Mitali Group’s ingenious strategies for business growth

Mitali Group, established as Mitali Fashions Ltd., under the leadership of Syed Abu Yousuf Abdullah (Founder and Chairman) way back in 2000,is like any other garment manufacturing entity. What makes Mitali stand out from the rest is its innovative business strategy centring community building with focus on infrastructure development for mutual benefit.

It is this spirit which led Syed Abu Yousuf Abdullah to choose Kashimpur (in Gazipur) to set up the very first manufacturing unit of Mitali Group.

A somewhat secluded area at that time, the pioneering role played by Mitali Group helped to develop the essential infrastructure along with drainages, electricity and gas connections to transform this place into a fully-developed industrial area.

In the days to come, Kashimpur would attract many others to set up manufacturing units, big and small alike.

“My father started his entrepreneurial journey way back in 1996 and then went on to establish his first garment factory in Kashimpur,” underlined Ehsan Abdullah, Managing Director of the company and son of Syed Abu Yousuf Abdullah, describing the genesis of Mitali Group to Apparel Resources (AR).

Today, along with his sister Maisha Abdullah Ahammad (Director), Ehsan is at the helm of affairs at Mitali, considered one of the largest export-oriented composite knit apparel manufacturers in Bangladesh, boasting in-house knitting, dyeing, finishing, printing, embroidery and packaging.

These in-house facilities have helped Mitali to maintain impeccable quality every time.

Continuing further with its mantra of investing in development of the society and the people, the group came up with its second project, Zakaria Apparels, in the rural district of Tangail—an unusual but successful venture, owing to the unique manufacturing presence in that area.

Mitali’s presence in Tangail is not only a strategic move but also a socially responsible one as it helped to provide employment opportunities to people in this rural area, closer to their homes, fostering a sense of community building.

“It eventually turned out to be a great move. We have around 10 production lines there. The quality and productivity in this unit at times surpasses that of our Kashimpur unit,” stated Ehsan, crediting the good show at Tangail to a happy workforce!

Able to stay closer to their families and friends while also being able to save on rent and other allied expenses, workers here are motivated to put in that extra effort, reflected in terms of enhanced quality and productivity.

In 2015, Mitali Group also established KSS, an advanced knit composite factory, located in Mawna, Gazipur. Today it has a manpower of 3,000 workers along with its finished garment capacity per day standing at 60,000.

Having a great run so far leveraging its unique business strategies, Mitali, which has a production capacity of 2,000,000 pieces of knit products for men, women and kids including polo shirts, T-shirts, sweatshirts, baby rompers, etc., came against its first major challenge in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which compelled the company to put into the backburner its immediate expansion plan.

Sort of double whammy as one may call it, came in close succession another challenge in the form of Russia-Ukraine war that adversely impacted the traditional export strongholds of USA and Europe with consumer spending on clothes taking a hit in face of rising inflation!

Once again Mitali, which had some time back taken to manufacturing workwear to beat the heat in regular product categories, made another decisive move to handle the contingencies better.

It decided that it was now time to explore the unchartered territories which led Mitali to get into countries like South Africa, South Korea, Japan, Russia and the like.

“Market diversification has been a strategic move to reduce reliance only on a couple of markets and this proved to be the saving grace in the challenging times,” chipped in Maisha, expressing her optimism on the probable business opportunities that are on offer in neighbouring India!

Maisha later attended the third edition of the Apparel Sourcing Week (ASW 2023) held at Bengaluru to take the much-awaited plunge into the Indian market, which is expected to reach around US $ 100 billion soon.

Today the brother-sister duo Ehsan (who joined the business in 2006 after graduating from New York University’s Stern Business School and started from the scratch to earn his stripes and become the Managing Director in 2016) and Maisha (who is a trained barrister from UK) have inherited the business foresight and acumen of their father and continue to run the business with great success even as they look forward to take Mitali to new heights, guided by their father, who even though has relinquished his responsibilities as far as day-to-day activities are concerned, has a say in all the important matters pertaining to the group!