Nassa Group

Nassa Group
Ltd.
Industry Conglomerate
Founded 1990 (1990)
Founder Nazrul Islam Mazumder
Headquarters Dhaka, Bangladesh
Area served
 Europe, United States, Canada, Mexico, Nigeria
Key people
 Nazrul Islam Mazumder (Chairman)
Products Apparel, Textile
Services Banking, Real Estate, Financial Services, Travel, Education
Revenue Increase $ 483 Million USD (2014)
Number of employees
 30,000+
Subsidiaries
  • ANW London Ltd
  • NASSA–Taipei Textile Mills Ltd
  • NASSA-Taipei Denims Ltd
  • NASSA Spinning Ltd

etc.

Website nassagroup.org

NASSA Group of Industries was founded in 1990 by noted business entrepreneur Mr Nazrul Islam Mazumder.[1] Under his leadership, the group has expanded rapidly to achieve status as one of Bangladesh’s largest industrial conglomerate[2] and one of the most significant investors in the country’s economy.

NASSA Group Limited has interests in Garment Manufacturing, Banking, Real Estate, Stock Brokering, Education, Travel and most importantly Corporate Social Responsibility.

History

The first venture

In 1990, Mr Nazrul Islam Mazumder, along with his colleagues Saiful Islam, Mamun Abdullah, Nazrul Islam Swapan, Mr Altaf and the late Mr Kamrul, started their first factory, Starlight Knit-wear, under the NASSA Group’s banner. The factory is still located at 2/b Elephant road, Dhaka, and had an employee count of 300 people, to contrast that with the 30,000+ people being employed by NASSA at the moment.

Right around the time Starlight Knit-wear took off, NASSA Group ventured off to establish their second factory. They named it, Sun Seeds Apparel, as a tribute to Sunman Apparel where most of NASSA Group’s higher ups use to work before, and grew up as entrepreneurs.

From then on they started to grow little by little till in 1995, NASSA Group established its Hong Kong sourcing office to streamline its production capabilities and client relations. They did this, as then Hong Kong was their liaison office to big companies like Sears Holdings (then Kmart).

Then along the line in 1999, EXIM Bank was incorporated in to the NASSA Group family, and since then has grown into one of the major banks in Bangladesh.

Products and services

Apparel

NASSA Group AJ Super Garments, Ready Made Garments production line

The biggest export of Bangladesh is the garment apparel sector[3][4] and since opening in 1990, NASSA Group has rapidly expanded to become one of the largest international apparel and textile manufacturing conglomerates[5] serving fashion, private and brand labels in the US, Canada, Mexico and the EU. NASSA Group’s ready made garment and textile manufacturing division has achieved globally respected status as a supplier of yarns, textiles and ready-made garments for branded and private label clients worldwide. The manufacturing operation boasts 1.1 million sq. ft. of production space, across which more than 30,000 skilled workers operate in 34 vertically owned factories.[6] NASSA Group generating a turnover of US$370 million in 2013 through its contracts with distinguished high street retailers across the UK and US.[7]

RMG

The ready-made garment industry accounts for 75 percent of Bangladesh's exports[8] and NASSA Group is the biggest manufacturer of the product in the country.[9][10]

Textiles

NASSA operates via its own 28 acre textile manufacturing complex located in Kanchpur, Dhaka. With the capacity to produce 60 tonnes per day, their textile operation is one of the largest in Bangladesh.

The plant outputs a range of polar fleece, knitted, dyed and printed fabrics for the US and European markets.

Country's denim sector is flourishing due to competitive price range with better quality products turning global buyers from countries like China and Turkey to Bangladesh.[11] Since 2013, the export orders for denim goods have surged by 25 per cent and as of 2014, Bangladesh has taken over China as the lead exporter in Denim products.[12] NASSA-Taipei Denims Ltd specializes in the production of indigo denims for clients including Marks and Spencer. They have a production capacity of 1.8 million yards per month.

Spinning

NASSA Spinning Ltd deploys equipment with an installed production capacity of their spinning mills at 1.8 million metres or 1,200 tonnes every month. Their machines include the Jinsheng Saurer JFA – 225A Card Machine as well as the Trutzschler & Crostol for blow room lines.

Finishing and shipping

NASSA is fully equipped to produce a wide range of accessories and finishing services including buttons, threads, zippers, labels and snap fasteners as well as labeling and packaging.

