Home ›› 12 Mar 2023 ›› Business Connect
Md Khosru Chowdhury started his career as a private job holder in the textile sector with a salary of Tk 7,000 per month in 1993, but after 30 years, he now has eight manufacturing factories that generated $160 million in revenue last year.
In addition to taking care of his continuously growing business, he is now also involved in social work and politics, establishing schools, and hospitals, and constructing roads.
As part of carrying out his social responsibilities, he is now developing the livelihood of the people of his ancestral village, setting up a jute factory.
“I was an employee, but by the grace of Allah, I am now an established businessman. Almost all of my expectations have been fulfilled, and that is why I want to work for the betterment of the underprivileged people,” Nipa Group Managing Director Khosru Chowdhury told The Business Post, adding, “I have just started carrying out my social responsibility, and if Allah wants, I will continue it for the rest of my life.”
Chowdhury was born On July 10, 1973, Khosru was born at Rajoir upazila in Madaripur. Abu Hossain and Selina Chowdhury are his parents and he is the fourth among his nine siblings. He passed the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination in 1989 from a local school. He passed the HSC exam from Govt Shaheed Suhrawardy College in Dhaka where his eldest brother Shahin Chowdhury was also a student.
It was a turbulent time in the country’s history when the students of different colleges and universities created a movement to topple Hussain Muhammad Ershad’s autocratic government. Most of the student wings of different political parties were playing a vital role in the movement. At that time, Khosru’s eldest brother Shahin was the convener of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL).
“I was a member of the college BCL committee. For me, it is a matter of pride that I took part in that anti-autocratic movement that ultimately forced Ershad to step down from power on 6 December 1990. In 1991, I passed the HSC exam,” Khosru said.
After obtaining the BA degree from the same college, he got admitted to the then Jagannath College (now Jagannath University) for a master’s degree, but could not complete study there.
Start of career
After obtaining the bachelor’s degree, he applied for a scholarship, provided by the South Korean government, to study textile engineering there. Eleven Bangladeshis including Khosru got the scholarships. He went to South Korea in 1993.
When he was still studying, Daejoon Textile, a South Korean textile company, offered him to join the company as a Bangladeshi marketing representative with Tk 7,000 salary per month and 1 per cent commission. The company also allocated Tk 40,000 per month to the office maintenance cost.
“I took the offer and returned to Bangladesh in 1994 without completing my study. However, in the meanwhile, I already had a minimum knowledge of manmade fibre and fabrics from the practical and academic classes I attended,” the businessman shared.
“But when I joined the job, I faced a new problem as I was a fresher. At that time, I did not know anyone from the textile and readymade garment sectors which were not so large at that time. Daejoon instructed me to contact one Mr Anam, and acted accordingly,” Khosru said.
Through his support, Khosru got two clients after three months of joining the job and earned Tk 64,000 as a commission. After six months of joining the job, his commission rate was increased to 2 per cent and after a year, it rose to 3-5 per cent on a case to case basis. He was made a partner in the business venture of Daejoon Textile in Bangladesh.
Thanks to the fabrics business, Khosru was able to create good connections with the buyers and brands of the sector. In 1996, he started his first business venture, setting up a set buying house, Nippa Fashion Wear, with two partners. The company was renamed after a few months to Nipa Fashion Wear.
“I made a huge profit from the fabrics and buying-house business,” he said.
Entering RMG sector
Being encouraged by the success of the first business venture, Khosru, and his partners set up an apparel factory Nipa Fashion in 1999, renting a floor of a building at Uttara in the capital and recruiting nearly 200 workers. They invested Tk 96 lakh to purchase 120 sewing machines.
The experience gathered from the buying house business helped them a lot. They did not face any obstacles to manage orders and the factory became profitable from the very beginning.
However, in 2002, Khosru’s partnership-based business ended, and through mutual understanding, he became the sole owner of Nipa Fashion which he relocated to the Dakshinkhan area in Dhaka.
Khosru said, “My business expanded gradually and the number of Nipa Fashion’s workers rose to 5,000 in 2010. I then focused on starting new ventures and also became engaged in social work. Although I closed my buying house business, I helped others’ factories to survive, managing work orders for them. Many new factories started their journey through my support and became successful in the long run.
