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CORPORATE AFFAIRS

Local corporate minds for world companies

Sohel Parvez
His team-mates find him to be a car ing elder brother rather than a boss, whose passion to groom and build a team of world-class business leaders has brought them all on the same board. They are leading Citigroup to reach milestones in Bangladesh.
"Success is a journey, not a destination. The journey is never possible if we don't have everyone on board. So, we need to join hands, team up and help each other to serve our clients," said Mamun Rashid, Citigroup country officer in Bangladesh.
Rashid, the first Bangladeshi awarded the key to Cid's business here, is among those fortunate Bangladeshi executives who are play ing the role of ambassadors, in global corporations.
"Thinking about how to build up a global team and stand up as a global leader, keeps me awake," said Rashid whose leadership helped build the Citi brand in Bangladesh and propelled its growdi by increasing revenues five times in the last five years.
Citi, the presence of which was quite unknown to many before 2000, now established its name in the list of top ten taxpayers in Bangladesh.
Rashid is not the only person accelerating the business pace of global multinational corporations in Bangladesh.
At least 10 local executives hold die country's chief positions of different multinational companies here, ranging from banks to telecom companies. More than 200 Bangladeshis are now working abroad in the first three top positions of international companies.
A decade earlier, few Bangladeshi executives were found holding such key positions. Thanks to the global employers' growing confidence in the managerial capacity of local executives, a number of them have returned home after acquiring knowledge on global business abroad.
These executives have been steering business growth for their respective firms and delivering results with the global objective of building brands by using local content.
In ensuring consistent growth of the businesses, local corporate leaders have also teamed and groomed their subordinates. They have also ensured diversity in workforce by
gradually increasing the percentage of women on payrolls.
However, local executives, being tiie citizens of an allegedly corrupt country, have to confront the issues of Bangladesh's brand image. While ensuring results for thefr organisations, they iace a continuous test of integrity due to unwarranted community demands or expectations such as jobs and awarding contracts.
“I always try to avoid any controversy, but what I do is to promote the Citi brand by addressing the nation's core strength, pride and heritage,” Rashid said.
Under the leadership of Sarwar Ahmed, the first local managing director of Syngenta Bangladesh, the company has become the market leader in crop protection in Bangladesh.
Unleashing control over day-to-day functions, he has rather chosen to give his subordinates freedom to
work independently, which in return helped Syngenta Bangladesh become one of the best-rated companies in the world, according to a survey last year.
.“I give complete freedom to my colleagues to do their jobs. I am here more as a coach and a guide, not as a boss. If anyone needs any advice or help, we have a discussion and then we come to a decision. Colleagues here are more independent and this freedom enthused them,” he said.
Ahmed has also broken the traditional hierarchal barriers that exist in the seating arrangements among bosses and subordinates. At Syngenta Bangladesh, Ahmed and his subordinates sit in a wide, open room filled with computers -- with no glass shields or partitions between desks.
“Our company has a very open culture. We sit together and there is no hierarchy,” he said, "That's why our
bonding is very strong. It's like a big family here and I think people enjoy it.”
"It is the responsibility of people in top positions to groom up talents and Bangladesh is rich in talent, "Ahmed said.
Ashiaque ui Rahman, who heads the Bangladesh office of global pharmaceuticals company Novartis with operations in 140 countries, believes there are not many differences between individuals of different nationalities.
"The main issue lies in how we strengthen and build up these people to meet global standards,” said Rahman, managing director of Novartis Bangladesh.
“Those business organisations that become successful globally, strongly emphasise on thinking locally and acting globally,” he said, "When I manage Novartis Bangladesh, I have to think about
how to align the local culture and environment with the global organisation's culture and environment."
He said the biggest advantage of a Bangladeshi senior management incumbent and CEOs is to be a local but at the same time, act global. "Local insight makes the process easier and gives a way for companies to make their businesses successful locally," he said.
But Jahangir Kabir, a human resources expert, warned: "Very often the key stakeholders, may be the parent company or regional bosses, look at issues with a different perspective than what is apparent here at the ground level.”
“This lack of initial understanding may derail the local CEO's plans and it may take time to align with the parent company's thinking process. This may also lead to frustration on both ends," he said.
New CEO's must quickly learn to read between the lines and also take opportunities to clear all ambiguities with the key stakeholders at the very first step, he added.
Jahangir also pointed out that regional bosses usually expect more from a local CEO than from an expatriate chief because local executives have a better understanding of local issues and they resolve them faster than an expatriate.
“Local chiefs should always try to comprehend the bigger picture as early as possible, chart out the deliverable and develop team-work," he said.
Naushad Chowdhury, the first Bangladeshi as the Brands and Development director of the global consumer goods maker Unilever in Bangladesh, said local executives in a~ larger group are gradually making a difference through their manageri.il capaciues.
“It’s good that global corporations are hiring Bangladeshi talents for top positions. A Bangladeshi chief executive understands Bangladesh well than an expatriate,” Syed Ferhat Anwar, a professor of Institute of Business Administration (IBA).
Anwar said more than 200 former IBA graduates now hold one of the top three positions in various global houses. “It is important to promote the country to the world at large. A local executive becomes the ambassador of Bangladesh,” said the IBA teacher.
sohel@thedailystar.net