An employee of entrepreneur Hashem makes furniture bending a piece of cane at a workshop in the capital's Banani. Photo: Anisur Rahman It's a story of stepping out of the box and carving a fortune out of nothing. Had MA Hashem pursued a master's in Economics at Chittagong University around three decades ago after getting admission there, he might have landed a respectable job and led an easy life.
However, instead of taking the apparently easier path, he set out to do something on his own, something different, as he had always wanted. MA Hashem Adventurous as he was, Hashem ventured into producing furniture from cane -- a trade which was not well-established when he stepped into it. With unwavering conviction and devotion, he stayed on course defying all odds. And now he is one of the biggest suppliers of cane furniture in the country, earning a hefty six-figure sum a month. In 1992, Hashem, then 28-year-old, came to Dhaka from Chandpur to chase his dream. Things were not easy for him. He needed money to start a business. Hashem was from a middle class family and all of his three brothers were in government service. His parents wanted him to follow suit. Advertisement "I could not ask my family for money. My parents were apprehensive about the success of my plan to become an entrepreneur," he said. Undaunted, he kept trying, managed Tk 2 lakh from his relatives and teamed up with another relative, Sohrab Hossain, in Dhaka. Sohrab put in Tk 4 lakh and then the duo started making cane furniture on a small scale in 1993. The furniture are then crammed into a showroom also in Banani for sale. Photo: Anisur Rahman With the money they earned by selling their products, Hashem and Sohrab opened a store in Mohakhali and they never had to look back. "I closely worked with artisans. They were very skilled. They helped me learn a lot of things. Only six months into the business, I gained a very good idea about how to make furniture from cane," he told The Daily Star in an interview recently. Workers of entrepreneur Hashem making furniture out of canes at their workshop at Banani in the capital. Photo: Anisur Rahman Previously, people were not keen on buying cane furniture as it was a bit expensive compared to the wooden ones. But things started to change gradually. Wealthy customers, including foreigners living in Bangladesh, started buying the lightweight cane furniture that offered a variety of designs. In 2002, Hashem parted from Sohrab, who by then had become his brother-in-law, and launched his own stores. He currently owns two showrooms named Rose Garden and Shahjalal Cane Furniture in the capital's Banani. He employs 40 workers and has an annual turnover of Tk 40 to 50 lakh. Hashem now supplies furniture to almost all the cane furniture shops in the city. His clientele also includes major hotels, embassies and multinationals in Dhaka. However, despite his fairytale rise as a successful entrepreneur, he still faces some challenges. Making furniture from cane is a laborious process, Hashem says, as it's completely a manual job. Though machines are available to make the production easier, he cannot afford one as they are highly expensive. "But the quality of our products is as fine as that of the machine-made ones," he said. Moreover, he has to import raw materials, which is processed cane, from Myanmar and Indonesia to meet the demand for high quality products, as the local variety is not of desired quality. Only 20 percent of his furniture is produced from the local variety of cane. He said if high quality cane could be produced in Bangladesh the production cost and price of the furniture would have been much lower. The imported processed canes currently cost Tk 1,000 a kg. It would go down by two-thirds if they are produced here, said Hashem. Hashem urged the government to take steps so that quality canes can be produced and processed locally.
No comments:
Post a Comment