It is a classic rags to riches story-only that Rafiq Sheikh owes his millions to garment factory leftovers and not rags.The entrepreneur, who hails from Munshiganj, now based in Tongi’s Gedu Molla road first tried the route that many in Bangladesh do-by seeking work abroad.But after seven years in Libya and Malaysia, the father of a boy and a girl had hardly made enough money to pay for his travel abroad.That is when a close relative in business gave him the idea that changed his life and fortune-making caps from garment factory leftovers, ‘Jhutkapar’ in local parlance.In the last seventeen years, Rafiq has indeed hit it big with his caps.But it was never easy because no bank financed his business or when he was seeking to expand it. He had to sell off his ancestral house to finance the factory, which now employs 40 workers on 14-15 machines.He had to sell his wife’s jewellery to raise TK 16,000 to purchase his first machine employing two workers when he started “Shaon-Ripa Cap House” on advice from his nephew Abdur Rahman Pintu.Rafiq and his wife Shahnaz Begum would procure garment leftovers from factories in Savar and Tongi and turn them into attractive caps.”When I started getting good returns in the first six months, I decided to expand but no bank would finance me. So I had to sell a part of my ancestral house for Tk 120,000 to buy a piece of land to start my present factory at Gedu Road (Tongi),” Rafiq told bdnews24.com.Rafiq said he now employs 40 workers and has 15 machines to stitch caps.”We make 500 to 600 caps everyday during the peak season and half that number during off season,” Rafiq said.His son Shaon, who studies physics in a local college, also lends a hand to his parents.Rafiq procures two tonnes of garment factory leftovers and 2,000 yards of fresh yarn to produce the caps. Earlier, he would take them to retailers in Dhaka’s Bangabazar or in other cities like Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and Bogra.”But now the retailers come to me to buy in bulk after we have made a name. Even Indian importers turn up to take my caps,” says Rafiq.But opening Letters of Credit (LOC) is a bit of problem-so Rafiq uses other businessmen to do that for him and for which he needs to pay them Tk 5 to 6 per cap.”Indian importers insist on credit. Recovering that is a problem, so I use LOCs raised by other businessmen to sell my caps.”The caps are sold under different brand names-ranging from Johnson to Parachute to Net to  Ayub-Baccchu and Axsar.”If the government helped, this business could be expanded and more jobs could be created for youngsters. They would not turn to crime if they had work,” says Rafiq.With rising income, Rafiq has bought four kathas of land around his factory and has a two storey house, where he lives with his family.’Fatima’ works in Rafiq’s factory for Tk 9,000 a month after she failed to get a job in a garment factory. ‘Mamun’ works for Tk 6,000 a month.”My family survives on my income,” said Fatima.Extortion is a huge problem for Rafiq.”Often local extortionists Suman and Kamu send their goons with weapons asking for money. That scares retailers and buyers. Complaints to police had not helped,” says Rafiq.Gedu Molla Road Police Station OC Mohammed Ali denies knowledge of extortion in the area.Rafiq is not alone with his caps. Nearly 100 units making caps have come up on the Gedu Molla road.”If the government helped, this is a line of business which has potential to grow,” says Shaon Sheikh, Rafiq’s son.Bangladesh’s economic success owes much to the indomitable spirit and hard work of men like Rafiq ,as he now sits back with a reassuring smile.”I am now a millionaire!”

