Bangladesh: We have lot of talent in the country, it needs to be steered in the right direction for the RMG sector

Rendezvous

Bangladesh: We have lot of talent in the country, it needs to be steered in the right direction for the RMG sector

Tell us about your father, Nurul Kader Khan, who was an iconic figure in the Bangladesh apparel industry.

My late father, Nurul Kader Khan, a pioneer and mentor of the garment industry led industrialisation in Bangladesh, is the founder of Desh Garments. Founded in 1978, this was among the first export oriented garment units in the country. He signed a joint venture with South Korea's Daewoo, for training workers. After six months of this, 130 people, including 35 women, were sent for training in Daewoo facilities. This was the first time that women from Bangladesh were sent abroad for training and acquiring skills.This was a unique project for empowerment of women by the private sector. This was not an easy task for my father, he had to convince not just the women workers, but also their parents that they were being sent abroad for learning and training. And what they learnt through this joint venture was some important hands-on knowledge on banking, commerce, marketing, besides production related training in cutting, finishing, ironing, etc.Letter of credit and bonded warehouse are concepts that my father brought into the industry. In 1986, Nurul Kader took a group of people to negotiate quotas with Canada and America. In BGMEA he was revered as a mentor.

What are challenges of being an entrepreneur?

It is the entrepreneur who may have to give his paternal house as collateral to the bank for working capital. At the end of the day, if workers get together and damage the factory, there is no insurance that the entrepreneur can claim. We empower workers by giving them employment, and paying timely wages. Last time when the government asked us to increase wages by 70%, the entrepreneurs complied immediately. The entrepreneurs increased wages but had to go to the bank for arranging funds. Despite this, the buyers, the media make negative comments about our industry. This is unfair, how many people do they give employment to?

How important is designing knowledge and infrastructure in this industry?

The way we run RMG industry now can be termed as the entry level to the global value chain where we get fabrics, design and accessories, and factories are cutting and sewing. We made money because of the efficiency with which we could produce the garments.The next step of course is to go into the designing process - setting up design and R&D studios, adopting the latest technologies in surface ornamentation, understanding global trends, understanding the technical aspects of textiles better. The current set of fashion technology institutes are neither enough nor up to the mark. We have very few fashion icons in the country, Bibi Rashel is the only one that comes to mind.We have a lot of talent in this country, it needs to be given the right direction.