lockdowns but newer restaurants are not so lucky. Again, we are lucky that Izumi is not a crowded restaurant or it was never a restaurant where the tables and the chairs were too close together.’

As much as he prefers to have a balanced life, he quipped, he’s always on his mobile and how technology may have hooked the generation to answer a text rather than talk to the person next to you, so juggling work life and personal life becomes somewhat difficult as he tries to do everything at once. ‘I think we need to try and bring a little bit of structure into how we use our mobile devices and that will really enable people to even take an evening off and switch off completely and that really helps.’

Besides being a charismatic entrepreneur and a country manager, he enjoys playing golf and music. But most importantly he is a dreamer, an optimist and has very good hopes for Bangladesh. He strongly believes that the country is heading in the right direction and thinks ‘more people would give the place a chance.’

 

[Bilal9]

 

[Bilal9]

BurhiGanga 1st Railway Bridge, a part of the Dhaka to Jessore (Padma Bridge) Rail Link. This link has Bangladesh 1st elevated viaduct rail line using ballastless high speed trackage. JV between Army Engg. Battalions and China CREC.

The BurhiGanga river, that flows through Dhaka city in places, is one of the busiest marine transport arteries in Bangladesh.

 

[Bilal9]

 

[Bilal9]

Rise of commercial helicopter services in Bangladesh