Like the previous years, labour unrest is feared in the hub of export-oriented ready-made garment sector, including Savar, Ashulia, Kanchpur, Fatullah and Tongi, ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr over payment of salary and Eid bonus in due time. A few garment manufacturers have allegedly gone for retrenchment while investment in improvement of worker safety has resulted in fresh resentment. A senior detective official said, “We’ve already submitted a report to the authorities concerned about the possibility of labour unrest ahead of Eid.” If factory owners do not pay salary and Eid bonus to workers in due time, unrest may spew in the billion-dollar RMG sector that makes clothes for major global brands and retailers. An intelligence unit already sent a warning message to the authorities, asking them to pay workers’ dues in due time to avoid unrest, the official added.As it happens during every Eid, hundreds of garment workers stage demonstrations on busy roads and highways for payment of salary and Eid bonus, causing intractable tailbacks and triggering untold sufferings to trippers. Meanwhile, workers of two garment factories staged a demonstration outside the National Press Club on Monday to press for their dues before Eid. Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police Shahidul Huq said, “Considering possible labour unrest ahead of Eid, measures have been taken to check traffic mismanagement and criminal activities like toll collection from highways.” With a view to freeing highways from criminal activities and traffic tie-ups, a large number of law enforcers—both plain-clothes detectives and uniformed—would patrol the national highways, he added. “We’ve also asked the ready-made garment manufacturers to pay the workers their dues on time to avoid commotion ahead of Eid.” Syed Ahmed, inspector general, department of inspection for factories and establishments, recently told parliamentary standing committee on labour ministry that he had information of retrenchment in some factories. He told the first meeting of the watchdog that around 11,000 workers of 16 factories lost their jobs as his team shut the factories for poor safety standard. Abdus Salam, deputy inspector general of industrial police, told the meeting that many factories, including one of a leading businessman and ruling party leader, had cut jobs. If the retrenched workers fail to get jobs ahead of this Eid, there could be unrest in RMG units in Savar and Ashulia, he observed. Garment worker Mohammad Alam, 25, is one among many who lost his job two months ago and now runs a battery-run rickshaw in Mirpur area. “I’ve gone from factory to factory, but the owners are not willing to recruit any worker now… They will rather cut jobs,” he told journalists. “Owners now want 10 workers to do the jobs of 30 as they have been renovating their factories.”

Textile mill owners in Pakistan’s Punjab province who had announced a voluntary closure of their mills a few days ago, have now called for a ‘forced closure’ after Eid, the Pakistani media has reported The millers had decided to close down their industrial units, blaming direct and indirect taxes coupled with the energy crisis as the core reason for them to take the extreme step. “We had persuaded our members to not go on strike but the current scenario has tied their hands and they have no choice but to opt for the closure,” said All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) chairman SM Tanveer. He said the situation was getting tougher every passing day, adding the basic textile sector was on the verge of collapse. Tanveer warned that the value-added sector would soon follow suit as it would be starved of yarn and fabric when present stocks were exhausted. “We do not want to confront the government but the unfair measures it has adopted to squeeze money from the millers are deeply resented by the stakeholders.” The Aptma chief said the benefit of lower oil prices was passed on to power consumers by Nepra but the government had increased the tariff by an equivalent amount through new taxes. He said power tariff stood at Rs14 per unit after duties on electricity were increased by Rs 4 per unit. The textile industry consumes about 2,000MW of electricity, most of which is consumed in Punjab. Tanveer said the additional tax translated into an extra burden of Rs200 million per day on the textile industry. The power tariff in all regional economies is lower than 10 cents while Pakistani spinners, after the levy of tax, are charged 14 cents per unit. He said the gas infrastructure development cess mostly impacted the industries operating in Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa but Punjab has borne a cost Rs 36 billion per annum despite the volume of gas supplied. “Against Pakistan’s textile exports of $13 billion, the industry will be paying an additional $1 billion in new power and energy taxes imposed in the budget,” he said. “Which industry could bear an additional 9 per cent expenditure when it cannot recover the money from exports?” “Our global buyers are shifting to cheaper suppliers from competing economies as they refuse to share the burden of new taxes in Pakistan,” Tanveer said.

Myanmar could be headed for another round of industrial turmoil as labour unions and garment entrepreneurs dug in their heels on the issue of minimum daily wage set by the government, according to media reports. Five Myanmar workers’ federations in Yangon have agreed on the government’s recent designation of 3,600 kyats (about $3.27) as minimum daily wages as a final stage of negotiation, saying that there will be no further talks on the issue. The five workers’ federations stressed the need to form a socio-economic committee comprising representatives from the government, employers and employees. On June 29, the government designated 3,600 kyats (about $3.27) as the proposed minimum daily wage for all workers in the country after conclusion of a year’s coordination between the government, employers and labor representatives. Ahead of the government announcement of the minimum wage, some garment industry representatives had argued for minimum wages as low as 2500 kyats. Myanmar’s garment entrepreneurs have now voiced objections to the proposed minimum rate, saying that the issue will be submitted to the regional authorities for further action. According to the chairman of the Myanmar Garment Entrepreneurs Association (MGEA) U Myint Soe, 145 MGEA members out of 300 attending a meeting on the issue expressed objection on the government’s designated basic minimum daily wages for all workers in the country. Some foreign entrepreneurs disagreed to raise their original minimum pay scale to the rate announced by the government, arguing that if the new rate is finally adopted, their factories will be forced to close down in September. Entrepreneurs present at the meeting urged the government to subsidize for the required wages in the midst, warning that if factories stop operation, thousands of workers will be jobless.

