The main roadblocks of progress and prosperity lie in the lack of infrastructural, power and energy facilities. There also must be positive changes in political, economic, social and technological thoughts and thrusts.
A Commercially Important Person (CIP), President of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Chittagong and Chairman of KDS group, Khalilur Rahman was born on 10 April, 1945 in Chittagong to Late Alhaj Abul Khair and Late Al-Haj Fatema Begum. This iconic business personality with spectacular achievements throughout his magnum opus KDS group of Industries holds a degree in Management.
Toady KDS Group take delivery of the nearly Forty Five thousand employees ranging from senior most executives to work forces are in the pay–roll of the group where yearly turnover of the group is BDT 5000 crore and has business links with USA, Canada, Europe, Scandinavian Countries, Japan, South Asian Sub-Continent, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Thailand, Germany, Srilanka, Agartala/India, Pakistan, South Africa, Vietnam, Liberia, DR Congo, Malaysia, Indonesia, Combodia, Myanmar, Dubai, Mozambique, Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Sierra Leaon, Gabon, Nigeria, Fareast and Middle East.
He is the Founder President of Chittagong Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industries and had been at the helm of numerous business associations. For his immense contribution in export and business of the country, Rahman achieved kudos and accolade as an Industrialist, businessman and entrepreneurs with awards like President Gold Trophy for High Export of Ready Made Garments in the years 1985, 1987, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002 and Gold Medal/Crest as Recognition of Quality and Quality Garments Exporter of AMC, TARGET, USA in the years 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002; Golden Trophy for Quality in Ready Made Garments from Madrid 1992, Spain; National Export Trophy-1987-88, 1988-89, 1989-90, 1990-1991, 1991-1992, 1994-1995, 1995-1996, 1996-1997, 1999-2000, 2003-2004, 2005-06, 2006-2007, 2007-2008, 2008-2009, only to name a few. Awards like “Vijaya Shree” – An International “Buddhist Award” – 2009; Golden Award From Unesco Academic Development Project and Mother Teresa Humanrights Gold Award 2014 By Bangladesh Information & Human rights Foundation in 2014, “Ekushey Padak 2015” From Chittagong City Corporation for Contribution in Trade & Industry also prove his dynamism.
You are one of the leading businesspersons of the country and KDS has diversified interests into different sectors. How do you evaluate the challenges of industrialization of Bangladesh having been part of the rise of such a business powerhouse?
In 1983, KDS started out on an inadequate scale with a small number of employees but within few a decades it has earned a standing from at least forty countries across the globe. This was because of its high quality export products as well as for its diversified range of investment and multilayered business profile. Through its journey it efficaciously created its strong foothold in the corporate world in Bangladesh and has kept the track record of earning crores of foreign currency for the country.
The main pillars of success of KDS group are integrity, diligence, hard work, maintaining commitments and timely delivery with modern and efficient management. Nevertheless, at present with a host of challenges it has become very hard to maintain existence without proper government policy support for protecting and developing local industry.
Growth and development is a continuous journey. According to you what are the prospects of our country and how far along are we in lead the country towards prosperity?
Many people have made positive comments about the economic future of Bangladesh. These are promising signs but as a businessperson and community leader, my conviction is that we have to raise our competence and competiveness. There are various challenges, which have led the industrial community to feel exasperated regarding how to maintain continuity. Our competence is not enough to meet the challenges of the millennium where failure in continuation of production process as per due diligence and proper compliances will erode away our achievements and successes.
It is also found that there is trend of taking shortcut methods by some entrepreneurs to doing business, which creates road blocks for other businesses. What is your suggestion to overcome these issues?
The presence of black ships and the reaping of benefits from corrupt and immoral practices are hardly surprising in the business world anymore. We are facing challenges of corruption and unethical practices but they can be cleared by following supportive policy for production and progress. Ensuring the proper application of these policies for inspiring honesty and punishing will be instrumental otherwise, it will be hard to protect the interest of the nation and country in coming days.
To achieve a double-digit growth rate Bangladesh still has a long way to go and it is being hindered by infrastructural and PEST factors (Political, Economic, Social and Technological). What is your take regarding these roadblocks?
To move forward far away from the current flow of development and progress, we need to flush out the fundamental bottlenecks. The main roadblocks of progress and prosperity lie in the lack of infrastructural, power and energy facilities. There also must be positive changes in political, economic, social and technological thoughts and thrusts.
Bangladesh is now in its take-off stage. How do evaluate our future path in the journey towards further development?
It has been said by local as well as foreign development economists that after learning to walk in the economic development stage, Bangladesh has started running towards the take-off stage of development. At this stage of development, is it really possible for us to achieve it without attaining equal level of competence and capability against our competitors? I think a greater level of efficiency and expertise is required to face our counterparts on negotiation tables. Do we have the enough policy support to make bargains for the interest of the country and nation? Are we continuing to following the policy of reducing dependency on others? We have to answer these questions first.
Would you please share your insight on how to go about things in the next ten years?
To make the development and progress rewarding for the next decade it is necessary to prove the spirit of nationalism and come into consensus regarding some fundamental issues such as:
A. Not following any policy, which obstructs normal economic activities and production process
B. To give highest priority on using rule of law as weapon to curb crime or any sort of irregular activities
C. To have a zero tolerance policy for combating any irregularities in development projects of communication and infrastructure
D. To give priority to export oriented sectors by reducing expenditure in unproductive sectors
E. To reflect political goodwill by bringing down the rate of borrowing and by bringing other development visions into practical notion
Failure to turn these into a reality will jeopardize the feats achieved by Bangladesh over the years and hamper our development and progress.
