I started as a businessman very early in my life because I never wanted to do a typical 9-5 job. However, that does not mean my inspiration came miraculously. I jumped into the footwear industry when I truly believed that I would be able to pull this off. With that self-confidence, the vision of Sajib Bazar became a reality in 2000, with a partnership with my brother, Md. Zia Uddin. It’s already been 22 years, but it feels like I just started our business the other day.

In the initial years, our business was based in Old Dhaka. I had some connections and support that helped me to put everything together. Also, I had my elder brother, whom I could rely on at any moment. We always focused on women’s shoes and sandals because that was our expertise. We were supplying our products to many global and local brands from the very beginning. It gave us the confidence to start our own showroom as well. The response from the customers was great, and our sales were soaring day by day. All of our hard work had paid off. Our profit margin was very high as well. That allowed us to look for more opportunities to expand. So, we thought of expanding our business.

From 2000 to 2017, we worked with many brands & retailers with only one factory and two showrooms in Dhaka. But still, something fell off, you know? Then I understood what I needed to do. We decided to expand our business to Bhairab because that’s my hometown. I wanted to bring exciting new changes to my hometown’s footwear market. So, we opened our new factory there in late 2017. That’s not all. We also opened a new store there for reaching the customers efficiently. To be honest, I was a little afraid of how the people were going to receive us because the markets of Dhaka & Bhairab are very different. But all of my fear just evaporated when sales started to come at an increasing rate.

Well, looking back at all those years, I feel proud that I did not fall back under any circumstances. Why am I saying that? Because along with great success, comes a great deal of suffering & stress. We often delivered our products on credit which sometimes created heavy cash outflow. There were times when our production got delayed for months. The heaviest blow came when Covid-19 hit. All of our receivables were stuck, and we could barely take orders to sustain. You can guess how difficult it gets when an entrepreneur can barely manage one’s expenses, let alone the employees’ salaries as well. We had a tough time dealing with the payment to our associates because there was no capital at hand. Still, we did not let anyone go during the pandemic. Now that everything is becoming normal again, I feel delighted that I did not leave any of my workers behind.

I worked with many agencies and organizations on different projects during my 20+ years of business. In a recent encounter with the good people at LightCastle Partners, I participated in the B-SkillFUL project. They visited my factory in Dhaka and offered their expertise to help MSMEs like us to recover from the losses. I now plan on launching a new showroom in Bhairab. Their help has been a key element for me to realize that I can do more for my business.