Their in-house packaging operation, Native Packaging Ltd, is a wholesale packaging manufacturer with the capacity to produce 6,000 metric tons of corrugated cartons every year.[13]

Division

Besides apparel, NASSA Group also delved into other industries to diversify the company's portfolio.

Stock broking

ANW Associates Ltd is a fully accredited member of the Dhaka Stock Exchange. The organisation exists to provide trading opportunities for clients and organisations looking to trade in stocks and shares in a sustainable and risk controlled environment.

Banking

EXIM Bank logo

EXIM Bank (Export Import Bank of Bangladesh Limited) is one of the leading private commercial banks in the country. This Bank came in to operation as scheduled commercial bank on 3 August 1999 as per rules and regulations of Bangladesh Bank. Of its very beginning EXIM Bank Bangladesh limited was known as BEXIM Bank Limited. But some legal constraints the bank renamed as EXIM Bank, which means Export Import Bank of Bangladesh Limited. At present the bank is performing its work all over the country by 52 branches. The bank has migrated all of its conventional banking operation into Shariah based Islamic banking[14][15]

Their investment portfolio comprises diversified areas of business and industry including textiles, edible oil, ready-made garments, chemicals, cement, telecom, steel, real estate and other service industries.

EXIM is the first privately owned bank to open an exchange house in the UK, enhancing their capacity to deliver seamless services to Bangladeshis living and working in the UK. They have also opened exchange houses in Canada, New York and Australia.[16][17]

EXIM Bank Limited has been a crucial part of the corporate expansion and has fast grown to achieve status as a pioneering financial establishment, dedicated to the socio-economic development of Bangladesh and its people.

Commercial Properties

NASSA Properties Ltd

NASSA Properties Ltd is a market leader in the large scale property development of Bangladesh’s capital city’s infrastructure.

Residential Properties

RANS Real Estate Ltd.

RANS Real Estate Ltd. is under the NASSA umbrella and unlike NASSA Properties Ltd, they focus on residential property development for home owners seeking modern housing solutions in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Travel

Planet Travel

Planet Travels Ltd, a division of NASSA Group, provides a full range of travel services for both business and consumer based clientele. It is still a comparatively new venture, only becoming part of NASSA Group in 2013.

Education

Exim Bank Agricultural University Bangladesh (EBAUB)

The vulnerable features of Northern Bangladesh characterized by frequent river erosion, flood and drought, social inequalities in education & health, and migration affecting livelihoods of its poor inhabitants inspired the Bank for undertaking some initiatives for their assistance in advancement. Till then, there has been no existence of any private agricultural university in North Bengal, even though northern part of the country is densely populated and has enormous potential for agricultural development. A large portion of quality students having good results in SSC and HSC cannot get admission into public agricultural university every year. In essence, availability of admission would enable them to pursue higher education in agriculture. EXIM Bank Supports export import initiatives throughout the country. Thus, they have set-up EXIM Bank Agricultural University, Bangladesh(EBAUB),[18] a private agricultural university at Chapainawabgang, Rajshahi, to be the first of its kind in Northern Bangladesh, to create greater opportunity of diversified and demand-driven education for the prospective medium income group candidates at their doorsteps, as well as to create an opportunity for conducting agricultural research to solve local problems.

Major customers

The major customers for NASSA Group are usually from US, Canada, Mexico and the EU. [5][19]

USA based K-mart, WalMart,[20] Gap Inc., Sears, AMC/Target Corporation, J. C. Penney, Woolrich

Europe based George, ASDA, Primark, Carrefour, Tesco, H&M, C&A, Sainsburry, Metro AG

Corporate social responsibilities

The purpose of any business is, obviously, to earn profit, but the promoters and the equity holders are aware of their commitment to the society to which they belong. A chunk of the profit is kept aside and/or spent for socio-economic development through trustee and in patronization of art, culture and sports of the country. In past recent years EXIM Bank (a division of NASSA Group) has supported the poor and meritorious students for smoothen their education. In 2007 about 80 students of different institutions have taken scholarship.[21] The bank also sponsored the “Beautification Project” of Dhaka mega city conducted by Dhaka City Corporation.[22][23] Nassa Group has also donated to the flood victims of the 2007 South Asian floods.[24]

Controversies

Factory closure

In awake of the Rana plaza collapse, which is considered to be the deadliest garment-factory accident in history,[25][26] NASSA Group shut down three of its factories.[27] It was insinuated in a couple of articles that this was a reactionary response to the Rana plaza collapse rather than a proactive step to ensure the safety of the workers,[27] but it was established that the company made the decision before the April 24 collapse because of structural concerns about the rental space that housed the three facilities and says it is committed to the safety and security of its employees. Before the closures, which took effect on April 28, Nassa Group operated 34 factories in Bangladesh.

