Walton CEO leaves office to pursue own furniture venture

Golam Murshed, the chief executive officer and managing director of Walton Hi-Tech Industries, has left the company to kick off his family-run furniture business venture – Majesto Limited.

"My three-year tenure as the top executive [of Walton] ended on 8 October and I did not want to extend it further," he told The Business Standard on Wednesday.

"After Walton Hi-Tech, I became the managing director of Majesto Limited with a dream to build an international furniture brand that will offer innovative and superior quality products by ensuring sustainability," he said.

Majesto, Murshed's family-run business, is building its furniture factory on a 20-acre plot in Narayanganj. Murshed expects to start commercial operations there in a year.

Walton Hi-Tech board is scheduled to sit soon to discuss the managing directorship, according to its public relations department.

Sources, however, said SM Mahbubul Alam, one of the founding directors of Walton Hi-Tech, is set to take over as the new MD.

Murshed, a young engineer then, starting as the production in-charge of the Walton factory in 2010, gradually ascended to the top executive post in 2020 and he led several new projects of the homegrown electronic appliance giant.

He was also leading the publicly traded, local market leader company's aspiration to go global and green.

Walton Hi-Tech Industries, which started as an electronics importer in the 2000s, later pioneered refrigerator manufacturing in the country and it now serves over two-thirds of the local refrigerator market. It also became one of the top players in the television, air-conditioner, electrical products and kitchen appliances markets.

Walton also emerged as the compressor manufacturing pioneer in the country to chase its global ambition to become a top five electronics brand by 2030. It acquired three Italian brands and all their compressor assets except for the Italian factory premises.

Walton products are being exported worldwide alongside emerging as a top trusted original equipment manufacturing partner of a large number of global brands.

Due to the adverse macroeconomic situation, Walton Hi-Tech's revenue dropped to Tk6,637 crore in the fiscal 2022-23 from Tk8,168 crore in the previous year.