Dulal Brothers Ltd (DBL) Group has taken the corporate social responsibility (CSR) as an obligation to the society and requirement to continue sustainable growth of the industry.
"We incorporated the CSR activities in our company so that we can maintain sustainable growth of the company; and we are still working on how to improve our all areas," M.A. Jabbar, Managing Director of the DBL Group, told the FE in an interview at its corporate head office in the city recently.
"Every day, we have some activities (under the CSR)," Mr Jabbar said, adding that the activities are going parallel with the company's main business; the DBL Group has separate department to look after the sustainable growth.
In recognition of its outstanding contribution and excellence in the field of CSR, the group won Standard Chartered-Financial Express CSR Award 2010-11 in 2012.
In order to encourage the CSR activities, the DBL Group managing director sought tax exemption from the government on the expenditure under CSR.
"We should have tax exemption; it really helps and encourage (the CSR activities)," Mr Jabbar said. "Because, CSR is actually giving something back to the society; it is simultaneously getting from the society and giving back to the society."
The DBL Group is a diversified and integrated knit garments manufacturing and composite industry with strong backward linkage in the country.
Started its journey in 1991 in a very small scale and with only 37 sewing machines and less than 100 manpower at the initial stage, the group's team members now reached 15,700; currently, it has facilities for spinning, fabric knitting, dyeing and finishing, garments, washing, packaging and printing.
Through hard-work, investment in, among others, backward linkage, state-of-art machineries and human resources (HR), the group successfully earned reputation as quality and committed supplier of apparel products.
Under the CSR activities, the company is working, among others, with the local community; they recently constructed a four-storied college building named Hatimara College, located in Kashimpur of Gazipur district.
Last month, we inaugurated the Hatimara College, we also donated to the Ahsanullah Cancer Hospital, Mr Jabbar said.
"We are also involved in the local schools and hospitals. So, we have a good community engagement.
The CSR activities are going on."
To share its profit and growth to the society, the group in 2006 formed a foundation "Matin-Jinnat Foundation", which is a charitable trust named after the parents of the founding directors of DBL Group.
The foundation looks after welfare of the poor and needy people; services to the poor are provided in the form of donations, charity, school, clinic and orphanage etc.
He requested the government to form a certain research group for the CSR to increase and broaden the CSR activities.
In a query, he said that as the sector private other than the banks, which are in the recent times spending money notably under CSR, is growing in a bigger way; so, this sector can do more in the CSR.
Without CSR, the business houses cannot show that they are growing; they have to have CSR to spur the company's sustainable growth.
For sustainable growth, all the companies need to understand about importance of the CSR activities, he said.
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