Latifur Rahman remembered for ethical, patriotic business: ICCB

The International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh (ICCB) on Thursday honoured the late Transcom Group Chairman Latifur Rahman for his honesty, integrity, and patriotic approach to business.

He was universally respected for upholding the highest ethical standards in business, the ICCB wrote in an editorial for its July-September 2020 News Bulletin.

He is one of the few entrepreneurs who have contributed to the economic and social advancement of the country by setting up business houses, the editorial added.

Latifur Rahman was the founding member and vice president of ICCB and the founding vice president of the Bangladesh International Arbitration Centre until his death on July 1 this year. He also served as a member of the Executive Board of ICC, Paris for two consecutive three-year terms from July 2011 to June 2017.

Starting his career as a trainee in 1966 in his family-owned W Rahman Jute Mills, Latifur stayed on as an executive until 1971. In 1973, he established Transcom Group, through which he gradually spread his excellence of entrepreneurship to various fields.

Today, Transcom has 16 operational entities, from medicine, foods, lighting, electronics to media. It is the local business partner of international brands Pizza Hut, KFC, PepsiCo, and Philips. It employs more than 17,000 people and the group’s annual turnover is Tk8,000 crore.

Although Transcom’s business suffered tremendously due to Covid-19, it did not lay off any employees.  

Latifur’s eldest daughter Simeen Rahman, now managing director and CEO of Transcom Distribution Company Ltd, said that her father was an entirely different person as a supervisor.

"When we first joined work, he told us in very clear terms that we would not get any favours just because we were the chairman's children; we would get a salary and the ground rules would be the same as for any other employee of the company and we would be rewarded only if we deserved it."

Committed to the idea that a democracy needs a free and independent press, Latfiur created the two newspapers The Daily Star and Prothom Alo, both recognized universally as the most independent newspapers in the country.

He was uncompromising in principles, ideals, and integrity, even if this would go against his interests. He had been harassed many times for being the owner of the country's leading English and Bangla dailies, but he never gave in to any kind of pressure, the editorial reads.

Unlike many industrialists in the country, Rahman believed that all industries should have labour unions.

He was awarded the “Oslo Business for Peace Award” by the Business for Peace Foundation, Oslo in 2012 as a mark of his highest distinction for outstanding accomplishments in the area of ethical business.

Latifur was also awarded Business Executive of the Year 2001 by the AmCham in Bangladesh; The Daily Star-DHL Special Award in 2012; the SAARC Outstanding Leader Award in 2017; and the Lifetime Achievement Award by the UK Bangladesh Catalysts of Commerce and Industry in 2017.

Latifur Rahman believed that in the next decade, Bangladesh's economy will grow significantly and Bangladeshi companies should be playing roles not only in the country but also beyond national borders.