The tale of an unstoppable dream

There was a time when this company’s management had strongly considered closing the shop after facing numerous obstacles.

But now, it has become a group of 23 companies with around 43,000 employees. It even saw an annual revenue surge of $800 million last year. The group now dreams of contributing 1 per cent of the GDP by 2030.

The tale of the DBL Group started in 1991. They started their journey with an apparel business that had 37 sewing machines and 120 workers. After 33 years, the group now has 18 individual manufacturing companies.

“To become a successful businessman, you have to be brave and determined. There is no shortcut. Struggling, hard work and proper planning are the keys to success,” the group’s Vice Chairman MA Rahim told The Business Post.

He said, “In the beginning, we did consider stopping our factory as we were facing huge losses. However, we decided to power through because it was not only our dream but also the company was named after our beloved brother who sacrificed his life during the Liberation War.”

“We struggled and tried our best, and finally, four years later, we found success,” he added.

Since its inception, the company has evolved into a diversified conglomerate over the years and is currently led by four brothers — Abdul Wahed Babul, MA Jabbar, MA Rahim Feroz, and MA Quader Onu. They serve as the chairman, managing director, vice chairman and deputy managing director and group CEO, respectively.

DBL is the abbreviated form of Dulal Brothers Ltd. The first factory was named after Abdul Quddus Dulal, the eldest son of Abdul Matin.

In 1971, Wahed was a 10th grader and Dulal was in Karachi for higher studies but both of them joined as freedom fighters when the war started. Midway through, Dulal joined the Crack Platoon, a special Mukti Bahini commando team that struck much fear among the Pakistan army.

“On December 14, 1971, Dulal Bhai went missing after a group of Razakars captured him from their Farmgate residence. When Wahed Bhai returned home on December 16 and heard about Dulal Bhai’s disappearance, he captured some Razakars and interrogated them.

“They admitted that Dulal Bhai was killed and his body was dumped at Rayer Bazar. We recovered his body on December 17 and buried him in Azimpur Graveyard,” Rahim said.

“When we started our business, we decided to name our company ‘Dulal Brothers Ltd’ in respect of our eldest brother and his sacrifice for the nation and the country,” he added.

In the beginning...

Abdul Matin came to Dhaka from Noakhali with his two brothers and started a construction business in 1958. His honesty and transparency helped him achieve a good reputation among the stakeholders and a successful career.

Banking on his excellent business performance, Matin bought a piece of land in the Farmgate area and earn and saved a good amount of money. “But when Dulal Bhai was killed, our father became a frustrated person. He lost interest in the business. He could not concentrate,” Rahim said.

Under the circumstances, 19-year-old Wahed had to take over the family business alongside his studies. He also started an export-import business. While Jabbar went to the US to pursue higher studies, Rahim and Quader continued their education here.

In 1990, Jabbar returned home and planned to expand their businesses with all four brothers working together.

Rahim said, “One of our cousins was already involved in the readymade garment business and he was successful. Inspired by him, we also decided to set up an RMG factory. Many tried to warn us by saying this business would not see profit, but we decided to do it because we had passion, dedication and capability to work hard.”

In 1991, the brothers converted their Farmgate house to an RMG factory and took Tk 60 lakh from his father as an investment. Dulal Brothers Ltd came into operation in March of that year. However, they fell into hot water soon as they lacked experience and failed to get enough work orders to survive.

Rahim reminisced, “After facing huge losses and work order shortage, we seriously thought about closing the factory. But we did not lose hope and carried on because our martyred brother’s name was on the door.

“During that struggling period, a state-owned bank and Al-Arafah Islami Bank provided outstanding financial support. We’ll never forget that. That support helped us massively.”

In 1994, an Indian businessman helped them get a work order worth $0.12 million from a UK-based brand. They manufactured the products, ensured their quality and delivered on time.

Afterwards, that brand was happy and kept placing orders. It continued doing business with Dulal Brother Ltd for the next five years. The company had made huge profits at that time.

Business expansion

In 1999, banking on their success, the four brothers planned to expand the business of DBL Group.

They bought three bighas (1 acre equals 1.61 bighas) of land at Kashimpur, Gazipur for their RMG factory. Later, they bought four more bighas of land to build a dyeing factory.

In 2003, their new RMG factory came into operation. The dyeing factory started production in 2007. Afterwards, their business started to grow dramatically.

Rahim said, “Our business was growing but suppliers were failing to deliver yarn, fabrics and accessories on time. So, we decided to set up our very own spinning mill.

“Thanks to the financial support from Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited, we managed to successfully set up our knitting and spinning mills at Kashimpur and became a composite RMG factory.”

Later, the group also secured financial support from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, to establish backward linkage.

During their expansion activities, they had a huge demand for ceramic items. But their supplier was failing to supply on time and that hampered their expansion activities.

Rahim said, “We also observed that there is huge potential in the ceramic sector as the country’s economy was growing. So, we decided to set up our ceramic factory in 2012-13, and started its construction work in 2014-15 at Maona, Gazipur.”

