Home ›› 28 Aug 2022 ›› Business Connect
Once a sales officer of a multinational company has now become the Managing Director of Advanced Chemical Industries (ACI) Limited, one of the largest conglomerates in the country.
The man is AKM Fareyzul Haque Ansarey better known as FH Ansarey who has displayed a tremendous performance in opening new ventures, making profit and achieving growth at an unbelievable pace.
His management performances painted his name with the ACI Limited. The name ‘Ansarey’ is now a synonym for ACI. But the image was not built in a day.
For a long while ACI Limited was only a pharmaceuticals company and sold some chemical products in tea gardens. Now it is known as the largest agro-chemical company of the country.
His first step towards building his career played a vital role in making him what he is now today otherwise he could end up being a university professor.
He stood first class first in honors from the Zoology Department of Rajshahi University in 1975.
He also stood first class from the same university’s Department of Geography and Environment in 1977. At this stage, he was supposed to join the university as a teacher.
However, he preferred a private corporate job to become a university teacher, the most respected profession in Bangladesh.
At that time the world famous agro-chemical company Syngenta was operating its business on a very small scale in Bangladesh. The company operated under the name of ‘Ciba-Geigy.’
Ansarey read an advertisement published by Ciba-Geigy looking for a sales officer. He applied for the job, gave an interview and finally got his first job in life.
“After taking the interview and seeing my result they offered me Tk 15,000 a month. The salary was Tk 7,500 in advertisement but the employer offered me just double. I preferred the job instead of being a university teacher,” Ansarey told The Business Post.
He got five promotions in three years (1989-1992) at the company. The company sent him to the USA to work with the product management team during his service period.
After returning home he was promoted to the post of product manager and then promoted again to the post of national sales manager. And finally he was promoted to marketing operation manager.
He switched to Setu Corporation in 1992, a local company. After serving two years at Setu Corporation he finally joined ACI in 1995. During his 27-year career in ACI Limited he delivered his best.
At that time the turnover from the pharmaceutical company was Tk 35 crore and the turnovers from consumer brand and agro chemicals were Tk 2.30 crore and 70 lakhs respectively.
Now the turnover from only the agro chemicals reached around Tk 8,000 crore and the company has become the largest agro-chemical company in the country.
He joined ACI as a marketing manager. Six months into his joining he was promoted to General Manager and nine months into his career with the ACI he was promoted to the post of Director.
As he stepped in 12 months he was promoted to Executive Director.
“As I joined the company it had only the turnover of Tk35 crore. Now its turnover is Tk 13, 000 crore. You can easily imagine why I was promoted so fast,” Ansarey, the ACI guru, told The Business Post.
Now ACI Limited has 15 subsidiary companies -four joint ventures and one associate company. There are 42 businesses running under these companies
“When I joined, ACI was mainly a pharmaceutical company. There was only one company - ACI Limited. Now everyone knows that the ACI is the largest agricultural company,” said the company policymaker.
The changes did not happen automatically. Business expansion was very fast and it grabbed the market quicker than others. “That is why the company thought I needed mental support and motivation and they did so.”
Just in one year Ansarey made agro chemical business of Tk5 crore from that of Tk7 lakh only a year back.
He asked for the support from the company and promised to take the turnover to Tk15 crore in three years. He got the support and made its full use.
“After one year I proposed to open a separate subsidiary company. Accordingly I opened ACI Formulations Limited and I was one of the directors. And I reached the target in only 2 years instead of the promised 3 years. Now it has become a public limited company.”
From human medicine ACI started producing medicine for animals. In 1997, ACI opened the Animal Health Division. Now the division has a turnover of Tk600 crore.
“I was thinking that we had already had factories for pharmaceuticals and by using it, it was very much possible to open the animal health division. We also did similar kinds of businesses in a joint venture with Indian Godrej in 2004. Now the turnover of the joint venture is around Tk1800-Tk1900 crore,” he boasted.
He never stopped thinking about new ventures. He developed an insatiable thirst for opening new businesses one after another.
ACI Salt Refinery was established in 2004, ACI motors in 2007, ACI Plastics in 2008. The same year, ACI opened Agro Links Limited and the company is exporting huge amounts of shrimp to different countries.
Ansarey played a vital role in opening a number of sister concerns one after another.
As he was asked why ACI opened so many companies and businesses so quickly, he said: “I observed a huge domestic market in Bangladesh. We also noticed that whatever was opened by ACI was well accepted by people and business kept growing.”
Thus ACI became a brand and the ultimate success of all sister companies made the brand ACI today, Ansarey replied.
Like ACI, Ciba-Geigy and Setu Corporation were also small businesses when Ansarey joined the companies in 1889 and 1992 respectively.
“When I joined Ciba-Geigy, the company mainly supplied pesticide.” It was free at that time. After my joining, pesticide was sold at Tk17 and liquid pesticide price rose to Tk400 per kg. Those products were privatized by me.
“I got some confidence. And Setu Corporation also became a big company after my joining. I got more confidence,” said the confident Managing Director of the company.
He was at the peak of his performance and enjoyed the huge facilities. But he took the decision to join ACI, a company of Tk35 crore turnover back then.
“I considered four things before joining the ACI. I wanted to join such a company which has a good image, foreign linkage, a confident management and a management which can give support and inspiration. I expected investment and support from the management. They have given it and I gave my full experiences and ability resulting in today’s ACI.”
He said in his 42-year journey in the agriculture sector whatever business he initiated became successful and the company grew along with the sector.
Fresh recruitment is the key to success
When asked about his success in management, Ansarey replied ‘fresh recruitment’.
Mission, values, ethics and social commitment are very important to achieve faster growth of a company. Apart from those, two things are important - one is money and the other is manpower.
