a story of a gani mia

8/8/2019 A Story of a Gani Mia

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A Story of


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MwY wgqv GKRb K lK| Zvnvi wbRi Rwg bvB| m Abi Rwg PvlKi...

The above sentences written in Bangla and quoted from therst-graders text book of the oldtimers mean that Gani Mia

is a peasant who does not have any land of his own and he

cultivates others land as a sharecropper.

Many of us might have read the story of the pitiable life of Gani

Mia written by Polli Kobi (country bard) Jasimuddin, known for

his faithful rendition of Bangla folklore in his works. The landlessGani Mia had to borrow money for his daughters wedding.

Afterwards, his life was stuck with adversity for debt.

Though the character Gani Mia in this story was ctitious, such

stories are very real in our society. There are countless such

Gani Mias around us in our country. Now let us glance at the life

of one of such Gani Mias.


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About four decades ago, there lived a petty grocer in Deuli

Bazar of Shibganj thana in Bogra, named Gani Mia. A short and

thin fellow, by birth he had twelve ngers in his two hands and

neck was quite bent on the left hand side. He was around 35at that time.

His grocery shop, always lled with goods, was very popular in

the vicinity. Taking his success as a model to follow, many other

groceries also grew up in that area. Todays rich man Hannan

Mollah and many other big businessmen in that area were only

Gani Mias huble followers. Gani Mia had a happy family with

his wife and a son of seven years named Ka. He was living acontent life both at home and at work.

Tutul, a 12-year-old curious boy of the same locality, was the

youngest son of the most afuent family in the area. He was

a frequenter to Gani Mias shop for buying tea and sugar for

his father. In this way, a warm and friendly relationship grewbetween the two, despite huge disparity in age and socio-

economic stature and beyond the relationship of buyer and

seller.

Tutul grew up before the eyes of Gani Mia. Eventually, after


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person to be his intimate companion Gani Mia, standing with a

beggars pot in the hand and with his eyes on the ground. He

was looking clearly overcast and abbergasted.

Tutul remembered the delightful memories of the past. He could

not match this dejected and defeated face with the Gani Mia he

knew, who was a self-dependent person with a high degree of

self-esteem. It touched him deeply and his heart became full of

empathy. Upon query, Tutul came to know that Gani Mias good

days did not last long. Then Tutul remembered that over the

last few years, every time he came, he saw the wretchedness

of Gani Mias shop with only a poor stock. This time he didnt

see the shop open.

Tutul came to know that Gani Mia spent all his money for the

treatment of his ailing son. The affectionate father couldnt

concentrate on his business anymore. His son had his recovery,

but Gani Mia himself got ill. Since he was the only earning

member in the family, he had no other option but to get himself

cured at any cost.


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He went to Dhaka for the best treatment he could afford.

Finally, he got himself cured but at the cost of all of his

nancial resources. He became totally broke. He became broke

nancially and mentally. He tried to restore life to his worn-outshop but he was exhausted physically, mentally and, above all

else, nancially. No individual or institution stood beside him. As

an obvious outcome, begging became his only mean to survival.

What a tragedy! Once an idealistic, sensible, self-respecting

and hardworking individual had to choose the life of a beggar!

At last, in the year of 1987, he got himself free forever from the

disgraceful life of a beggar. He was laid for eternal sleep.

Gani Mia is the representative of millions of small entrepreneurs

of our country. The national and multinational giants earn

billions and billions of dollars as prot by the effort, intelligence

and investment of such people. But these conglomerates do not

stand beside these Gani Mias at their woes.


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Like Gani Mia, this Tutul is not an unreal character. He was

deeply moved after the helpless demise of Gani Mia and became

concerned about the uncertain future of his bereaved family.

With his efforts his family stood beside the distressed family.

The story does not end here; rather this is the beginning of

another story. How many Tutuls or their families are there in

the country to help so many Gani Mias families? The endless

miseries are spread all over the country. The air is heavy with

the lamenting of these people. Who will bring a light of hope

in their life?

Tutul started thinking. He was determined to nd out a way.

After much careful thinking, researches, opinions and

suggestions of many, at last Tutul introduced a new model of

business, where business is seen as a social service not a

medium of accumulating prot for personal comfort and luxury.

In his business model, everyone related to production: such as,

raw material producers and suppliers, processors, marketing

personnel, distributors, retailers, etc will have the opportunity

to earn the prot at a proportionate rate.

The mission of AHZ Group is to materialise this new model of

business. And Tutul of this story is none but the Chairman of this

organisation, Mr M Shakawat Hossain.


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Bangladesh is a country of immense possibilities. Millions of pair

of diligent hands with the resources like fertile soil, green forests,

vast source of sweet water, rich heritage and glorious history of

struggle are taking the country ahead. The nation won its victory

through a short-but-bloody war. The courageous people of the

country possess a tender-though-unbreakable heart. We also

have joined hand in the perpetual effort of people of all walks

of life around the country for a better life.

Earning prot is not the only goal of our business model. We

see business as a social service and intend to contribute to thedevelopment of the nation through conducting business in a

socially-responsible way. The spirit that drives us is: The business

is meant for the mankind. This positions us against the wind.

Background


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The sustenance and development of a country depends on

the ow of its economic activities. Business is one of the basic

elements, from where the country earns revenues and taxes. But

the duty of a responsible business organisation encompasses way

beyond merely paying taxes to the state; it should assume and

adopt accountability and responsibility to the society it belongs

to. But the prevailing attitude of corporate business around the

world is painfully against the concept of social responsibility.

