An icon of Bangladesh entrepreneurship
Friday, 6 January 2012
Mamun Rashid
Samson H Chowdhury, an icon of Bangladesh private sector died of old age complications at a Singapore hospital Thursday, January 5, at the age of 86.
By all criteria, Mr. Chowdhury was more than his life to almost all of us. An ever-organised and forward-looking person, he was a constant source of inspiration and encouragement to all Bangladesh entrepreneurs, small and large. Even at the age of 84, he was in command of most of the affairs at SQUARE Group, one of landmark private sector business organisations in Bangladesh.
Born in a Christian family, Samson Chowdhury, returned from India to Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) after completion of his studies and started a small pharmacy in his village in 1952 - a venture that he had undertaken, perhaps being inspired by his father who was a medical officer.
After few years in 1958, he put up a pharmaceutical company with three more friends, making it an all 'SQUARE'.
Now SQUARE Group is one of the most diversified conglomerates in Bangladesh with an annual turnover of US$730 million, having interest in pharmaceuticals, textiles, readymade garments, toiletries, consumer items and electronic media.
This scribe knew him from 1992 from his corporate banking days at ANZ Grindlays Bank and meet him several times to beg for a portion of his expanding business, specially Square pharmaceuticals. He was happily married with Janata Bank for all his banking needs. However, we never gave up to get a slice of his business and was ultimately successful to book Square Pharma in 1995 with Standard Chartered Bank.
At Square he built up a world class team of professionals as well as global management standards. He was a father-like person to all of his colleagues at Square, yet known and respected for his profound sense of humour. Mr. Mahbubur Rahman, President of International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh (ICC-B), Mr. Latifur Rahman, the Transcom boss, Syed Manzur Elahi of Apex group, Mr. M A Quasem of New Age group and all of his friends can add more about his entrepreneurship, cool ways of managing things and remaining all throughout his career an ever-smiling personality. The way he used to manage his competitors will remain a subject to be taught in all business schools of the country in the days to come. Naser Shahriar Zahedee from Radiant Pharma is there to bear this out; he has a lot of proofs to testify to this.
'Quality, quality and quality everywhere' was his motto. We got to see this, while he was putting up Square Biotech, to produce `Insulin' in Bangladesh. He truly believed in there being no short-cut way to success. Every bit of your penny, must be an earned one. His motto made him one of the largest tax payers in this country. His business practices and ethical standards made him a role model for many.
We saw him extremely passionate, while speaking on 'ethics in entrepreneurship' at North South University's School of Business in April 2010. The students who were present during that classroom lecture on 'Entrepreneurship' were simply all too eager to listen to him with rapt attention and yet they did not spare him of answering to many questions with regard to 'entrepreneurial ethics' in an emerging country like Bangladesh that is yet not so much respected for corporate practices. Answering the questions, then 84-year-old but still 'the youngest entrepreneur' of our country, Samson Chowdhury was loud and clear - 'Jodi tor dak sune keu na ashe, tobe ekla cholore' (even if no one comes forward in response to your call, move alone). He never lost hope, too.
He kept on trying and trying with various regulatory agencies to get the necessary approval for expansion of his business to newer fields. The Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman would be remembering his endeavour and continuous efforts to get the approval by the Board of Investment(BOI) to borrow in foreign currency from DEG in Germany to reduce his cost of fund.
His entrepreneurship, dedication and commitment to quality brought him a lot of laurels and awards. The American Chamber in Bangladesh honoured him as the 'Business Executive of the Year' in 1998. Chowdhury received the 'Best Entrepreneur of the Country for the year 2000-2001' awarded by The Daily Star and DHL Worldwide Express. He was also a respected member of an independent jury board of the Standard Chartered Bank and The Financial Express Corporate Social Responsibility Award.
This eminent businessman had served as the President of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), the President of publicly-listed companies in Bangladesh, the Chairman of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) during 2004-2007 and many other business organizations.
Samson H Chowdhury is dead and it is a hard a reality now. His 60 years of hard work and entrepreneurship might have come to an end. But for his long life of dedication and `search for excellence in entrepreneurship', he will always be remembered, as long as this country, Bangladesh, is alive and its entrepreneurs move forward, despite all adversities of life, politics and society and remain in search of a 'better tomorrow'. May Almighty bless his departed soul.