“After 2010, I planned to invest in the hotel business and set up a hotel in Cox’s Bazar. The hotel is also running with reputation.”
Business expansion
Being inspired by one after another successful ventures of Nipa Group, Khosru planned to expand his business further. He purchased 20 acres of land in Uttarkhan area in the capital and set up the KC Industrial Park.
Four factories including three RMG ones and a washing plant are already in production in the park. Construction of the park is yet to finish, and also waiting for the certification of the US Green Building Council.
The group set up another apparel factory in Uttarkhan which came into production last year.
“Currently I have eight manufacturing factories where nearly 13,000 workers are employed. In the last fiscal year, I exported clothes worth $160 million, and 70 per cent of the exports went to the US and different European Union countries.
“I also had a good market in India and last year, I exported clothes worth nearly $25 million to the country. Besides, I am also exporting to Brazil, Russia, Canada, Australia and other non-traditional markets,” the Nipa Group managing director said.
Focusing on manmade fibre
“I am a manmade fibre (MMF) specialist and have been working in the sector for the last 30 years. I believe that MMF is our next business, and that is why my next investment is in backward linkage factories for the sector,” Khosru said.
He informed that due to the Western-China conflict issue, buyers are shifting from China to Bangladesh, which is opening a new horizon to apparel exports. But due to the lack of backward linkage, especially in the manmade fibre sector, the country is failing to cash on the opportunity fully.
Nipa Group is investing Tk 1,000 crore to set up a manmade fibre factory, Hasin Eco Textile, with state-of-the-art technology in Kaoraid area at Sreepur upazila in Gazipur, incorporating all segments of MMF.
The factory is likely to come into operation next year.
Khosru said, “We need uninterrupted power and electricity supply at an affordable price. Setting up a complete MMF factory needs at least Tk 1,000 crore. But if its production is hampered due to the power supply crisis, how will we get back our investments?”
Involvement in social work
With the gradual expansion of business, Khsoru increased his involvement in carrying out social responsibility. As part of social work, he set up the largest hospital in Dakshinkhan, the KC Hospital and Diagnostic Center. He has also established the largest school, KC Model School and College, in the same area.
In KC Hospital, Nipa Group’s workers get treatment free of cost. Besides, the children of the workers study at KC School and College with scholarships.
Khsoru said, “The Huang Ho River is termed as the source of sorrow for the Chinese people. Kosai Bari Rail Gate is the same for the people living in Dakshinkhan and Uttarkhan areas. Traffic jams are a regular phenomenon at this point.
“Before the KC Hospital was established, all the people of Dakshinkhan and Uttarkhan were bound to get treatment from Uttara and other nearby areas. But the road connectivity was not good. Moreover, there was no standard school there and guardians were forced to admit their children to Uttara-based schools for better education. All patients and school-going students faced severe problems on a daily basis due to transport shortage as well as the never-ending traffic jam at Kosai Bari Rail Gate,” he added.
“I remember, one day a pregnant woman was going to a Uttara-based hospital for delivery, but she fell down from the rickshaw. She was forced to deliver her baby beside the road. Another day, a student and his mother were crushed under the wheels of a train at Kosai Bari Rail Gate when going to school.
“After these incidents, I decided to set up a standard school and a hospital. I invested cores of taka to set up the modern technology-based hospital and the KC School and College. Now hundreds of thousands of people from Dakshinkhan and Uttarkhan have easy access to treatment at a nominal cost.”
Khosru is also setting up a jute factory at Rajoir upazila in Madaripur to create employment for the people of his ancestral village. The factory is still under construction. He is also constructing a road connecting his village and the main road of the upazila with his own fund.
In April 2021, Khosru was elected as a Board of Director member of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). He is also a member of several standing committees of the BGMEA. He was also awarded Commercially Important Person in 2018.
In November 2020, he was made Commerce and Industry Secretary of the Dhaka City North Awami League committee.
“Once I had nothing, but now I have everything. My next target is to do something for my country’s people. Workers of various RMG factories often stage demonstrations demanding due arrears and other facilities, but my factory is yet to face such a crisis, and paying the workers’ wages is my first priority,” Khosru said.
