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Entrepreneurs are frequently thought of as national assets to be cultivated, motivated and remunerated to the greatest possible extent, says a latest ICCB news bulletin while singing the praise of pioneers in nascent Bangladesh's economic uplift.
It also noted that they have the ability to change the way people live in and work on local, national and international planes.
"Businesses are the driving force for any economy. Success of businesses can drive the growth of a country, help achieve overall sustainable development and create employment opportunities," says the bulletin in its editorial that portrays the genesis of economic journey of people of this land since late British era through partition of the subcontinent and the independence of Bangladesh.
The editorial of the current News Bulletin (July-September 2021) of the International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh (ICCB) was released Sunday.
It noted over the past five decades, Bangladesh has transformed itself from being a 'Basket Case' into one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Before the onset of the COVID-19, the economy was growing rapidly, recording an annual expansion in the range of 7.0- 8.0 per cent for sometimes.
After the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, the then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, was not an ideal place for Bangladeshi entrepreneurs to do business/establish industries as the West Pakistanis (now Pakistan) were in complete control of the country and the economy.
"Bangladeshis were mainly in the mid-and lower-level services," the bulletin reminisces. Some of leading businessmen have made it possible to show the world that Bangladeshis are capable of becoming successful entrepreneurs.
Late Abul Kasem Khan from Chattogram, a district judge in 1934, was probably the first Bangladeshi to enter into business leaving a job. He established various types of industries and formed A.K. Khan Group in 1945.
The bulletin recalls some of the Bangladeshi entrepreneurs who owned a few business entities during the British era. Of them, the oldest was the family trading business of Late Anwar Hossain (since 1834) and Founding Chairman of Transcom Group Late Latifur Rahman's family (having a tea estate since 1885).
Since 1947 till the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, only a few small industries, tea gardens and two commercial banks and a small number of jute and textile mills had been owned by Bangladeshis. After independence all industries, banks and big commercial entities were nationalised.
However, the change in government policies in mid-70s for adopting privatisation, export liberalisation and import-substitution created the opportunity for enthusiastic businessmen to begin their entrepreneurial journey.
ICC Bangladesh President and Chairman and CEO of ETBL Holdings Mahbubur Rahman along with Transcom Group Chairman Latifur Rahman, Square Group Chairman Samson H. Chowhdury, Anwar Group Chairman Anwar Hossain, Apex Group Chairman Syed Manzur Elahi and a few other business leaders contributed towards the change in government policy decision for privatisation.
In less than 40 years, the garment industry of the country has emerged as one of the nation's success stories in recent decades. It is the second-largest RMG exporter globally, earning over $35 billion a year from exports. A number of pharmaceutical companies have also started exporting medicines to 119 developed and developing countries. The country also exports leather products, handicrafts, agro-products, oceangoing vessels, software etc.
The total yearly export earning was US$ 38.76 billion in FY21.
Bangladesh achieved lower-middle-income-country status in 2015 and is on track to leave the United Nations' Least Developed Countries' list. With a GDP of over $305 billion, Bangladesh currently is the world's 41st-largest economy and forecasts suggest that the size of the economy could double in not-too- distant future.