The writer is a banker and economic analyst. He can be reached at: mamun1960@gmail.com
Samson H Chowdhury, an icon of Bangladesh private sector died of old age complications at a Singapore hospital Thursday, January 5, at the age of 86.
By all criteria, Mr. Chowdhury was more than his life to almost all of us. An ever-organised and forward-looking person, he was a constant source of inspiration and encouragement to all Bangladesh entrepreneurs, small and large. Even at the age of 84, he was in command of most of the affairs at SQUARE Group, one of landmark private sector business organisations in Bangladesh.
Born in a Christian family, Samson Chowdhury, returned from India to Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) after completion of his studies and started a small pharmacy in his village in 1952 - a venture that he had undertaken, perhaps being inspired by his father who was a medical officer.
After few years in 1958, he put up a pharmaceutical company with three more friends, making it an all 'SQUARE'.
Now SQUARE Group is one of the most diversified conglomerates in Bangladesh with an annual turnover of US$730 million, having interest in pharmaceuticals, textiles, readymade garments, toiletries, consumer items and electronic media.
This scribe knew him from 1992 from his corporate banking days at ANZ Grindlays Bank and meet him several times to beg for a portion of his expanding business, specially Square pharmaceuticals. He was happily married with Janata Bank for all his banking needs. However, we never gave up to get a slice of his business and was ultimately successful to book Square Pharma in 1995 with Standard Chartered Bank.
At Square he built up a world class team of professionals as well as global management standards. He was a father-like person to all of his colleagues at Square, yet known and respected for his profound sense of humour. Mr. Mahbubur Rahman, President of International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh (ICC-B), Mr. Latifur Rahman, the Transcom boss, Syed Manzur Elahi of Apex group, Mr. M A Quasem of New Age group and all of his friends can add more about his entrepreneurship, cool ways of managing things and remaining all throughout his career an ever-smiling personality. The way he used to manage his competitors will remain a subject to be taught in all business schools of the country in the days to come. Naser Shahriar Zahedee from Radiant Pharma is there to bear this out; he has a lot of proofs to testify to this.
'Quality, quality and quality everywhere' was his motto. We got to see this, while he was putting up Square Biotech, to produce `Insulin' in Bangladesh. He truly believed in there being no short-cut way to success. Every bit of your penny, must be an earned one. His motto made him one of the largest tax payers in this country. His business practices and ethical standards made him a role model for many.
We saw him extremely passionate, while speaking on 'ethics in entrepreneurship' at North South University's School of Business in April 2010. The students who were present during that classroom lecture on 'Entrepreneurship' were simply all too eager to listen to him with rapt attention and yet they did not spare him of answering to many questions with regard to 'entrepreneurial ethics' in an emerging country like Bangladesh that is yet not so much respected for corporate practices. Answering the questions, then 84-year-old but still 'the youngest entrepreneur' of our country, Samson Chowdhury was loud and clear - 'Jodi tor dak sune keu na ashe, tobe ekla cholore' (even if no one comes forward in response to your call, move alone). He never lost hope, too.
He kept on trying and trying with various regulatory agencies to get the necessary approval for expansion of his business to newer fields. The Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman would be remembering his endeavour and continuous efforts to get the approval by the Board of Investment(BOI) to borrow in foreign currency from DEG in Germany to reduce his cost of fund.
His entrepreneurship, dedication and commitment to quality brought him a lot of laurels and awards. The American Chamber in Bangladesh honoured him as the 'Business Executive of the Year' in 1998. Chowdhury received the 'Best Entrepreneur of the Country for the year 2000-2001' awarded by The Daily Star and DHL Worldwide Express. He was also a respected member of an independent jury board of the Standard Chartered Bank and The Financial Express Corporate Social Responsibility Award.
This eminent businessman had served as the President of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), the President of publicly-listed companies in Bangladesh, the Chairman of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) during 2004-2007 and many other business organizations.
Samson H Chowdhury is dead and it is a hard a reality now. His 60 years of hard work and entrepreneurship might have come to an end. But for his long life of dedication and `search for excellence in entrepreneurship', he will always be remembered, as long as this country, Bangladesh, is alive and its entrepreneurs move forward, despite all adversities of life, politics and society and remain in search of a 'better tomorrow'. May Almighty bless his departed soul.
The writer is a banker and economic analyst. He can be reached at: mamun1960@gmail.com