Home ›› 08 Jul 2022 ›› Opinion
In a welcome development BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) has targeted exporting $100 billion worth of garment items from the country by 2030. BGMEA president Faruque Hassan made the announcement at a discussion on the future of garment items in the capital recently. BGMEA makes this ambitious projection as the local apparel suppliers are diversifying the products and markets.
With this goal in mind BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) has launched a new logo as a part of its promotional programme. In this article I will try to give the readers a brief idea about the newly unveiled logo of BGMEA.
In our journey ahead, we have committed to put utmost importance on sustainability, aligning with the SDG vision and mission of the government of Bangladesh. Sustainability is not only about fulfilling social, ecological and community obligations; it is also about how we remain economically viable through innovation, digitization, diversification and being more productive and resource efficient.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has achieved unparalleled success in MDGs achievement and now our progress in SDG alignment is also globally praiseworthy.
While Bangladesh prepares itself for the next growth phase and aspires to be the leader in sustainable manufacturing, we realigned our vision with ESG priorities. Now let me brief you about the new logo of BGMEA. While we were redesigning the logo, our first and foremost priority was to preserve the heritage of BGMEA. This organization has provided the much-needed direction to the highest export earning sector of Bangladesh through prudent and successive leaderships in our legacy.
After facing all the turmoil, we are now an industry worth 42 billion dollars in export turnover. Over the years, the industry has made tremendous strides on social and economic fronts and successfully transformed into a responsible undertaking. Our successive leaders have directed this organization through thick and thin in that process. That is what we wanted to keep intact and unchanged. Therefore, if you look closely in the new logo, you will see that the fundamental color pallet of the logo has been kept unchanged. The difference is that now we have a story behind the color and symbols of the logo.
The colour gold is a warm colour that is associated with illumination, love, compassion, courage, passion. It also signifies the legacy of BGMEA. The colour Blue represents meanings of depth, trust, wisdom, innovation and intelligence, signifying BGMEA’s transformational goals. Indigo symbolizes integrity and intuition. It’s the colour of pride, dignity but can also express a feeling of balance and structure. It also signifies the broader impact created by BGMEA.
In the ever-changing global fashion and apparel industry, climate, responsible business ethics and due diligence is the buzzword now. Consumers are conscious of ethical business and retailing, accountability, transparency as well as circularity. Keeping that in mind, we are positioning ourselves in the global market with the commitment of continuously delivering the better.
We are working to build a strong and sustainable ecosystem to benefit our nation, country, workers, and everyone. For that, we have identified and implanted nine dots or nine pillars in our logo. These nine dots represents nine commitments which also portray the essence of Sustainable Development Goals.
So, what are these nine dots and what do they mean?
1. People- To forever work for the well-being of the people of Bangladesh and mankind at large.
2. Inclusivity- To listen. To be approachable. To involve people across the spectrum and not discriminate.
3. Transparency- For accountability and access to information that are central to build a trustworthy, flexible and resilient organization.
4. Infrastructure- To build a safe and sustainable future through power plants, green factories, and modern worker friendly workplaces.
5. Innovation- For its ongoing contribution to the 4th IR and encouraging automation.
6. Circularity- For the conservation of the natural system via an economic shift from a liner to circular system.
7. Global network- To be ahead in the world through innovations, pivots and flexible adaptations.
8. Brand Bangladesh- To uplift the equity of Brand Bangladesh in the realm of sustainability and to uphold Bangladesh’s values to the world at large.
9. Environment- for the respect we have for nature and the dedication to preserving the natural system.
This nine-point logo is the matrix of BGMEA’s scope of work and influence. We have arranged the dots in columns sequentially to portray our journey from micro to macro, from action to impact, and from local to global. It is an organic transformation. The connection continues when we look at the nine dots in rows. The first three dots emphasizes ‘reach’, second three dots emphasizes ‘transformation’ and the third three emphasizes ‘sustainability’. These are nine dots and together they represent BGMEA’s new identity.
Let me now give you a glimpse over the sustainability priorities of BGMEA.
In 2021 the BGMEA with the support of Principle SDGs Coordinator of Bangladesh government under the Prime Minister’s office, UNDP and GRI did a study to see how the RMG industry impacting the national SDG achievement of Bangladesh. That particular study was an eye opener for us. We found the RMG industry of Bangladesh is actually impacting almost all the 17 SDG goals.
We have also seen that in the global business landscape ESG (Environment Social Governance) has emerged as one of the major areas of concern. ESG issues are no more a niche issue rather it is the major area of concern for business across the world.
On this backdrop we decided to develop a strategic sustainability vision of BGMEA to map our priorities and subsequent Road Map.
I am very happy to share this vision with you; we have aligned our sustainability strategic vision with the national and global priorities and setting a strategic vision for the industry to be a sustainable industry by 2030 and beyond.
As you know that BGMEA has signed the UNFCCC’s “Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action” with the specific target to support 30 per cent GHG emission reduction by 2030, so BGMEA included this pledge to its strategic vision which will also contributing to the SDG 13 – Climate Action and the commitment of Bangladesh Government’s NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) of nearly 22 per cent.
Globally circular economy is becoming a very popular notion and for Bangladesh RMG it is inevitable! As Circular Economy not only reduces the impact of growth but also decouple growth from resource consumption. Therefore BGMEA has taken a strategic target to enhance circularity through enhancing “sustainable Material Mix” by 50 per cent. BGMEA partnering GFA (Global Fashion Agenda) has already initiated a project to implement circularity in Bangladesh RMG industry. It is connected to SDG – 12, sustainable consumption and production.
Water is regarded as one of the scarcest resources globally! And for textile industry water security is one of the major areas of concern. Therefore BGMEA has set a target to diversify the water source mix and reduce the burden on the ground water aquifer, and set the target of reducing 50 per cent usage of ground water consumption to make the textile industry resilient and sustainable. It is connected to SDG – 6: Clean Water and sanitation. Ensure 100% safe and nonhazardous chemicals as set by “ZDHC: Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals”. This will impact the attainment of SDG 14: Life Under water.
By 2030 we want to ensure that our SEC (Specific Energy Consumption) for producing a product will be 30 per cent less than what we are consuming now. This will complement SDG: 7, Clean and affordable energy
We also want to ensure that at least 20 per cent of our energy consumption is generated from renewable sources by 2030. This is connected to both SDG 7 and SDG 13.
Being an ever expanding industry it is important for us to preserve the balance of nature and conserve ambient ecological standard, keeping in mind we have set a vision to reduce deforestation and enhance tree plantation across the standard to regenerate the green landscape and reduce GHG emission through carbon sink by 30 per cent by 2030. This will align with the objectives of SDG 13: Climate Action and SDG 15 Life on the land.
The writer is Vice President, BGMEA and Managing Director, Misami Garments Limited.