Their social responsibility is limited to CSR activities, whichimplies that remaining activities are not socially responsible. In

most cases, CSR is just another means of making more prot. The

CSR budget is derived from corporate marketing. Prot is only

the investors; there is no share for the country or the society

or the people. This must stop. People in general should be the

stakeholders in the business. This is the spirit of our business

model.

Our present activities in brief:

1. Education:Quality Education is a prime prerequisite tothe development of any nation. Qualitative and specialised

education is closely connected with modern business system.Keeping this in mind, we established the Oxford International

School in 1987 under the afliation of the Cambridge University,

England, UK. This school has already achieved a respectable

position at home and abroad. Since inception, the school has


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been playing a leading role to world-class education in the

country. Now it is poised for further expansion into other cities

of the country. It envisages widening peoples access to modern

education of international standard all over the country.

2. Agriculture: We are actively engaged in strengthening therural economy since 90s. We established AHZ Cold Storage

Limited, the largest in Bangladesh and a state-of-the-art cold

storage in the agriculture-prone area of Bogra. Since inception,

hope and aspiration of the farmers of the area started billowing

around it.

3. Agro Research:High-quality seed is an essential prerequisitefor the development of agriculture. Keeping high weightage onthis, we have established a high-tech seed research laboratory

and a comprehensive seed nursing centre in Rajshahi and

Nilfamari respectively.

4. Peoples Welfare: With a view to alleviate the perils of thepoor farmers and marginal population in Bangladesh, we have

formed an NGO named AHZ Welfare Foundation.5. Agro-based Industry: Mere advanced technology or highyielding varieties is not enough to benet the farmers and

consumers. While natural calamities like drought or ood cause

damage to crops on one hand, bumper harvest deprives the

farmers of the fair price on the other. For example, in 2007, we

had a bumper harvest of potato but lack of adequate storage

and proper marketing facilities, enormous amount of potato wasrotten and the farmers could not even realise the production

cost. As a result, farmers lose their interest in potato in the

subsequent years. This is not an ideal situation. Agro processing

industries can play a big role in getting this situation better.


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Equilibrium will prevail in the market and the farmers will be

encouraged to grow more. This will also open up the avenue for

earning foreign currency through export of high-quality agro-

based products.

Keeping this vision in mind, AHZ Agro Industries (Private)

Limited was established. Agriculture can play an important role

in our national development by establishing a well-coordinated

structure starting from agricultural produces to proper

processing to successful marketing. And there emerges a new

brand a new promise

A new brand.... a new promise....

Our products are produced in fully automatic machine with the

co-ordination of high technology and without any touch of hand

with the use of raw materials produced in our own farmhouse andcollected from our enlisted farmers under the supervision of the

best food scientists. Tatka products are 100% halal and healthy and

supplied now mainly in ve preparations.

1. Snacks and Confectioneries: In this range of products, weproduce new and innovative items like Aluchur (made of potato),

jelly candy, etc, in addition to the regular market items likeChanachur (a spicy and crisp snack comprising fried chickpea),

Dalbhaja (fried pulse), Badambhaja (roasted peanut), mango bar,

pickles and different kinds of candy. We also have products like

wafer roll and cookie bite and we are all set to launch potato


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crackers. The response we have received so far from the market is

very encouraging.

2. Beverage: We are ready for launching products in our beverage

range. This range will include items like juice drink, nectar, fortiedjuice, 100% pure juice, lassi (made of milk, yogurt and sugar),

vegetable drinks, borhani (made of sour yogurt, black salt and

many other spices and condiments), probiotic drinks and energy

drinks.

3. Dairy and Dairy Products: This range includes normalpasteurised milk, UHT milk, avoured and fortied milk for

growing children, lactose-treated milk for people having lactoseintolerance, different avoured milkshake, processed cheese and

so many foods. Besides these, powder milk and cereal made by

infant formula will be included.

4. Research-based products: Products like health water, dryenergy drink, precooked pulse and many new foods and drinks are

included in this range.

5. Other products: Shemai (roasted vermicelli), Laccha Shemai(deep-fried vermicelli), Noodles, Mustard oil, ready-to-eat rice

saline and frozen food with varieties of products are in this range.

In addition to distributing in the local market, Tatka products

will also be exported very soon. We believe, this will be a means

to raising the image of the country to the global community

in addition to contributing to increasing the reserve of valuableforeign exchange. Tatka will denitely soar high with the cordial

cooperation of all the stakeholders ranging from the farmers to

the retailers. And this will not be the achievement of Tatka alone;

everyone in this country will have a share in it.


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* Merely accumulating prot is not the objective of Tatka.Tatka sees business as a social service.

* Even the marginal population will get the opportunity to beinvolved with and be benetted from the development effort

through Tatka.

* Completely healthy and 100% Halal Tatka products areproduced by using latest technology with fully automatic

machine without any touch of hand with the use of best-

quality raw materials.

* In all possible cases, world-class raw materials are collecteddirectly from natural sources.

* Stringent quality control is done at all levels of production.

* Everyone related to the production and distribution of Tatkaproducts will get prot/benet in a proportional rate.

* Part of the prot will be spent after creating of socialassets.

* Tatka will deploy its effort to uphold our own culture, valuesand traditions.

Why Is Unique?


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Industrial Plant Building of Tatka at Gazipur

Let business be

for the society,

for the country,for the nation

and for the mankind at large.


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Editorial Board: Sqn Ldr Ahsanullah (Retd)

Anis Rhaman Mahmud

G M Nizam Uddin

English Translation: Nusrat Ireen

Illustration: Biplob Datta

Graphics: Biplob Majumdar

a story of a gani mia

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