A Story of

Our Promise

Our promise is to lead a business with social

responsibility. We do not work merely for
accumulating profit but also committed to divide the
profit/benefit to our shareholders in a proportional
rate. We are committed to bring a qualitative
change in the economic and socio-cultural arena of
our country as well as in every individual’s life.
ÒMwY wgqv GKRb K…lK| Zvnvi wb‡Ri Rwg bvB| †m A‡b¨i Rwg Pvl
K‡i...Ó
The above sentences written in Bangla and quoted from the
first-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 landless
Gani Mia had to borrow money for his daughter’s wedding.
Afterwards, his life was stuck with adversity for debt.

Though the character Gani Mia in this story was fictitious, 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.

3
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 fingers in his two hands and
neck was quite bent on the left hand side. He was around 35
at that time.

His grocery shop, always filled 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. Today’s rich man Hannan
Mollah and many other big businessmen in that area were only
Gani Mia’s huble followers. Gani Mia had a happy family with
his wife and a son of seven years named Kafi. He was living a
content 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 affluent family in the area. He was

a frequenter to Gani Mia’s shop for buying tea and sugar for
his father. In this way, a warm and friendly relationship grew
between 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

4
completion of his school and college education, Tutul left Deuli
for Dhaka. He started his higher studies in the University of
Dhaka as a resident student. However, Tutul never missed any
chance of coming back to the village, responding to the call
of his strong bondage with his birthplace. He used to spend a
long time with Gani Mia, sharing his new experiences that he
attained in the capital city, as Gani Mia was keenly interested
to learn from him about the current affairs of the society, state

and politics. Gani Mia also shared the local updates and his
views on these. The discussion that took place between them
was very insightful.

Once during Eid Vacation, Tutul came back from Dhaka to Deuli
after many days. One day, while he just crossed the gate to
approach the road, he noticed from the corner of his eyes that
someone hid himself in the corner of a nearby house. Tutul
curiously reached the person and, with utter surprise, found the

5
person to be his intimate companion Gani Mia, standing with a
beggar’s pot in the hand and with his eyes on the ground. He
was looking clearly overcast and flabbergasted.

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 Mia’s 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 Mia’s shop with only a poor stock. This time he didn’t
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 couldn’t
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.

6
He went to Dhaka for the best treatment he could afford.
Finally, he got himself cured but at the cost of all of his
financial resources. He became totally broke. He became broke
financially and mentally. He tried to restore life to his worn-out
shop but he was exhausted physically, mentally and, above all
else, financially. 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 profit by the effort, intelligence
and investment of such people. But these conglomerates do not
stand beside these Gani Mias at their woes.

7
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 find 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 profit 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 profit 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.

8
 BBackground
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 profit is not the only goal of our business model. We

see business as a social service and intend to contribute to the
development 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.

9
The sustenance and development of a country depends on
the flow 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, which
implies that remaining activities are not socially responsible. In
most cases, CSR is just another means of making more profit. The
CSR budget is derived from corporate marketing. Profit 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 to
the 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 affiliation of the Cambridge University,
England, UK. This school has already achieved a respectable
position at home and abroad. Since inception, the school has

10
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 people’s access to modern
education of international standard all over the country.
2. Agriculture: We are actively engaged in strengthening the
rural 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 prerequisite
for the development of agriculture. Keeping high weightage on
this, we have established a high-tech seed research laboratory
and a comprehensive seed nursing centre in Rajshahi and
Nilfamari respectively.
4. People’s Welfare: With a view to alleviate the perils of the
poor farmers and marginal population in Bangladesh, we have
formed an NGO named AHZ Welfare Foundation.
5. Agro-based Industry: Mere advanced technology or high
yielding varieties is not enough to benefit the farmers and
consumers. While natural calamities like drought or flood 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 was
rotten 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.

11
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 and
collected from our enlisted farmers under the supervision of the
best food scientists. Tatka products are 100% halal and healthy and
supplied now mainly in five preparations.

1. Snacks and Confectioneries: In this range of products, we

produce new and innovative items like Aluchur (made of potato),
jelly candy, etc, in addition to the regular market items like
Chanachur (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

12
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, fortified
juice, 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 normal
pasteurised milk, UHT milk, flavoured and fortified milk for
growing children, lactose-treated milk for people having lactose
intolerance, different flavoured 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, dry
energy 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 valuable
foreign exchange. Tatka will definitely 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.

13
 Why Is Unique?

* Merely accumulating profit is not the objective of Tatka.

Tatka sees business as a social service.

* Even the marginal population will get the opportunity to be

involved with and be benefitted from the development effort
through Tatka.

* Completely healthy and 100% Halal Tatka products are

produced 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 collected

directly from natural sources.

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

* Everyone related to the production and distribution of Tatka

products will get profit/benefit in a proportional rate.

* Part of the profit will be spent after creating of social

assets.

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

14
 Let business be
for the society,
for the country,
for the nation
and for the mankind at large.

Industrial Plant Building of Tatka at Gazipur

15
 Editorial Board: Sqn Ldr Ahsanullah (Retd)
Anis Rhaman Mahmud
G M Nizam Uddin
English Translation: Nusrat Ireen
Illustration: Biplob Datta
Graphics: Biplob Majumdar

Published by: IHN, Dhaka English Edition:26 oct, 2010