One can generate money from the profit or from the bank loan. Only money cannot do anything in business. Business needs dedicated manpower, he continued.
“Throughout my career I have recruited fresher. I recruited them, trained them, implanted mission and values into them. Thus I created a good team who are committed to the betterment of the company.”
If an employee can realize that his work is benefiting the countrymen. On the other hand, if he thinks he will get promoted for his good work the employee delivers his best for the company.
He introduced agro machinery, hybrid rice and bird flu vaccine
He was the man behind introducing hybrid rice and bird flu vaccines in Bangladesh and also the pioneer of agro mechanization in the country.
During the Covid-19 pandemic in Bangladesh, which created a huge labor shortage due to movement restriction it was hardly possible to harvest all crops. ACI considered it a business opportunity and also a responsibility for the nation. ACI imported 1,000 pieces of combined harvester which are highly pricy.
“It is not possible for any large company in the world to import and stock 1,000 pieces of combined harvesters at a time. It was challenging to sell so many machines in 40-45 days. Think how much confidence was behind the decision,” Ansarey asked.
Due to this move of ACI the entire paddy could be harvested, food production supply and security were ensured. The government was also able to live up to its image.
He worked from the front to introduce hybrid rice in Bangladesh. At that time China was the largest rice producing country as its 65 percent rice was hybrid. ACI convinced the government and introduced it in the country in 2002.
ACI made a huge publicity of the rice variety through radio, television and newspaper. Now, the private sector is supplying 95 percent of hybrid rice.
There was a government policy that no private company could carry out research on five products. Rice was one of those five products. “But we managed to get permission to carry out research and introduction of hybrid rice.”
Many small entrepreneurs lost their capitals in 2007-08 due to bird flu. All were saying that a vaccine was needed but no one took initiatives in fear of being infected as the virus has power to infect human beings rapidly.
“We have a French supplier company which produces a bird flu vaccine in the USA. We convinced the government and it allowed us in 2013.”
At that time only 40 lakh chicks were supplied per week which went up to 3 lakh pieces in recent time. Due to the introduction of the vaccine, the poultry industry survived.
From employee to shareholder
He was just an employee of ACI when he joined the company in 1995. He now has shares in at least 6 subsidiary companies of ACI.
Ansarey said: “I have 2-3 percent shares in those ACI companies established by my initiatives including ACI Formulations, ACI Motors and ACI Salt.”
When competitors are main customers
In consumer goods and processed food packaging Pran-RFL, Square, Nestle, Unilever, Ispahani, Coca-Cola and Pepsi are ACI’s main competitors in the market. But ACI made them its customers and the transaction is huge with those companies.
All the companies mentioned above buy sachet, level and some other packaging materials from ACI.
“Though we have direct competition with those companies, they are our customers. It has become possible as they have full trust in us, in our product quality and business mentality. That is why we are the number one in supplying sachets and levels.”
ACI Brahma
ACI poultry is at its peak now. It has around Tk50, 000 crore investment. Massive change has been made in milk production in the last two years. Educated and graduates from world reputed universities coming back to the country are preparing cattle for sacrifice.
But there is no good cattle variety for meat. The government tried to introduce cattle Brahman and the performance was good.
Generally 1 kg meat can be obtained from feeding a cattle 12 kg of food. But Brahma can give 1 kg meat from 7 kg food.
“For farming Brahma, policy support is needed. We are working on it.”
Gold medal achieved for shrimp export
He opened a shrimp processing factory at Satkhira. ACI exports 200 containers of shrimp per month worth Tk20-22 crore and not a single container is returned due to any type of contamination. ACI received a gold medal for export performance.
ACI has created a positive image of the country prompting the Prime Minister to award the company a gold medal, he boasted.
Food processing must be profitable
ACI set up a salt refinery which is the biggest salt processing factory of the country. It processes animal, poultry and aqua feed from which the company generates a turnover of around Tk 2,500 crore. ACI has flour mills, rice mills and an edible oil business.
It processes and packages food and exports them to 36 countries.
“If we process food it can be stored and supplied next year which plays an important role in food security.”
ACI is trying to place the food processing industry just after the garment export. Even if the garment sector collapses the processed food export will take the first place.
“The Netherlands does not produce all the food they export. They import from other countries, process them and export them after packaging. Thus the Netherlands is the number one in processed food export.
“If garment industry collapses the economy can be protected through exporting processed food,” he added.
Even ACI started working on post-harvest planning to provide a number of large warehouses for the farmers.
Eyeing marine fisheries
Ansarey opened a new company named ACI Marine and Riverine Limited. ACI is planning to import big fishing vessels to catch fish from the deep sea.
Though there is a government survey suggesting that 70 percent of the fish species are not viable for commercial fishing as their population has decreased. But Ansarey is confident and plans to catch tuna fish in a joint venture with a Japanese company.
“As a student of ecology I know there are huge fish in the sea. If there are not enough fish, the number of other marine animals cannot be seen.”
Food chain is important to realize the fish stock. So there are plenty of fish in the sea, especially tuna, he, who obtained his PHD in Ecology from the Kolhan University of India, said.
25,000 employees and 515,000 small entrepreneurs
ACI employed 15,000 people permanently. However, 10,000 more people are working with the group indirectly.
As many as 1,20,000 business houses are involved with agro-businesses, 2,60, 000 with consumer brands and 1, 35, 000 entities are doing businesses with pharmaceuticals.
Family
Ansarey has four children – two daughters and two sons. All of them studied abroad and are working for different reputed companies in different countries.
His wife teaches at a private university. His mother lives in a village of Godaghari of Rajshahi where Ansarey was born.
Ansarey passed SSC from Harimohan Govt High School in Chapainawabganj in 1971 and HSC from Rajshahi Government College in 1973.