He said they invested Tk 130 crore and set up high-tech machinery at the factory. But it failed to start production on time due to the lack of gas connection and because of that, they incurred a huge loss.

After much effort, they were able to get the gas connection and DBL Ceramics Ltd came into operation at the end of 2016. Currently, their investment in the sector has risen to Tk 1,000 crore.

The company occupies 7 per cent of the country’s market share by producing 4,80,000 square metres of ceramics yearly. The group is also working now on expanding production capacity.

DBL Group also entered the pharmaceutical business with an investment of Tk 740 crore and established DBL Pharmaceuticals in 2021, considering the good potential in both local and global markets.

The group is now planning to build manufacturing facilities in the US and Ethiopia to cater for the North American and African markets, where it will be the first Bangladeshi pharmaceutical company to do that.

The group claims it has a big market in the US, but it is yet to export its pharmaceutical products due to certification issues with the country’s Food and Drug Administration. It’s working to resolve the issue and start exporting products there soon.

“Our goal is clear. We are focusing on quality and we want to be number one in the country on that basis. By 2025, we want to be the largest pharmaceutical exporter for Bangladesh and one of the top suppliers of best quality medicine in the domestic market,” said MA Rahim.

$87m foreign credit

As an emerging and promising company, DBL Group has earned a good reputation over the years among both local and foreign lenders. Till last year, the group secured $87 million in foreign credit from two international lenders.

Of that, $52 million was provided by British International Investment, the UK’s Development Finance Institution and Impact Investor, and $35 million came from IFC.

DBL Group claims that the figures are the highest for any local group.

The $52 million fund is for Jinnat Textile Mills Ltd, a Greenfield cotton yarn spinning mill that will be housed in a LEED-certified green building. IFC funds were used for the dyeing, textile and spinning mills.

Rahim said, “We always keep our commitments to our partners. That’s our major asset. We have many projects in the pipeline and expect to receive more funds from international lenders.”

23 entities in 18 businesses

At present, DBL Group has 23 companies and firms operating in 18 types of businesses — apparel, spinning, knitting, dyeing, all over printing, screen printing, washing, packaging, accessories, ceramic tiles, telecommunication, pharmaceuticals, sewing thread, dredging, VLSI design, embroidery, distribution, and textile testing.

Besides, the group has also invested in the Bangladesh Premier League franchise Chittagong Vikings.

Of the companies, Matin Spinning Mills Ltd is the only one currently listed in the capital market. But the group plans to have all of its companies publicly listed.

The group has invested nearly $800 million so far to set up its businesses and is jointly run by the four brothers.

Rahim said they take all decisions through discussions. “Our officials also play vital roles to ensure smooth operation and development. If all four of us are abroad, they look after everything.”

“Our eldest brother sacrificed his life for the nation’s independence and we are fighting for the nation’s economic development,” he said.

More investments on the way

According to DBL Group, they are set to receive millions of USD in investments soon for their apparel, textile and backward linkage of the apparel sector, pharmaceuticals, ceramics and ICT businesses.

Many of them are already under construction while the rest are on the planning level. All projects will come into operation within 2025 in phases. The group is arranging the funds through its capital, stocks market, and domestic and foreign loans, Rahim said.

“Our main focus is the apparel sector’s backward linkage. As global brands are focusing on Bangladesh, the country is likely to reach $100 billion in RMG exports by 2030. The backward linkage will create huge demand. We want to cash in on the opportunity,” he stressed.

The group has already allocated 167 acres of land in Srihatta Economic Zone, Moulvibazar, and is investing $650 million to establish 10 factories to manufacture textiles, ceramic and sanitary products. All of them will come into production by 2025 and create nearly 6,000 new jobs.

DBL will also set up the country’s largest lingerie factory for export. It will set up two new factories in Gazipur’s Maona and Joydebpur by 2025.

“All of our new projects are high-technology-based. They will need less manpower. It’s sad news for all but we have no choice but to adapt to the new technology and Fourth Industrial Revolution,” Rahim said.

“Our vision is that DBL Group will contribute 1 per cent of the GDP by 2030. Our future generations are also prepared to take on the challenge and achieve that goal,” he said with a proud smile.

There are no shortcuts

Talking to The Business Post, Rahim said, “Many have questioned how we became one of the largest manufacturing groups in the country based on few investments and how we will achieve our goals. Many new entrepreneurs also wondered whether they can be successful like us.

“We believe that there are no shortcuts in business. From the beginning, we have struggled but worked with a proper plan. We kept our promises to all stakeholders. These are assets.”

He said, “There are a lot of opportunities to do business in the country right now. One needs to find the area where they are strong and start working hard.”

“Profits and losses are a part of the business. So you can’t become pessimistic if you incur losses. Find out the reasons behind that failure and start again better. Always be optimistic and include your employees’ opinions on your business planning and decisions,” he said addressing the new entrepreneurs.