Remaining afloat amid pandemic can be add up to making profit
1 should focus on keeping the source chain even by churning out goods and rendering services rather than making money in 2020 as persons are facing an enormous challenge to survive because of the coronavirus pandemic, explained Syed Alamgir, managing director of ACI Consumer Makes.
"If you are alive and your organization stays afloat despite the raging pandemic, this could be your best earnings," he said within an interview over phone with The Daily Star last week.
"If anyone wants to make big profits now, they will be loser in the long-run."
Alamgir is a well-known figure found in the country's consumer makes' segment because of his long job spanning a lot more than four decades and he features been called a marketing superstar by the Bangladesh Makes Forum (BBF).
As a way to ensure proper assistance, ACI has stored its supply chain ready to go by maintaining all health-related rules in order that its products usually do not pass on the contagion and persons can access them at affordable rates concurrently, he said.
"We are rendering products and services to the countrymen by supplying various hygiene and sanitary goods needed as of this crisis hour to guard their health and environment."
Alamgir thinks that ACI Buyer Brands, the maker of ACI Aerosol, Savlon, ACI Mosquito Coil & ACI Pure Spices and Flour, would get an enormous contribution to the nation through their day-to-day necessary high-quality products in affordable prices.
"If we are able to survive and our organization can survive in 2020, we'd say found in 2021 that last year was an excellent year."
The lockdowns and travel restrictions imposed by the country have resulted in a steep decline running a business activity. Many people started to be jobless and their consumption and spending offers been affected, striking businesses and the overall economy hard.
About 15 lakh retail shops were partly closed from coast to coast. Around 60 lakh persons were employed at these retailers and most of them bore the brunt of the shutdown, he stated.
Various companies supply products to these shops where working day labourers are used. This poor people have already been hit hard as many of these had no work through the period.
Impact of coronavirus on a good densely populated country like Bangladesh would be more severe and it could take time to eliminate the pathogen, Alamgir said, discussing the World Wellbeing Organisation.
"The impact may be dreadful to your economy."
Remitters are struggling because of job cuts found in the host countries. Because of this, remittance would decline which would hit the economy in the arriving days, he said.
Around one crore persons in the rural region are dependent on the remitters. Thus, the rural sector may endure an agonizing journey because of the sharp fall in remittance move, he said.
The spending and consumptions of most affected peoples could possibly drop and it'll continue for a couple of years. "Due to this fact, businesses will become impacted and the economical growth would decline."
Despite a rise in the price tag on the imported raw materials and transportation costs, ACI Consumer Brands has not increased the price of its goods to keep them affordable for the buyers.
"In ACI, we've continued our production on the basis of a policy, that is "service may be the first and foremost matter."
"Consumers need ACI goods even during the lockdown. So, we've kept producing regardless of the big risk posed by the deadly virus," he explained.
Alamgir, who exactly had previously worked for British pharmaceutical business May possibly & Baker, Pegasus Shoes, Jamuna Knitting & Dyeing and Aromatic Cosmetics Ltd, features introduced many concepts in the fast-moving client goods segment that shook the market segments.
He shot to fame when he pioneered the idea of halal soap in Bangladesh in the 1990s as the advertising director of Jamuna Group of Companies.
The 'halal advertising' has kickstarted an internationally advertising phenomenon and made him the first Bangladeshi marketeer to be cited in the 13th edition of the prestigious advertising book "Principle of Marketing" by marketing guru Philip Kotler.
He was also the winner of the first-ever Advertising Superstar Award in 2019, in line with the Bangladesh Brands Forum.
In 1998, he joined ACI, among the fast-developing FMCG companies in Bangladesh.
He has initiated many brands in the company. One of these is "Pure" brand. The brand premiered in 2005 and was awarded seven circumstances by the BBF as one of the best makes in the country.
"We are functioning the business on two mottos today. One is guaranteeing safety for our employees and the additional is to make sure product availability atlanta divorce attorneys corner of the united states."
"If we don't source products, it'll create problems in the market," said Alamgir, who completed his MBA from the Institute of Organization Administration under the University of Dhaka and received PhD from the brand new Castle University in america.
Alamgir welcomed the various stimulus packages introduced by the government to help people, businesses, businesses, industries, entrepreneurs and farmers to stay afloat through the pandemic.
"If the stimulus deals are implemented properly, the private sector are certain to get some relief surely."
He called for reconsidering the recent 60 per cent hike in bus fares since it would increase the cost of living for the people, who are already troubled because of the loss of livelihoods.
The government shouldn't turn from its give attention to lowering the interest rate in the banking sector to the single digit, he said.
"A lower interest will give a major relief to the private sector."
He acknowledged that the banking sector is in big trouble for high non-performing loans and for the new responsibility of channelling most the funds under the Tk 101,117 crore stimulus packages.
"But a higher interest rate won't ensure profits for banking institutions. Moreover, less interest rate may encourage the private sector to consider loans and repay them on time."
The sales of ACI were damaged during the shutdown and the production of some products was disrupted due to a lack of raw materials, he said.
For instance, the way to obtain Savlon liquid, children name, has didn't keep tempo with the sharp go up in demand as people rushed to the item to stay hygiene within the efforts to keep the virus at bay.
"There was a dearth of the recycleables needed for the product as sourcing countries likewise faced lockdowns and they needed more sanitary goods as well to meet the demand within their respective domestic markets."
Demand for sanitary products in Bangladesh surged all of the sudden and it had been not easy to scale up creation abruptly, he said.
Now some sourcing locations are reopening their organization, allowing ACI to import recycleables in large volumes.
The business is hopeful that it might be able to crank up the supply of the product within a brief period of time.
Savlon and Aerosol will be the top two makes of the company where Savlon occupies 83 % share in the antiseptic category and Aerosol 94.6 per cent in the insect killer category.
Alamgir sees a good silver lining found in the pandemic.
"The pandemic has pass on across the world and prompted all countries to access work to look for a remedy to handle the disease."
It has not been the case in the event of dengue fever although the mosquito-borne disease kills many persons in Bangladesh, he said.
In line with the Directorate General of Wellbeing Services, 101,354 dengue situations were reported in 2019 and the number of deaths was 156.
