Stable policies, govt. facilities needed, says Md. Moshiul Azam Shajal, CEO of Sweater Makers Ltd. in an interview with The News Today. Md. Moshiul Azam Shajal is a renowned businessman in the garment sector in Bangladesh and is one of those people who have crossed several milestones in his illustrious career. He was consecutively three-time elected Director of BGMEA. Shajal is currently serving the role of Managing Director & CEO at Sweater Makers Ltd., Posmi Sweaters Ltd., Spectra Sweaters Ltd. and Fame Sweaters Ltd. Recently he gave an exclusive interview to The News Today (NT). The interview is as follows. NT: How did you build your business? Shajal: I started it back in 1994. Despite being a finance graduate, I came in the garments sector. Currently, we have 3 Sweater Units: POSMI Sweaters Ltd; Spectra Sweaters Ltd. and Fame Sweaters Ltd. Moreover, we have recently opened up production facilities for other garment related accessories too. NT: What are the difficulties or obstacles that you face while operating your business? Shajal: The government is providing us apt support. Government policies are very important to us. Difficulty is that we need stable policies for the short, medium, and long term. Sudden changes in policies affect our business, for example in case of long term bank loans. Policies often change too frequently. Another big difficulty is gas supply. We have come a long way in terms of electricity. However, we need swift solutions to the gas supply problem, or we need to figure out an alternate energy source to gas. Government has to bring a fast solution to it. We need further development in Roads & Highway Communication and Infrastructure for smooth transportation of our Raw Materials and Finished Goods. Efficiency in Port, procedures without un-necessary delays also needed. NT: There have been talks about CSR and compliance regarding garments sector. What are you doing about it? Shajal: In Bangladesh, almost all the garments are compliant. No RMG factory can survive without being compliant. No buyer will place orders to non-compliant garment manufacturers. Day by day, we are improving even more on the compliance issue. In our case, we train workers vigorously. Worker hygiene, food safety, health, and security are on top of our list of priorities. I want to mention that we are employing many physically challenged people as part of our CSR. It’s a very interesting project. Currently, 6 lakh physically challenged people reside in Bangladesh. If the RMG industry can employ at least 2-3 lakh people in Bangladesh, imagine how our economy will grow through their contribution. We are also progressing towards a green factory. That segment of the industry will be able to support the economy with $15-20 million, and employ around 3000 people here. NT: What are your views on inspection of our factories by ACCORD / Alliance? Shajal: After their inspection, our sustainability has increased. For example, they are trying to implement the most advanced and expensive systems in Bangladesh, which will be more efficient than that available anywhere else in the world. Starting from Fire Doors, Fire Hydrant system & Sprinklers, Addressable Automatic Fire Detection Units and Advanced Electrical Systems, they are trying to implement all the state-of-the art systems in all the factories. I want to add a final thing. We need more educated members of our workforce to enter the RMG industry. They will be able to take the industry to the next level of prosperity. I want to thank to the Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh for BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology (BUFT) that is breeding qualified personnel for the industry. I think the public universities in Bangladesh should introduce RMG related departments and courses to technically train more youth on this industry. NT: What changes have you observed in the garments industry in recent years? Shajal: Our capacity has vastly increased. When we first started exporting in 1978, the export amount was only 12,000 Dollars, whereas we conducted $25.5 Billion worth of export in last fiscal year. We are also advancing our abilities towards our country’s setup goal of $50 Billion export target by 2021. Our workforce has the capacity and capability, which is why we have been successful so far. We can do even more. More markets are opening up. NT: What suggestion do you have for new entrants in this industry? Shajal: I would advise them to make their factories fully compliant to international standards. They must include a training facility for workers. I would also advise them to invest in human resources development and workplace safety issues.
