Home ›› 15 May 2022 ›› Business Connect
Medical school did not interest her after higher secondary, nor did the top universities in the globe by their full-funding packages for higher study; Rehana Akter rather chose to stay back home responding to her passion for doing something on her own.
Her resolution clicked very well that helped build a solid foundation for her.
The female artist is now a multi-millionaire carrying on business of clay images that have brought her name and fame at home and abroad.
“It was a long arduous journey that I had to embark on. I was a self-starter. I envisaged a future of business excellence and did everything on my own,” said an optimistic Rehana.
“From learning of how to shape the clay into a perfect image and doing all other subsequent works to transform my passion into a fruitful venture, I went through paramount struggles.”
Her knack for building a hand-made ceramics industry which she ideated for long has overshadowed all other coveted offers like settling in foreign land, clinching a faculty position in the Department of Ceramics under the Fine Arts Institute of Dhaka University where she had completed her tertiary education, and the like.
The female entrepreneur founded her company namely – Clay Image – which has given her today’s identity in the global ceramics industry.
The story of her entrepreneurship is enough to stir one to jump into a promising venture following one’s passion.
Fighting all odds, Rehana Akhter is an independent businesswoman who has made the “Clay Image” a global brand today.
The clay ceramics produced manually has been the country’s first ceramics industry of this kind while Rehana is the world’s first female entrepreneur that owned such a business establishment.
The clay ceramic products are being sent to more than 35 countries including the US and the European nations.
With innovation at the core, the clay products have drawn the attention of tens of thousands of ceramics-loving people through their aesthetic appeal and creative designs that blend the modern and the traditional Bengali floral and geometric concepts.
Crafting tableware ceramics with bare hands, Rehana envisioned transforming ordinary tableware into aesthetic masterpieces, thereby leaving a footprint in the ceramics industry.
Chronicles of Clay Image
The Clay Image is the brainchild of Rehana Akhter who felt love for it during her study at Charukala’s (Fine Arts Institute) Ceramics Department in 1997.
“I could become a doctor since I got admitted to a private medical college. As classes start a year after admission into medical institute, something slowly dawned on me. I followed an inner instinct to try my luck at the Fine Arts Institute of Dhaka University,” she said while reflecting on her academic life.
“I started enjoying time with drawing and working with clay, giving it a perfect shape as I wanted. Eventually, I fell in love with the idea of producing clay ceramics.”
Narrating her objective, Rehana said she took clay as an act of canvass on her behalf.
“I painted the image of love in the mud according to my own sweet will, thinking that people would use my products every day and feel good seeing my beautiful ceramic products,” according to the dreamer.
Rehana won a gold medal for being academic fit in her freshman year in the Ceramics Department.
Likewise, she was awarded the “Best Media Award” for her artwork in the exhibition organised for the birth anniversary of legendary artist Shilpachajarjo (Maestro) Zainul Abedin.
She clinched the Best Media Award for four consecutive years competing with all her senior fellows.
“My first award drove me to branch out into commercial ceramics,” she said.
“It started with a table and a manually-operated potter’s wheel in my parents’ garage in Mirpur – a small space beside the stairs around 25 years from today,” recalled the visionary.
“I took over part of the terrace. My father likened me to an occupying force as my expansion plan over the patio continued unabated over the months of all my sophomore year.”
In the meantime, Rehana said she took a part-time job at a boutique house and also opened an art school for kids namely “Pencil” at her residence to bear the increased cost of her ceramics venture.
She argued that she remained obsessed with clay, always thinking about how to design products with it and lay a series of glazes over them, but she had no kilns to fire raw products.
So Rehana had to frequent Narayanganj to scorch her crafted items.
She used to bring clay from Mymensingh since the clay in the hilly areas under the district is no less in terms of quality than the China clay used for ceramic products.
Describing her initial ordeal, she said all her family members termed her venture a sort of madness and refused to finance her for the so-called project.
“But I was adamant. I sensed potential in it and kept working with it,” stated the female entrepreneur.
“I used to make ceramic products with clay and presented them in small exhibitions out of my hobby. They were all sold out, and I reinvested profits into my business.”
With a paltry amount of around Tk 8,000 earned from her boutique job and art school, Rehana dared to take part in her first SME fair at Dhaka Officers’ club in 1999.
She had a bit of worry as to whether she could get return on her investment, but it was a windfall gain that fetched Tk 35,000 after the three-day fair and encouraged her to go ahead.
Finding his daughter indomitable, Rehana’s father, however, allowed her to use an unused tin-shed building at the backyard of their house for making studio.
Rehana built a manual kiln there, clearing the bars little by little and continued working solely in that studio till her final year at the Fine Arts Institute in 2002.
In her words, “It is not the artist that touches the hearts of the beholders; it is the artwork that is created from heart.”
At a time, the venturist said, she felt disappointed as she was unable to lay glaze on her products through bisque firing at her home-made kiln, but the manufacturer was steadfast in her mission.
She would not just let go off it, so she followed the entire ceramic process till it was resolved. “It was a very emotional moment. I guess it could be compared to a child birth.”
In her successful journey with clay ceramics venture, Rehana at one stage got a support of Tk 10 Lakh from her family to make a full-fledged factory in early 2003.
With the financial assistance, she hired two people who were trained of everything relating to clay magic.
“I could not sleep as I always thought of giving back the money I took from my family.”
Again in 2003, Clay Image took part in Shilpachharjo Joynul Abedin exhibition and bagged sales worth Tk 3 lakh that boosted her confidence in joining more fairs and exhibitions.
