BIOGRAPHY OF
Amjad Khan Chowdhury
(Former Bangladeshi Army officer and
Founder& Ex-chairman of PRAN-RFL Group.)
(10 November 1937- 8 July 2015)
A BIOGRAPHY OF AMJAD KHAN CHOWDHURY
Amjad Khan Chowdhury was a Bangladeshi Army officer and the founder of the PRAN-RFL Group in Bangladesh. He was a great entrepreneur and one of Bangladesh’s food processing industry’s pioneers. Bangladesh will have to wait years for a businessman of his caliber. Mr. Chowdhury was a titan of the corporate world, and his life is brimming with lessons for the next generation of business leaders.
He was the visionary founder and CEO of Bangladesh’s most diverse group of enterprises, having interests in Real Estate Housing, Agro Processing, Food, PVC & Plastics, Light Engineering, Electrical & Electronics, and Light Engineering. The businesses have a spotless track record in terms of production and labor management. PRAN Group has an exceptional track record when it comes to creditworthiness. His hobby-horse is promoting a hybrid of Bangladeshi corporate management based on our societal values and current Western and Japanese management styles.
Amjad Khan was the founder and first president of the Real Estate & Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB), the Bangladesh Agro-Processors’ Association (BAPA), and the Underprivileged Children’s Education Programme (UCEP).
He was a member of a number of prestigious trade associations. He was the president of MCCI, the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industries. Agriculture, rural development, and economics were all topics that he was passionate about.
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Table of Contents
ToggleLife of “Amjad Khan Chowdhury” At a Glance:
Name: Amjad Khan Chowdhury
Profession:
Industrialist
Businessperson
Military personnel
Entrepreneur
Chairman and CEO of PRAN-RFL Group
Military Rank: General
Date of Birth: 10 November 1937
Place of Birth: Natore, East Bengal, British India
Nationality: Bangladeshi
Religion: Islam
Alma mater:
Nabakumar Institution
Australian Staff College
Father: Mr Ali Kashem Khan Chowdhury.
Spouse: Sabiha Amjad
Children: 4
Azar J .K. Chowdhury
Ahsan Khan Chowdhury
Dr SheiraHaque
Uzma Chowdhury.
Years active: 1981-2015
Death: 8 July 2015
Reason of Death: Old age complexities, cardiac arrest and diabetes
Death Place: Duke University Hospital, North Carolina, United States
Burial: Banani Army Graveyard, Dhaka.
Early Lifeand Education of “Amjad Khan Chowdhury”:
On November 10, 1937, Amjad Chowdhury was born in Natore. Mr Ali Kashem Khan Chowdhury is his father’s name. He attended Nabakumar Institution and then graduated from the Australian Staff College with a bachelor’s degree.
Career of Amjad Khan Chowdhury:
At 1956, he enrolled in the Pakistan Military Academy. By achieving second position, he was commissioned in 1959. When he placed first in a year-long defense training in Australia alongside officers from more than a dozen other countries, he received international recognition. Years after the liberation, he committed himself entirely to the restoration of the country and army. He spent a significant amount of time in North Bengal during the time. General Officer Commanding at Comilla&Bogra Cantonment was one of his many key assignments. The most recent position held was that of Quarter Master General of the Bangladesh Army. He left the company in 1981.
Business Career of Amjad Khan Chowdhury:
The enormous difficulty Amjad Khan had to go through in the early years astounded him greatly. He felt it would be easy for him to acquire financing for his own firm after serving the country with his blood and sweat for decades and handling finances totaling around BDT 300 crores as Quarter Master General (QMG). After one denial after another, he found himself in the office of Mr. Aziz Ahmed, the then-Managing Director of Janata Bank. He put his faith in his efforts and approved a loan of $20,000.00.
It was a substantial sum back in those days. His wife had inherited a home on RK Mission Road from her parents, which he retained as a mortgage. He liquidated three-quarters of my pension savings for BDT 1.9 million. After putting all of this together, he purchased Rangpur Foundry Limited.
At this time, his experience in North Bengal had a significant impact on the purchase. His fantasies of gleaming agricultural fields were quickly dashed by reality. Others in the sector were creating tainted and substandard goods, making it difficult for him to stay in business. Despite this, he refused to compromise his business principles and participate in any unethical acts. The firm came to a grinding end, as fate would have it. His colleagues consoled him by claiming that prevailing customs did not force him to pay his debts; yet, his conscience told him otherwise.