India can beat China and Bangladesh in value-added garment exports, according to a top official of Li & Fung, which designs customised supply chain solutions for the world’s most successful retailers and brands. “In the current situation, there is a possibility of lot of business in value-added garment segment moving from China to India. It is because India has everything—be it raw materials base both for natural as well as man-made fibre, technical capability, labour force or thriving markets,” Manish Bharti, vice president and country head, Li & Fung India, told Fibre2Fashion.com “In fact, India has all ingredients to be successful in textiles and beat China and Bangladesh both,” added Bharti, whose office also looks after Bangladesh operations. In India, sectors like telecom and e-commerce are taking away the attention from textiles. But, if ‘Make in India’ initiative launched by the Government of India has to succeed, textiles has to play a very important and major role, according to Bharti. “India needs comprehensive textile policy considering all components and segments of entire value chain of textiles rather than segment specific approach, which will not yield any results,” said Bharti seated in Li & Fung India’s sprawling office in Gurgaon. At present, India office ranks number four in terms of overall sourcing volume at Li & Fung.

To cope with the growing orders, workers at those factories located at Keraniganj have been working till midnight to meet the demands of the country’s large local customer base, businessmen and workers said. Targeting hot Eid sale, some of the manufacturers also raised their investment volume for further mounting their production capacity in a bid to book a good portion of the hefty trade during the largest festival for Muslims. Keraniganj, located on the bank of River Buriganga, is a home for more than 5,500 small and medium-sized factories, mostly denim ones, that make various types of clothing for the customers. The turnover in the hub, a cluster of 200 markets that spread over an area of two kilometres, records nearly Tk 500 million a day, manufacturers claimed. Wholesalers and retailers from all over the country come to purchase those good-quality wear from the cluster in the textile hub, which was known for supplying re-modified used clothes in the 80s. While visiting several factories there, the FE correspondent found the whole chain of manufacturing that includes sewing, dyeing and washing on a desperate run to maintain smooth supply of the quality fashion wear for both men and women. Talking to the journalist, Jahangir Hossain, the owner of Grameen Pants House, said they have been working from early morning to midnight to meet the growing orders that come from all over the country. “My factory is now making nearly 400 jeans items a day through 100 sewing machines and more than 100 workers are employed there,” he said, adding that the apparel zone supplies around 80 per cent of the country’s total demand for denim. Alamgir Hossain, the owner of New Dipu Pant House, said the growing demand for the items indicated that people’s trust on the Keraniganj-made jeans had gone up significantly. “We’re, now, competing well with the Chinese and Thai jeans because of the quality and longevity of our local products,” he said. He also gave credit to innovation in terms of design, keeping new market trend and style in mind, for the demand escalation. “And that’s the speciality of the hub,” he added. Sohel Rana, a sewing worker of Deepti Garments, said he can sew more than five pants a day, which ends at about 11:30pm, and he welcomed the pressure of work to earn extra ahead of the festival. “I got Tk 80 for each item as per the verbal contract and the owners clear the payment on demand. So, payment is not a problem and it encourages the workers to work more,” he added. General Secretary of Keraniganj Garment Manufacturers and Merchants Association Mizanur Rahman said political calm now prevailing in the country has largely contributed to the business boom. He said wholesalers all over the country purchase various types of jeans and gabardine items at Tk 150 to Tk 500 apiece and then sell those at Tk 250 to Tk 900 to the local customers.