In an earlier version of an article in The Wall Street Journal,[27] stated that due to the structural integrity being compromised, the government took action to close the factories down, which turned out to be wrong information. The chairman of NASSA Group, Mr Nazrul Islam Mazumder appointed Mishcon de Reya to challenge Wall Street Journal, as NASSA Group had already decided to close the factories on their own accord before the 24 April collapse, after which WSJ were compelled to change the article to reflect the facts.

Company Milestones

References

  1. ↑ "Success Story", GoldenBusinessBD (Bangladesh), http://www.goldenbusinessbd.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=974:nazrul-islam-majumder&catid=86:success-story&Itemid=225
  2. ↑ "The country's largest exporter", FOX Business (USA), http://m.foxbusiness.com/quickPage.html?page=32811&content=92844232&pageNum=-1
  3. ↑ "Garment exporters getting increased orders.". Apparels Bulletin of Bangladesh. 5 Dec 2008. Retrieved 11 Jun 2014.
  4. ↑ "More apparel buyers look to Bangladesh". The Daily Star. 12 July 2009. Retrieved 11 Jun 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Nassa Group chases $300m garment export target", The Daily Star (Bangladesh), http://archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=31387
  6. ↑ "Bangladesh's largest exporter of garments extends Monforts lineup" (PDF). Huffington Post. 11 Nov 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  7. ↑ "Partner leaves Nassa Group", Daily Star (Bangladesh), July 13, 2010, http://archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=146487
  8. ↑ "Dearth of skilled workers to hit garment growth". Apparels Bulletin of Bangladesh. 14 June 2008. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  9. ↑ "Nassa Group, the biggest RMG manufacturer of Bangladesh", Textile Today (Bangladesh), http://www.textiletoday.com.bd/news/73
  10. ↑ "RMG Factories Attacked". The Daily Star. 27 Sep 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  11. ↑ "Country's denim products export marks 20pc rise in last one year". The Financial Express. 17 Jan 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  12. ↑ "BD on way to becoming world's No 1 denim goods exporter". The Financial Express. 12 Sep 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  13. ↑ "Premier packaging solutions for fashion brands", ANW London, http://anwlondon.com/demo/apparel/finishing-and-shipping/
  14. ↑ "Difference between Islamic banking and Conventional banking system", BRAC University.(Bangladesh), http://dspace.bracu.ac.bd/bitstream/handle/10361/2449/07204015.pdf?sequence=1
  15. ↑ "An Investigation on EXIM BANK’s Present Performance Among the Branches of Dhaka City in Absence of Online Banking System", Independent University, Bangladesh, www.sb.iub.edu.bd/internship/Summer2012/0830090.pdf
  16. ↑ "Remittance drives banks to open exchange houses abroad", The Daily Star.(Bangladesh), http://archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=101148
  17. ↑ "Remittance", EXIM Bank Ltd.(Bangladesh), http://www.eximbankbd.com/remittance
  18. ↑ "PM opens Exim Bank Agricultural University". Bangladeshinfo.com. 11 Oct 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  19. ↑ "Bangladesh Global Sourcing Blowback", Spend Matters, May 14, 2013, http://spendmatters.com/2013/05/14/bangladesh-global-sourcing-blowback/
  20. ↑ "Nassa Group gets supplier's award from WalMart". The Daily Star. 20 August 2003. Retrieved 11 Jun 2014.
  21. ↑ "Review of CSR Initiatives in Banks - Bangladesh Bank" (PDF). Bangladesh Bank. 12 April 2010. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  22. ↑ "Massive beautification of city for Saarc Summit". The Daily Star. 1 Nov 2004. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  23. ↑ "City greening moves fast". News from Bangladesh. 16 Oct 2004. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  24. ↑ "Army chief receives donations for flood victims". The Daily Star. 14 Sep 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  25. ↑ "Bangladesh building collapse death toll passes 500". BBC News. 3 May 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  26. ↑ "Bangladesh Building Collapse Death Toll Tops 500; Engineer Whistleblower Arrested". Huffington Post. 3 May 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  27. 1 2 3 "Bangladeshi Garment Maker Shuts 3 Factories". The Wall Street Journal. 9 May 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
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