#Title

KM REZAUL HASANAT - 2007
KM Rezaul Hasanat’s moment of truth arrived in 2003: he took the most crucial decision of his life and vowed to buy the remaining 90 percent stakes in Youngones Fashions Ltd where he was the CEO with 10 percent shares.
“When other shareholders, who offered me 10 percent stake in the company as a working partner and CEO, decided to quit the business, my instincts told me to take a risk,” Hasanat recalled.
There has been a gulf of differences between taking a decision and its implementation. He started looking for sources of finance.
“I approached my university friends who joined private commercial banks. I managed to make bank officials understand about the viability of my plan to buy the struggling garment factory,” said Hasanat, who obtained his Master’s degree in management from Dhaka University in 1988.
“Finally, I bought the company: I purchased only the name of the company, not the assets. I shifted the factory to Tongi in Gazipur district in the same year and went into commercial operations,” said a smiling Hasanat. Since then, Hasanat did not look back.
Son of a small businessman, Hasanat never planned to join any corporate house as an employee. Born in 1963, Hasanat had business in his blood: he used to look after his father’s construction material business in Naogaon district during his early days.
Hasanat’s ventures can be termed “from micro to macro.” His beginning was very humble. After completion of university education, he started his career by supplying stationery and equipment to offices in 1988.
In 1996, he got a chance to demonstrate his entrepreneurial skills as he joined Youngones Fashions Ltd at Tejgaon in Dhaka as the CEO.
The board of directors of Youngones agreed to offer him 10 percent shares as the working partner. He started working hard for the company with 2,000 workers.
Hasanat’s business has now grown and his Viyellatex Group includes Youngones Fashions Ltd, Viyellatex Ltd, Interfab Shirt Manufacturing Ltd, Fashion Plastic and Packaging Ltd, and Gothic Design Ltd.
The group’s annual turnover was around USD 108 million (Tk 745.2 crore approximately) in 2006-07 fiscal year. In 2006-07, its garment export reached USD 106 million against USD 56 million in 2005-06 and USD 48 million in 2004-05.
Viyellatex’s buyers include G-STAR, ESPIRIT, Puma, Marks and Spencer, S Oliver, PVH, and Tesco.
An entrepreneur’s journey never ends. Every year is a fresh year for Viyellatex Group Chairman Hasanat.
“The group is about to achieve its ambitious export target of USD 125 in 2007-08 fiscal year,” Hasanat said.
“The group also plans to invest USD 12 million in the next one year to upgrade its production activities. The group will also introduce well-known ‘lean production’ system to improve workers’ productivity,” Hasanat added.
In garment factories, traditional production lines are disappearing. In the lean system, teams of workers sit in small groups passing unfinished garments to each other. On a production line there are many people, but the system is not in balance. If one operation goes slow, there is a bottleneck.
In the team or lean system, it is much easier to find a balance and eliminate bottlenecks since workers can easily switch between operations, according to garment factory managers.
Hasanat is always enthusiastic about new technologies as he believes only new expertise, skills, and innovations can make a business competitive. He is going to install the world’s renowned enterprise resources planner software at a cost of USD 1 million to monitor the real time production activities of his business.
“Once the lean production system is introduced and the resources planner software is installed the production in terms of both quality and quantity will be improved,” said Hasanat.
He is also keen to ensure better management everywhere in business. “The group puts emphasis on hiring quality human resources and financial management people.”
The Gazipur-based group that employs around 8,000 workers plans to pay 25 percent more than the minimum wage structure set by the government to ensure better living condition of workers from June.
Viyellatex Group has set up factories ranging from yarn to garment and accessories, ensuring smooth supply chain.
Hasanat did not even want to depend on accessories manufacturers to make his export shipment hassle free, prompting him to establish Fashion Plastic and Packaging Ltd.
The most expensive investment in apparel production is spinning mill since it needs a lot of capital machinery, skilled manpower, and huge space. Viyellatex Spinning with 40,320 spindles was set up in 2005.
Hasanat’s Viyellatex aims to produce high-end products. In 2007, he set up Gothic Design to develop garment print techniques to woo trendy customers with trendy designs.
On the corporate social responsibility front, Viyellatex offers scholarships to poor students. It has donated Tk 2.60 million to the Bangladesh Thalassaemia Samity to purchase refrigerated equipment for blood banks. It also sponsored Tk 3.5 million for constructing an auditorium of Monsur Girls’ School at Naogaon.
Viyellatex Group has purchased a piece of land at Tongi in Gazipur district to set up an 80-bed hospital.
The group tends to the environment as well. It has embarked on a plan to use 60,000 litres of recycled effluent water as toilet water per day to save underground water apart from another plan to store rainwater for daily use.
Hasanat, an enthusiastic golf player, terms barriers to business as strength. “If businesses cross the barriers with honesty and sincerity, they will definitely succeed.”
The most expensive investment in apparel production is spinning mill since it needs a lot of capital machinery, skilled manpower, and huge space. Viyellatex Spinning with 40,320 spindles was set up in 2005.