PHP Family eyes sustainable family business 

PHP Family, a leading business conglomerate in the country, aims to continue their family business for generations through prudent business and managerial operations.

Mohammed Mizan Mohsin Victor, son of PHP Family's Vice Chairman Mohammed Mohsin, recently joined the company as a management trainee officer, an entry-level post.

With a promise to take it to a new height, he joined the Chattogram-based business group on Wednesday last.
 
Though he is a successor to the company's Chairman Sufi Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, the company did not recruit him to any top managerial or director-level post.
 
When many conglomerates in Bangladesh fail to continue their businesses due to the leadership crisis and lack of skills, efficiency and innovations of second and third generation members, the PHP Family's approach shows their cautious step to make the family business sustainable.
  
PHP Family, one of the leading business conglomerates in the country, was founded by Sufi Mohammad Mizanur Rahman in 1999. 
 
Now, the Family has around 10,000 employees under its payroll system and the business group has to pay them Tk11 crore as salary every month.
 
It comprises over 30 companies operating in diversified business sectors such as steel, float glass, aluminium, textiles, power, petro refinery, financial services, agro, automobiles and others. 
 
The group has an annual turnover of around Tk5,000 crore. 
 
Sufi Mohammad Mizanur Rahman is the chairman of the company, while his seven sons hold different important positions to operate the conglomerate.

A report by McKinsey & Company, published in 2019 on family-owned businesses, said families run almost 85% of businesses in Southeast Asia, while the growth of family business in Bangladesh is higher than any other countries of the world. 

PHP Family is one of the good examples of family business in the country.

"After completing study from the United Kingdom, Victor did not join the company as a director or any other high-ranked official; rather, he joined in an entry-level secretarial post," said Mohammed Mohsin, vice chairman of PHP Family, also the father of Victor.
 
"As we want participation of the third generation members in the company, it opens a new door of opportunity for others," he said.

"As Victor joined in an entry level post, he has to gain knowledge about every department of the business group. Not only Victor but also every member of the third generation has to prove themselves before taking any charge of the company," Mohammed Mohsin told The Business Standard.

"Victor will get salary and other remunerations like other employees as per the company policy," he added.

"My father (Sufi Mizanur Rahman) had worked hard to build the group. We the brothers are determined not to shatter the foundation of our father's dream by taking any wrong decision. So, we will also make the same decision for recruiting any other third generation member into the company," Mohsin added. 

The PHP family has 23 third generation successors. The company's decision about them is — any of them can take a role in the company but they have to learn the business first.  

"They will take the charge of the company in future but before joining the PHP Family, everyone needs to gain experience by working from the entry level posts," Mohsin continued. 

When contacted, Victor Mohsin told The Business Standard, "My grandfather used to tell us that you are a diamond hidden in the mud. That diamond has to be rubbed and cleaned before use." 

"I joined an entry level post to prove myself worthy. My target is to take the company to a new height. My grandfather's dream is to create a base of 100,000 employees in the company. I will work to fulfill the dreams of my grandfather."   

Born in 1998, Mohsin Victor completed his O level from Turkish Hope School in 2014 and the A level from Chittagong Grammar School (CGS) in 2016. 

He later completed a foundation course in 2017 from David Game College in London. He obtained a master's degree in marketing from the Goldsmiths University in 2020.