He was confident in his business strategy and convinced he could make it work. Rangpur Foundry Limited, being one of the Pran RFL Group’s major enterprises, brought him immense delight.
He moved to the capital after experiencing financial difficulties in Rangpur. He concentrated his research on agriculture, specifically the utilization of tube wells by farmers. Year after year, the losses piled up. A shift in corporate emphasis felt necessary. His father had been exposed to the real estate industry for long time and had decided to pursue it. One of his breakthroughs was the formation of REHAB.
Profits from this venture were used to launch PRAN. PRAN stands for ” Programme for Rural Advancement Nationally.” He chose the name to support my concept of a Bengali agrarian revolution. In Narsingdi, he rented six acres of property. The firm was founded to meet the global demand for agricultural goods by local farmers. The concept was simple: prepare the items in a way that extends their shelf life, maintains quality, and properly markets them. He would argue that we haven’t done too badly; their first shipment of exports was sent out in 1996, and the firm now exports to over 106 countries.
Pran is the country’s largest food processor, with a consumer base of almost 300 million people. Pran employs around 60,000 people directly and approximately 100,000 farmers across the country. Drinks, snacks, tomato products, tea, and rice produced by the PRAN Group brought in Tk.100 crore in export earnings in 2007. PRAN-RFL Group now manufactures over 25 different light industrial and plastic goods, as well as 170 different culinary item.
His tenacity remained intact even after he retired from the police service years ago, and he could not accept the reality that RFL and its goods were ineffective. The business went ahead and reengineered it, investing around ten crore taka in the process. RFL currently has over 300 items and has outperformed PRAN in terms of revenue. In 1980, he founded RFL with Cast Iron goods, then expanded into the PVC category in 1996 and then into plastics in 2003. Pumps, tube wells, bearings, and gas stoves are among RFL’s offerings. It holds the distinction of being Bangladesh’s largest cast iron foundry and light engineering facility. A large portion of the items are shipped to other countries.
Philosophy of Amjad Khan Chowdhury :
His philosophy had led him to feel that the greatest way to fight poverty is through dairy. This industry has the potential to produce a lot of jobs. He constantly attempted to make sure that if the farmers produced good milk, he bought it and paid a fair price for it.
He wanted the rest of the world to know about Bangladesh and its goods since he was a Bangladeshi. To get this prominence, he planned to sponsor a Zee Bangla TV show. With a new facility in Agortola, the corporation is about to invest in India. This decision was motivated more by pride in being a Bangladeshi than by a desire to make a profit.
Reasons for Success:
Employees at all levels get comprehensive training. To stimulate the workforce, a school has been established with regular sessions. Every Saturday morning at 9.30 a.m., training classes are offered on topics such as current markets, IT, and so on. With lunch, free medical consultation, and frequent salary raises, the company tries to keep their employees happy and satisfied. It’s all about people when it comes to success.
Dream:
His dream was to see women in rural Bengal gain independence by working and contributing to their family’s income. He wanted the dairy industry to be one of the most successful in rural regions. His efforts had always been directed at poverty eradication through creating as many employment as feasible (a reason behind the creation of PRAN Dairy).
They’ve been sending firm employees to be taught in nations like America, Sweden, and Pakistan to support their development. At the PRAN RFL Group, he aspired to lead a world-class team.
Lastly, he aimed to construct a hospital in Natore. The lack of healthcare in the region is appalling, and the misery of the impoverished is intolerable. An organization that can give these folks with high-quality assistance will go a long way.
Position:
He was the founder-president of the Real Estate & Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB), the Bangladesh Agro-Processors’ Association (BAPA), and the Underprivileged Children’s Education Programme (UCEP).
He was a member of a number of prestigious trade associations. He was the president of MCCI, the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industries. Agriculture, rural development, and economics were all topics that he was passionate about.
Personal life:
His wife Sabiha Amjad and four children, Azhar K. Chowdhury, Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, Uzma Chowdhury, and Dr. Sera Huq, comprised up his family.
Death:
Chowdhury died on 8 July 2015 in Duke University Hospital, North Carolina, United States from cardiac complications and diabetes. He was laid to rest in Dhaka’s Banani Army Graveyard.
Sabiha Amjad, his wife, and their children Azar J. K. Chowdhury, Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, Sheira Haq, and Uzma Chowdhury were left behind.
Amjad Khan Chowdhury’s inventive contributions to the country’s development ushered in a slew of new commercial opportunities
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