& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

The corporate couple

Md Fazlur Rahman
Thirty years ago in a typical Bangladeshi family the husband would go to work, while the wife, despite holding the qualifications to make it in the corporate world, would stay behind to look after the family.
Mohammodi Khanam, managing director of Prime Insurance Company, one of the leading general insurers, has bucked the trend. She moved up the career ladder in an area where many women of her generation would not tread into, all the while maintaining a family and professional life.
Her journey to the top though was not smooth—rather, it was full of struggles.
In 1981, when Khanam was still a student of economics at Dhaka University, she applied and joined state-run Bangladesh Television as programme announcer upon her father's insistence.
After graduation, she started as a research officer at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, one of the leading research organisations of the country. She, unfortunately, had to quit the job following the birth of her first son.
After a pause of three years, she got back to the corporate world, taking up the role of a trainee executive at Peoples Insurance.
She again faced a tough time juggling work and home in 1991 when she gave birth to her second son.
"I went through difficulties in taking care of my children and running the family and pursuing the professional goal at the same time," she told The Daily Star in an interview.
In those days, she had to put in order the daily chores of the sons, prepare their food and help them do home work.
"But they never hindered my career. My children and husband are like my friends. Everyday we had our dinner together, shared what happened throughout the day, shared laughter and even took advice from each other on important issues."
Recognised as an international trade finance specialist, Khanam said the current state of general insurance in Bangladesh is satisfactory.
"However, the size of the insurance market is not large enough to create sufficient scope for the operation of a large number of companies. This has lead to aggressive competition and resulted in unhealthy practices, which are detrimental to the industry as a whole."
She said the absence of modern technology in the operational system encourages misappropriating in business, while adding that high corporate tax rates and weak governance are acting as major deterrents to the sector's development.
Prime Insurance, however, has restricted itself from doing any aggressive marketing and unethical practices in underwriting of insurance business.
"We ensure strict compliance of the Insurance Act and rules. We also constantly monitor such that we are not involved in any unhealthy competition."
She is also opposed to providing licences to any new insurance company as the
business is very limited.
At present, there are 45 general insurance companies and most are doing traditional business.
"Without tapping into new avenues and increasing business, it would not be worthwhile to increase the number of insurance companies in Bangladesh," she said, adding that she plans to steer Prime Insurance to non-traditional markets such as small and medium enterprises, microfinance, agriculture and health.
The company also plans to launch Bankers Blanket Bond Coverage, cyber crime coverage, hajj coverage and professional indemnity.
She credited tenacity, patience and creativity for her success in the industry.
"I have the philosophy of giving my best regardless of the nature of the task - I believe that persistence pushed me to do great things along the way."
"Having said that, I don't mean to
underestimate the importance of professional networking and the mentoring provided by my seniors, as it was under their guidance and support that I learnt to be adaptable and also to seize every given opportunity.”
Khanam said her in-laws have been very supportive and appreciative of her efforts and the success she has achieved so far.
"They are just as proud and happy as 1 am. My husband was also very supportive all throughout. He has supported me a lot mentally and advised me whenever I was upset because of troubles in office."
Her husband Mehmood Husain, who was also a student of economics at Dhaka University, is currently the managing director of Bank Asia.
The career banker believes success does not come instantly or by luck.
"It's a continuous process to struggle and nurture with your inherent qualities."
Husain credits his parents and wife for his journey to the top, adding that he tried to give quality time to his family but it might not have been enough.
“I try my best to maintain a satisfactory work life balance, but since my job nature is very demanding, sometimes my family has to sacrifice."
He acknowledged that bringing up children was difficult but they both shared the responsibilities.
Husain touched upon the current condition of the banking sector.
At present, the sector is struggling with the low investment growth opportunity and management of classified loans, he said. Lower investment growth brought about excess liquidity, which is costly in terms of opportunity cost.
About the non-performing loan issue, he said the NPL situation in this sector is also alarming. It has been increasing over the years, although a huge amount of classified loans has been rescheduled and written-off every year.
Husain said he would love to see the newly licensed banks work in areas where economic concentration is low, because a great portion of the population still remains un-banked in the country. But we have seen that all of the new banks opened their corporate headquarters in the capital and are trying to book those clients who are already clients of a number of banks. As a result, competition between banks has become fierce. ”
"They should come up with innovative products and restrain themselves from aggressive banking and profit monger attitude."
Everyone in their family, coincidently, happens to be in the world of finance and economics.
Their elder son, Masrur Mahmood, completed his bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of South Australia and is now working with a private commercial bank in Bangladesh.
The younger one, Nabeel Mahmood, works at a chartered accounting firm in Sydney after his graduation from Macquarie University in Australia.
Just like her professional life, Khanam manages her family life with much ease.
“Of course, the workdays are very hectic for me. But through a bit of planning and organisation I manage to get through my day with minimum fuss.”
"I also organise the daily chores around the house and ensure that my household runs smoothly. I also need to set aside time for maintaining social relationships."
fazlur.rahman@thedailystar.net