As the CEO of Rangs Properties Ltd (RPL), Raj Hoq is in charge of the day-to-day operations and management. He has previously served as the Head of Operations, Strategic Planning, and PMO at Shanta Holdings Ltd and a Business Analyst and Technology Consultant at Qantas.
What are the key components of the success of your business?
The first and foremost aspect of a business is setting up a vision. Our vision is more product and service centric. The cost structure, the business channels (like marketing and sales), revenue streams, competitive pricing, successful promotional campaigns, maintaining great customer rapport, good relationship with vendors, introduction of better ERP and better IT implementation for allemployees; high employee motivation as key components of the success of our business.
In terms of technology being used in the industry, have you brought anything new to the table?
Bangladesh is detected to be very prone to earthquakes; therefore creating strong buildings to withstand earthquakes is a priority. We are hiring Japanese consultants for our superstructures and substructures projects to create more earthquake resistant structure. We are working on smart buildings with Wi-Fi free zone, home automation systems, Building Management System (BMS),and modular kitchen. We are also aiming for fine-tuned Built of Quantities (BOQ)calculation with an excellent set up of ERP from renowned expert agency. This will allow us to set a target for the quality properties we strive to create.
How do you define success? What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
I define success as fulfilling my true purpose and having a positive impact on the lives of people by uplifting them and inspiring them to think and act in ways that they may not have considered before. For me, success is to leave an enduring legacy of having made a difference in the world.
There is no one best way to achieve long-term success. In fact, there are many ways to achieve success in the long run. The most important trait is to avoid negativity. When things don’t go your way, it is imperative you keep fighting and never stop. Regardless of the unemployment rate, good employees are hard to find; here we appreciate them and take steps to retain them by developing a good reward system. I believe that if people are content inside your company, they will keep the people outside your company happy. Planning, prioritizing, working, self-motivating and others to reach certain long-term goals are how I believe I can achieve success.
What are your thoughts on the business climate in Bangladesh? How is the real estate sector helping with the country’s growth?
The business climate in Bangladesh is very volatile and unexpected, making it hard to determine at the moment. As far as real estate sector is considered, it is definitely helping with the country’s growth and economy; our sector is contributing to approximately 17% of the GDP. The progress of this sector will ensure that the many related to it will also flourish; this includes rod, cement, furniture, architecture, painting and electrical industries because these entire industries accompaniment our industry. If real estate collapses, it would mean that our economy has slowed down. As it is the biggest sector in Bangladesh after RMG, it definitely generates a notable portion of the income in the country.
How has Rangs Properties Limited contributed to the Bangladeshi laborforce in terms of skill development?
When it comes to the Bangladeshi human resources in terms of skill development, Rangs Properties Limited (RPL) provides ample amount of training and development to the employees – such as, English Language Development which helps immensely to enhance communication skills,special skill development like CAD, Auto CAD, 3D Max,Microsoft office, customer service and sales trainingand in-house Project Related Workshops to enhance their engineering insight. Architects are often sent abroad to exchange their knowledge with foreign architects which enhances their negotiation skills, on the job training enhance their field work abilities and make them even better at their specified areas of interest. These things along with the job responsibilities themselves teach our employees to be more efficient, proactive, enriched, empowered and increase their leadership skills. A person who develops this way will definitely be extremely valuable as a part of labor force in the context of Bangladesh or anywhere in this world.
Are there any new infrastructural projects that Rangs Properties Limited might be embarking on? How would they benefit Bangladesh?
There are a number of projects that we are working on. We have 3D shaped buildings like Rangs RD Center, FC Enclave etc. We have Babylonia whose design is inspired form the historic Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Ivory Tower is stimulated with the modern architecture. We are also building compliance-based factory with all other sister concerns like – Suzuki, Rangs Pharmaceuticals, etc. Our warehouse in Taherbagh maintains international standards. All of these projects are encouraging our architects to produce international standard designs and also give confidence to our civil engineers to think and work from a different perspective.
How has your extensive experience abroad helped you progress?
My extensive time in Sydney has given me a very global vision. I will try to relate my vision with an example. Harbor Bridge in Sydney was built almost 100 years ago, and it has 12 lanes, 2 more lanes for cycling and walking, 2 others for trains; so in total 16 lanes. It was built with a great vision even at that time and it is still serving us.
All the developers of our country are all centric, so if we give standard lifestyle in Mirpur or Shewrapara like those in Gulshan/Banani but with the prices of that in Mirpur, I think we can be the sole company to penetrate that market as well. We know Central Business Districts like Gulshan/Banani have higher prices, so we will provide better lifestyle in decentralized areas in their context, but not compromise with the quality.
To your knowledge, what are the challenges in providing financially feasible properties in Bangladesh?
We came to know high-level information through survey that we have 50,000 apartments required in this city and we have almost 20,000 apartments unsold. In such a high demand economy like Bangladesh, this is happening because of the imbalance of the 4Ps and lack of R&D. High registration cost is also a reason, which should be very low.We are trying to understand and teach the market and encourage the younger economy to buy these properties with international flavors in Mirpur area.
So far everybody has designed an inside-out approach but we have an outside-in approach. We want the government to provide us with better infrastructures for us to make this possible.
What is your vision regarding the expansion of your business?
At the moment, we are the leader of the market and standing among the highest-ranking businesses. We have products for all market segments. We have competitive price and quality. In 5 years’ time, we want to see ourselves as on top of the industry as its truest contributor for all market segments in Bangladesh and maybe in a decade’s time, we want to see ourselves as number one in all of South East Asia.
The motto of Rangs Properties is creating lifestyle. So we are trying to provide global lifestyle features to all our projects. The middle class percentage is increasing in Dhaka city and our future vision is to encourage young entrepreneurs/employees and middle class families to buy properties with the lifestyle of Gulshan/Baridhara/Banani standard in a lower price range. We have a condominium project in Shawrapara, Mirpur called Port Heights with the lifestyle of tri-state of Dhaka with affordable/reasonable prices for upper middle class economy. We are also encouraging the government to build infrastructures like MP quarters, metro rail in Mirpur. The location has the stadium so it will give great recreation. If we have projects in Gulshan, Baridhara or Banani, there is not much change in the lifestyle. These are already the centralized areas of Dhaka city. We are taking into account the decentralized areas as well and giving the international flavors. We are thinking of newer aspects and thinking out of the box.