Looking back on her hard times, Rehana recalled that there was an acute gas crisis then, and also there was none she could learn about clay ceramics from; so she used to visit from factory to factory for learning.
“I mastered the art though it was not easy, and my products earned a very good response,” she narrated.
“In 2003, I got a big order from Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden which amounted to Tk 10 lakh that changed my outlook on business. I was supposed to deliver the products by 2005.”
In the same year, the Clay Image opened a showroom in Dhanmondi’s Sunrise Plaza and was filled with fabulous hand-made pieces.
“I have never wanted my work to remain confined to only within the walls of one or two buildings. Rather, I wanted to leave a mark in peoples’ heart and the Clay Image could to do that,” mentioned an undaunted Rehana.
“We never went for aggressive marketing for our products. Rather, the aesthetic quality of our clay ceramics spoke for themselves.”
As her business was growing rapidly, Rehana built a three story-building factory on the same venue in 2013.
She said she hired 13 potters from Chapainawabganj. Lazy and averse to adopting new things the employees returned to their rural pottery.
“Then I started hiring poor adolescent girls for my factory. I trained them on how to make clay ceramics. Besides, I married them off at my own expenses. They have babies, and I have made arrangements to take care of their children,” held the industrialist.
Now the Clay Image factory has 100 employees with 70 per cent female, and hunting new hands and giving them necessary training are also underway.
Till date Clay Image produces as many as 57 types of hand-made products, including dinnerware, mug, tea set, flower vase, wall tiles, and candle stand.
Most of its best-selling items have Bangla names on them such as bati, corai, platter, tawa, bash mug, etc.
Clay Image runs four showrooms in Dhaka – Sunrise plaza in Dhanmondi, DOHS in Mirpur, Jatramela in Banani, and Police Plaza in Gulshan, and its products are also available at around 30 shops in divisional cities, including in the capital.
According to the proprietor, Clay Image’s tableware has a good presence in online platforms – both e-commerce and Facebook marketplace. Yearly turnover of Clay Image’s hand-made ceramics products amounts to around Tk 1 crore.
She hopes that the recent technology adoption in her industry will scale up at good rate from the next financial year.
In addition, her dinnerware sets have some cordial words on them like Bandhu, Ami Bangali, Ami Bangladeshi, etc, that uphold the dignity of her mother tongue in the international arena.
Unlike contemporary Bangladeshi ceramic manufacturers using on-glaze design products, Clay Image has come up with under-glaze designs and colour techniques, making it unparalleled in the field of ceramics.
“Our under-glaze designs bring natural colour to the pottery and make them durable,” Rehana said, adding that the under-glaze ceramics do not leak colour out into food and last long.
The materials of Clay Image are said to be fully non-toxic and are eco-friendly from processing to production. Each item is like an intensive-care patient needing constant nursing.
The female entrepreneur added that she never thought of clay image as her prime business but passion and love towards it drove her to think about it commercially that brought her to today’s stage.
According to her perception, ceramics is an expensive business, requiring plenty of financial investment, but she does not want to compare her hand-made ceramics with other businesses.
“My business is worth around Tk 20 crore now that started out with a very meager amount. The experience and skill that I have had through years of working, and the love and dedication that I have for my business can never be exchanged against any currency value,” explained the manufacturer.
“I never worked with a skilled hand. I had to make my staff skilled. Our country has huge manpower. I want the vast manpower work like a machine.”
Expressing dissatisfaction over the SMEs that have saturated the market, she suggested that the SME Foundation has to be more transparent and dynamic, and come up with proper guidelines to boost creative and efficient entrepreneurs.
“Tradition doesn’t mean it should be whatever it is. We need to bring about fusion with the past and the present in an effort to boost production,” observed the visionary.
“Recently, we have installed cargo lift in all three floors and set up kilns, machineries with advanced technology which will speed up our hand-made crafting and designing products.”
Rehana’s dream
“Clay Image is not the reflection of my absolute self. It belongs to my homeland. I hope it will portray the tradition as well as the culture of Bangladesh in its entirety.”
“I wish that people from different countries would come to Bangladesh to learn about ceramics,” hoped Rehana.
Mentioning that Vietnam has become a pioneer in hand-made products, she said the South-East Asian country has already cemented its position in the global hub and one day her Clay Image will take Bangladesh to that place.
“I have a plan to build a pottery village with experienced potters. The scattered potters will be brought under a single platform as does India, which is creating a massive ceramics industry and harnessing potentials with the help of public patronage.”
She said her industry will be relocated to the Economic Zone in Narshingdi under the female category, and a big manufacturing hub covering 5-10 bighas of land will be built there.
The Clay Image took a loan of Tk 45 lakh from BRAC Taara SME project without mortgage for the first time. The entrepreneur said though it was a small amount, it boosted her courage to borrow money from elsewhere.
Among all 65 countries where BRAC is carrying out operations, the international development organisation based in Bangladesh selected Clay Image as an SME to make a documentary which will be shown on the global media.
Clay Image was awarded the 8th National SME Product Award 2020 as an innovative small and medium enterprise.
Rehana received a trophy, a certificate and prize money from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the exhibition.
In addition, Clay Image received IDLC-Prothom Alo award 2021 competing with 1,070 SMEs.
In 2022, Rehana’s SME took part in the Dhaka International Trade Fair for the first time and got huge customer response. It received a prize in female entrepreneur category.
“Clay Image is moving forward, dazzling the world with its outstanding originality. The craft is moving to the next level of being a self-made brand, ready to share the podium with big brands like Dior, Louis Vuitton and Gucci,” hoped Rehana.
