From buying house employee to owner of industrial group

Rakibul Alam Chowdhury took a job in a buying house the day after he had obtained his bachelor's degree in 1996.

At the company, he learned first-hand all the work related to the export of a product beginning from its production. And besides his job, he continued his studies at the postgraduate level.

He set up a garment factory in Chattogram's Bahaddarhat in August 2002 with a capital of Tk27 lakh, including Tk9 lakh he had saved from his salaries and Tk18 lakh in family loans.

Thus did Rakibul Alam embark on his journey as an entrepreneur in the garment industry with 78 workers and 36 machines in the 6,500 square-feet factory named HKC Apparels.

Over the past 20 years, he has founded six fully export-oriented factories. About 6,300 workers are employed in these manufacturing units of RDM Group and their products are exported to Europe and America.

Apart from the garments business, Rakibul has businesses in the IT and agriculture sectors.

RDM Group currently has an annual turnover of about Tk5,00 crore.

Hard work and dedication have been the main driving force behind his success as an entrepreneur, Rakibul Alam said.

He attributed his success to the sincerity of every worker employed in his factories as well.

"I consider every employee a member of my family," he said.

The take-off of Rakibul's business has somewhat been unfettered as he never looked back after setting up his first factory in 2002.

In the span of only five years, Rakibul launched another factory named RDM Apparels. The 39,000-sq-ft factory founded with an investment of Tk80 lakh started operation with 350 workers and 120 machines.

In 2009, he took over a 42,000-sq-ft old factory named Combined Apparels in the Atura depot area of ​​the port city.

Three years later, he set up another new factory named SAMMART Fashion on a 27,000-sq-ft floor area, where 400 workers work with 180 machines.

In 2018, Rakibul took over Uni Garments. Established on a 1.6-acre plot of land, the manufacturing plant has 1,100 machines and 2,400 workers.

The industrial group has another manufacturing plant named Uni Chem Limited.

These factories produce knitwear, outerwear, and lightweight woven products, of which 70% are exported to America and another 30% to Europe.

For some time, the group exported products to the Middle East as well, but then the Covid-19 pandemic put a halt to it.

This industrial group has been allotted eight acres of land at the garment village in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Industrial City, Mirsarai, where it will set up a textile factory through investing Tk200 crore.

Besides the apparel sector, Rakibul has invested Tk6 crore in an agro farm where there are 132 cattle at present.

In the IT sector, he has set up a company named "DATA Exchange".

RDM Group currently has five bond licences while one more is in process.

Are there any challenges?

Asked what obstacles came his way, the BGMEA vice-president said, "The biggest problem we are dealing with in Chattogram is a scarcity of skilled manpower in mid-level management. Besides, there is a shortage of manpower to build green and compliant factories. Even though a skilled workforce has been created in merchandising over the past two years, there is still a crisis of textile engineers."

Traders in Chattogram do not get bank loans as easily as those operating businesses in the capital Dhaka and the surrounding districts, he added.

"No high-ranking officials of banks, except for regional managers, have offices in Chattogram. Officials in charge in the port city do not dare to send any files of large loans from new entrepreneurs to Dhaka. I myself was the victim of such an incident while taking over a garment factory."

Because of this, no good entrepreneur is coming up in Chattogram, he claimed.

He went on to say that no garment factory in Chattogram has got a gas connection in the last two and a half years, although other industries are getting the facility.

Once even small entrepreneurs could set up garment factories by investing Tk20-30 lakh, but now it is difficult to set up a garment factory even with Tk30 crore, he said.

Another major reason for the backwardness of the garment sector in Chattogram is the high prices of land, he maintained.

Being the commercial capital of the country and a port area, Chattogram has a huge gap in land prices compared to other districts in the country, he explained.

Brighter days ahead for RMG

Regarding the potential of the garment sector, Rakibul said the garment sector of Bangladesh will receive a lot of orders in the next five years.

"I have one request to the government – if we get logistical support, we can bring the businesses coming out of China to our own country. To this end, the Bangladesh Bank and the National Board of Revenue have to play a major role."

The country still has to import 90% of fabrics from China, he mentioned, adding that no alternative market has yet been created.

"If we can achieve self-sufficiency in 2-3 years, we will not have to depend on China," he added.