There will be no more hassle for exports of Bangladesh non-traditional products to India after two neighbouring countries have signed an agreement of certification of standards.With the signing of agreement between Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has open frontier of four decade old hassle endured by Bangladesh entrepreneurs exports to India.Henceforth the ‘Accreditation of Product Certification System’ will be accepted by both customs offices by both neighbouring countries, an official said on Sunday.The trade bodies, specially the India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IBCCI) have no knowledge of the details of the agreement, accept for the newspaper reports.The trade bodies and stakeholders have not been consulted of the agreement, nor the authorities shared the copy of the agreement, it was alleged. Presently president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Abdul Matlub Ahmed said that he is not aware of gamut of the agreement, which he dubbed as a milestone in improvement of bilateral trade.Based on newspaper report, the FBCCI leader said the agreement was an outcome of long demand of the business people, especially those exporting Bangladeshi products to India.Government officials could have discussed the draft agreement with the stakeholders and beneficiaries. Unfortunately they were kept on bay, Matlub Ahmed said.Other trade body leaders, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DCCI) former president Sabur Khan remarked that such agreements are signed and are not followed-up by the government authorities. “Such agreements do not bring any positive impact on the society, people and the country,” he said.However, Sabur Khan did not hesitate to say that the business trade bodies and the government should take steps to implement the agreement. Equally BGMEA and BKMEA leaders did not hesitate to state that they are not aware of the agreement between two countries to recognise the certification of BSTI and BIS.Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque told Daily Observer that the agreements signed between two countries have decided to upload in the public domain jointly, when all the stakeholders will be able to have access to the deal. The agreements are not Bible. The deals could be amended with the inputs of the stakeholders, specially from the representatives of the trade bodies, foreign secretary said.

Tazreen Fashions fire accident victims are likely to get the fair amounts of compensation money before the third anniversary of the incident which took place in November 2012. C&A Foundation has started working to develop a distribution methodology and measure compensation amounts. In a deal with global union IndustriALL and Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), the Foundation announced its commitment to make a significant contribution to ensure the workers got fair amounts of compensation, said a source. According to the deal, the compensation amounts will be calculated in line with the system already developed for the Rana Plaza victims. The compensation would be counted on the basis of loss of income, provision of independent medical assessments and ongoing treatment. “We can confirm that C&A Foundation is indeed working with the Rana Plaza Claims Administration, in particular with Kazazi, the Administration’s chief commissioner, on a financial support scheme for Tazreen workers,”  Thorsten Rolfes, head of corporate communications for C&A Europe replied to an e-mail. To set the compensation package and ensure its implementation, the C&A Foundation is going to form a co-ordination committee, where the ILO will act as adviser. The committee will have representatives from the government, Bangladesh Employers Federation, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and IndustryALL. “The compensation package for the Tazreen Fashion fire victims will be same of Rana Plaza compensation system,” said Roy Ramesh Chandra, former secretary general of IndustryALL Bangladesh Council. He said the Rana Plaza Claims Administration had already started working on a financial support scheme for Tazreen workers and the compensation for the Tazreen fire victims would be estimated in line with the ILO Convention 121. A medical survey would be conducted by the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) to determine the compensation for the injured workers, said Ramesh.  He said the CRP would place a report to the committee mentioning the category of injury. He said the C&A Foundation wanted to complete the compensation process before the third anniversary of the tragedy, as the retailers were under tremendous pressure from the global trade unions and rights groups. Ramesh urged the government to introduce a permanent solution to compensate so that the workers could easily get their compensation in case of any untoward incident.  Labour and Employment Secretary Mikail Shipar expressed the government’s willingness to extend cooperation in the process. “I have heard about the initiatives to compensate the victims by the C&A Foundation. If they want to include government in the process, we will join and provide all-out cooperation,” he said.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce Ministry placed the report on Export Promotion Bureau Bill, 2015 in the Jatiya Sangsad Sunday, reports BSS. Committee Chairman M Tajul Islam Chowdhury placed the report under the Rule 211 of the Rules of Procedure 211 of the House. Earlier, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed introduced the bill in the House on June 16, 2015. The bill is aimed at continuing activities of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), which was abolished, with the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment of the constitution. In 2014, the cabinet approved the draft of the Export Promotion Bureau law.