With Eid over and the industry back to work, it is time to retrospect and plan for the year ahead. No doubt it has been a difficult past year and business has taken a hit, mostly from the US market, but the industry as far as I know and interact with, is preparing to bounce back with vengeance!
We all know and have experienced on many occasions that the industrialists in Bangladesh are quick to respond to international ‘needs’ and perhaps that is one of the biggest reasons that the country has seen a dream run in garment exports over the past two decades.
It is truly amazing to see the way the industry has shaped up after the unfortunate Rana Plaza incident that made international headlines… but what is sad is the way the officials of Accord and Alliance are now ‘hounding’ the industry, despite the fact that their findings clearly indicate that less than 3% of the industry is violating safety norms.
Wherever my team goes, they hear stories of how the two organizations, especially the Accord, is interfering in the day-to-day running of the factories in the name of ‘monitoring’ safety norms. BGMEA President, Atiqul Islam, has already pulled out of the Alliance steering committee on grounds of irrevocable differences. The idea behind initiating the Accord and Alliance was to support the industry in its efforts to be more sensitive to worker safety, not to create roadblocks in progress. A serious re-look is needed to make these initiatives relevant and acceptable in today’s context.
While on one side the industry is struggling to set the record straight with a bunch of ‘foreigners’, on the other hand there is a huge segment of foreign professionals who have played a critical role in putting Bangladesh on the international sourcing map. Among the many expatriates who work in Bangladesh, Sri Lankans are credited for giving the industry benchmark systems and work methodologies to be more organized and productive.
In this special issue, we present to our readers 10 Lankan expats who have made Bangladesh their ‘karma bhoomi’. At a time when the dynamics of the industry in Sri Lanka has undergone drastic changes, Bangladesh is offering multitude of opportunities for both professionals and entrepreneurs alike. While some of these expats have been here for decades, others are relatively new. Talking to each one of them on a one-o-one basis was a delightful and enlightening experience and we share with our readers their perspectives and on the apparel business in the country – the pros and cons, its shortcomings and strengths as seen through their eyes; what is it that brought them to Bangladesh, contributions/value additions they think they have made towards their respective organizations and the way forward from here on.
I am sure you will enjoy reading the issue as much as we did putting it together!
