As per the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data, Bangladesh’s apparel industry, the world’s second biggest after China, has seen around 40 ventures (mostly medium and large) over the years, led by the retired defence personnel; the number is on the rise.
The Bangladeshi Military veterans have played a key role in the country’s political life and now they have also emerged as the major players in the business arena, with interests spread across all the major sectors of the economy, including the readymade garment sector.
Among them, Col. (Retd) M. Anwarul Azim of A.B.M Apparels Ltd., Major (Retd.) Abdul Mannan of Alfa Textiles Ltd. and Capt. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury of Ashik Garments Ltd. have gained prominence across the national and international apparel industry.
According to the business experts and the industry insiders, the rigorous training method and tactical analysis process ‘appreciation’ in army turn out to be the X-factors for the military veterans that make them extremely successful in doing readymade garment business in the country.
Military veterans bring amazing advantages to the entrepreneurial game – discipline, perspective, leadership ability, and the learned skill of seeing problems as opportunities, said Col. Mahboob Ul Alam BP (Retd.), Chairman of ZAS Apparels, while talking to Apparel Resources.
“The military training offers a wide range of opportunity to develop skills including resilience, ambition and leadership which are must have quality for an entrepreneur,” the veteran businessman maintained. Under his leadership, ZAS Apparels Ltd., a knitwear manufacturing company established in 2014, emerged as a reliable sourcing destination for the global retailers and brands. The company has the annual production capacity of 3.6 million pieces.