Career
Being a self-motivated individual Mr.Alam had a brief, albeit successful career in readymade garments sector after finishing his MBA from Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University in 1993.
His career commenced with the Rafkat group as Assistant Merchandiser where he was principally responsible for meeting order deadlines of foreign buyers. Following this, Mr. Alam went on to become Merchandising Manager with the Southern Group. He was in charge of overseeing production and looked after overall marketing, which included negotiating best possible price of the readymade apparels to foreign buyers. Following his stint with the Southern Group, Mr Alam went on to become General Manager at Coats, Viyella. Coats, Viyella is the single largest textile company in the United Kingdom and the firm’s presence in Bangladesh was singlehandedly established by Mr. Alam.
Mr. Alam’s varied experience in the apparels industry took him various continents of the world. He has visited in the United States of America, Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, India, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Egypt, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Peoples’ Republic of China, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates.
Apart from Mr. Alam’s involvement in the professional sphere, he always felt he must do something for his fellow human beings, especially those hailing from his home district Rajshahi. In that spirit, he established a The Foundation, where training programs are conducted in the greater Rajshahi district. Workers successfully completing these programs are more fortunate than their fellow compatriots are since Mr. Alam provides employment opportunities for many of them in his varied holdings and companies. Nearly 2,000 unemployed youth have found jobs, which is a testament to Mr. Alam’s continued goodwill in this regard. Always mindful of the hardships of his countrymen, Mr. Alam makes it a point to distribute food and warm clothing to victims of natural calamities when they occur in various parts of the country or during the cold winter months that is characteristic in north Bengal.
Entrepreneurship
Mr. Alam went into business for himself in 1995 and successfully established the reputed Renaissance industrial export group. It is noteworthy of mentioning that the garments group founded by Mr. Alam some one and half decades exported apparels worth US$ 120 million in 2009. The group also employs a significant 25,000 employees and it is worthy of mention that the group won the National Export Trophy in knitwear category for two consecutive years 2007 and 2008.
As a successful entrepreneur, Mr. Alam’s achievements do not end there. Soon after leaving the job sector, Mr. Alam founded his first venture, a buying house named Araf Apparels. Later as he garnered requisite experience, Mr. Alam branched out into diverse enterprises. He formed a freight forwarding company named SF Cargo Ltd. Mr. Alam also successfully completed the first CAPSTONE Course at NDC.
Some of Md. Shahriar Alam’s enterprises are described briefly as follows:
Interstoff Apparels Limited
(IAL) comprises of the latest, most technologically advanced 100% export oriented composite knitting, dyeing, finishing and apparel manufacturing plants situated at Chandra, Kaliakoir, Gazipur, Bangladesh under one umbrella. The Garments unit alone has about 29 lines with a monthly production capacity is 1.2 million pieces that is exported mostly to Europe and USA. The main buyers include renowned brands, such as, Marks & Spencers, Tesco, Columbia, Polo Ralph Lauren, Debenhams, Sainsbury, Kohls etc.
Interstoff Apparels Limited Fabric unit is a state-of-the-art production line of European origin that has computerized dyeing and finishing technology with dyeing capacity is 300 metric tons per month. There is a option of special finishing with Mario Costa Sued machine to produce finest quality Sued finished knit fabrics.
IAL Knitting unit is equipped with circular and flat knitting machinery. It produces fine quality cotton and blended knit fabrics in a variety of styles like Single Jersey, Polo Pique, Herring Bone, Crape, Bubble Knit fabrics, we can produce Engineering Stripe, Feeder Stripe, Interlock, Rib, Waffle and other various knit fabrics in our knitting plant. We have an In house washing plant.
IAL prides itself in meeting all international standards for good work environment that is compliant with both national and international rules. The company is compliant with ‘Children’s wear Safety Requirements’ and provides a ‘Completely Metal Free Environment’ for workers’ health and safety. The factory is fully approved by several globally accepted Certification bodies like Oko Tex, SGS, and WRAP, ISO 9000 etc. IAL is also FAIRTRADE certified by the FLO-Cert Trade Certification Committee (FLO ID: 18123). IAL is an approved factory by MARKS & SPENCER, TESCO, CHAPS, ABERCROMBIE & FITCH, MEXX, KAPPAHL and other reputed international brands.
Pandora Sweaters
Limited was established 1999. The company has an excellent record of accomplishment of on time delivery of its products to clients. The joint venture company is 100 per cent export oriented sweater manufacturer set up in collaboration with Hong Kong Sales Knitwear Ltd. Originally the plant commenced production with 450 knitting machines. From those early years, the factory now has expanded to occupy sprawling area of 300,000 square feet employing some 5,000 workers. It has monthly capacity of churning out 350,000 pieces of apparels. Major clients include Marks & Spencer, Esprit, Tema (LCW, Wikiki), Debenhams, BHS, John Lewis, H&M. Given its success, the company intends to add another 100,000 square feet of factory area by the year 2011 adding a further 100,000 pieces to production capacity.
As a conscious entrepreneur, Mr. Alam actively undertakes corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in the areas of literacy and healthcare for the benefit of his workers. He ensures minimising of greenhouse emissions through proactive schemes that ensure power and energy efficiency in all his concerns. Steps have also been taken to reduce carbon emissions in both factories and transportation.
Mr. Alam is owner and partner in several ventures, namely:
South East Textiles (Pvt.) Limited
South East Textiles (Pvt.) Limited is a 100% export oriented composite knitting, dyeing, finishing and apparel manufacturing plants situated in the Mirzapur, Tangail, Bangladesh. In Garments unit, there are about 8 lines and the monthly production capacity is 250,000 pieces. The main buyers are Marks and Spencer, Tesco, Columbia, Polo Ralph Lauren, Debenhams, Sainsbury, Kohls etc. The production capacity of this ultra modern unit is about 200 metric tons per month. The company produces fine quality cotton and blended knit fabrics in a variety of styles like Single Jersey, Polo Pique, Herring Bone, Crape, Bubble Knit fabrics, we can produce Engineering Stripe, Feeder Stripe, Interlock, Rib, Waffle and other various knit fabrics in our knitting plant.
Interstoff Clothing Limited
(ICL) was established in 2000. It is a 100% export oriented world class knit garments manufacturing unit. Its main clients include Kapphal, Kenith Coles, Kohls, Tesco etc. The monthly production capacity is 450,000 pieces exported principally to clients in Europe and USA. ICL is a fully compliant factory.
Renaissance Apparels Limited
Renaissance Apparels Limited established at the end of the year 2008, first garments unit of the company. It is a 100% export oriented world class knit garments manufacturing unit. The main buyer is Kapphal, Kenith Coles, Kohls, Tesco etc. The monthly production capacity is 350,000 pieces exported mainly to buyers in Europe and USA.
Chairperson of the Following Companies:
- Renaissance International Ltd.
- Renaissance Apparels Ltd.
- Renaissance Consultants Ltd.
- Mam Knit Industries Ltd.
- Fashion House (Southern) Ltd.
- Millennium Textiles (Southern) Ltd.
- Southern Garments Ltd.
Managing Director of:
- Araf Apparels
- Anam Clothing Ltd.
- Interstoff Clothing Ltd.
- Interstoff Apparels Ltd.
- Seam Line Ltd.
- NSN Printing and Packaging Ltd.
- Pandora Fashion Ltd.
- Pandora Sweaters Ltd.
- SF Cargo Ltd.
- North Bengal Agro Farms Ltd.
- North Bengal Flour Mills Ltd.
- North Bengal Dairy Farms Ltd.