Leading towards a better tomorrow: the inspirational stories of Shehzad Munim
Multinational corporations have played a key role in shaping the business landscape of Bangladesh, and have always remained significant contributors to the economy of the country.
The contributions have not only promoted growth, increasing employment opportunities and the GDP of the nation, but also facilitated the transfer of best business practices, research and development, technologies and organisational culture.
For years, the coveted leadership opportunities at the established MNCs operating in Bangladesh have been occupied by expatriate nationals. But, there have been changes to the trend.
Currently, more than 50 Bangladeshis are in leadership positions in various multinational corporations in Bangladesh, and abroad.
On the fourth episode of Preronar Kotha Season 03, we had the opportunity to speak to one such top executive from the corporate sector, considered a trailblazer in changing the perception about Bangladeshi leaders in business.
We are talking about Shehzad Munim, who has been successfully leading an MNC for the last 9 years, as the first Bangladeshi managing director in the organisation's more than 110-year history in the country.
A distinguished professional in the country's corporate sector, he had graced Preronar Kotha to share the stories of his success, his inspirations and how he is leading his organisation towards a better tomorrow.
Shehzad Munim grew up as the youngest in a family of four brothers. Raised in an archetypal Bangladeshi middle-class family, Shehzad Munim spent most of his childhood in Dhaka with his mother and siblings, while his father, a government official, was stationed mostly outside Dhaka.
Their Dhaka home was always frequented by relatives- cousins who would often come to Dhaka and stay with them at their house.
Having to share living space with his siblings and cousins, all under a single roof, Shehzad Munim had developed the unique qualities of adapting and adjusting to changing situations, since his childhood.
His childhood instilled in him the attributes of empathy—to care for others, respect others' opinions, to listen to and understand people—which later helped him grow as a leader.
After completion of SSC from St. Joseph Higher Secondary School and HSC from Dhaka College, Shehzad Munim got accepted in the first batch of BBA programme at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka.
In 1997, after completing his studies at IBA, he joined the Sales & Marketing department of BAT Bangladesh as a territory officer.
From an entry-level position at one of the top MNCs of the country to taking over the responsibility of managing director, in less than two decades- Shehzad Munim has not only proven his talent and capabilities, but also inspired countless young minds to dream big in their career and be on the chase to make the dreams come true.
In 2013, he became the first Bangladeshi ever to take the helm of Managing Director at BAT Bangladesh.
Leadership is not just supervision of people. A leader must create an environment where everyone in a team can learn from each other and deliver results that matter.
In his interview, Shehzad Munim shared an interesting anecdote from an early period of his career that exhibits how he has always been keen on an approach of collective learning.
"Two weeks after I joined, my boss handed over a heavy manual to me and said, 'This is the manual for basics of sales and marketing' . . . He asked me to read through the manual and prepare training sessions for the salesforce of my distributor . . . On the day of the training, I found some 30 people in the audience, all older in age than me . . . No one amongst the participants had experience any less than five years . . . I started thinking, 'What will I train them with just 2 weeks of my own experience?' . . . So, I immediately changed my approach. And I have worked in the same approach for a long time since . . . I told them, we were there to learn together. I said, 'The manual contains the best practices and examples from all around the world . . . Help me identify which will be appropriate for our market. Then we will work together to develop a plan, that works best for us,'" recollected Shehzad Munim.
A die-hard fan of cricket, Shehzad Munim believes that the leader of an organisation should be able to bring out the strengths and capabilities of all the 'players' in the team.
He thinks that just like the captain of a cricket team, an organisation's leader must also recognise his team members' abilities, core strengths, and limitations and motivate them to utilise their skills and abilities and reach newer heights of success.
Young talents today have a reputation for job-hopping for better opportunities and financial rewards. When questioned on how he views the tendency, in light of his own career development with a single organisation, Shehzad Munim said, "In the formative stage of the career the mantra for newcomers should be 'earn to learn'. When I started, I joined the company to learn. It did not matter whether I was getting paid in tens or in thousands. As long as there is opportunity to learn, to develop yourself, it is wise to stay loyal to one organisation . . . What one needs to remember going into a new organisation is, you have to put in a lot of work in establishing your credibility . . . But in your current organisation, you already have cemented that credibility. So, you have greater chances to be trusted with more challenging assignments. But, if you are not getting your shots at new challenges, you may start thinking of moving elsewhere."
While describing one of the most rewarding experiences in his career in terms of learning and development, Shehzad Munim mentioned his tenure in New Zealand in the role of Brand Manager.
Speaking of his experience of working across various markets around the world, he said "When I had my first posting in New Zealand from Bangladesh, it seemed to me the place would offer me greater possibility to enhance my knowledge . . . I thought, I would utilise my time abroad learning new things . . . But, in three months, I realised, as much as I was focused on learning from them, I had so much to offer them to learn from me as well . . . The things that we do in our country, in many ways, we are years ahead of New Zealand."
According to him, there is a lot to learn from foreign cultural norms that persist in developed nations such as New Zealand.
But in order to solidify these learnings, one must remain loyal to their own roots, so that they can identify their own strengths and build upon these strong suits instead of adopting every aspect of another culture.
Shehzad Munim has always been a proponent of ensuring diversity and inclusiveness in his work approach and leadership.
"I think diversity & inclusion is an important aspect for any organisation. There will be individuals with varying opinions in an organisation. They need to be offered the platform- to have their voices heard, to speak up about what is in their minds, the pros and the cons of things according to them. Figuratively saying, this is like a window which lets fresh air into the room as long as it is open. A closed window on the other hand would make the room suffocating. And nothing good can come out when everyone feels suffocated. Keeping the windows open is a necessary choice," he said.
In addition to leading BAT Bangladesh, Shehzad Munim has also represented the Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) as its President, for two years.
While explaining his role as the President of FICCI, he brought in the analogy of cricket, "In the IBA cricket team, no one reported to me; we were all students. My role as a captain was to rally everyone behind one objective. It was the same in FICCI- different CEOs working together for the same goals. I could be the President of FICCI, but here, everyone is representing very successful, big organisations operating in this country. The idea stays the same- the objective that has brought us together." He then elaborated on how FICCI's mission is to bring the top executives of the country on one platform, to collectively work for a better business climate in Bangladesh and help create a good ecosystem for businesses.
On one hand, we are witnessing a growing number of MNCs appointing Bangladeshi CEOs, while on the other, many talented individuals are also migrating out of the country. Reflecting on this issue of 'brain drain', Shehzad Munim remarked, "Talent is the most important asset in any organisation, or for any country. Talents leaving the country is like a river drying up . . . Organisations must not only focus on attracting talents but they also need to work on retaining them. The talents must be given opportunities to develop themselves through adequate training, and must also be remunerated according to their capabilities." He spoke in length about the importance of manpower development in ensuring the country's progress. "If you set the goals, offer the necessary support, provide trainings and encouragement- our people have the ability to get things done. We can do it . . . We need to encourage scope of technical trainings in our curriculum, because that is crucial. We need to present the technical training apprentices as our heroes. We need to promote the stories of their success, so others can get inspired as well," he said.
While discussing the role of the country's private sector in achieving the SDGs, Shehzad Munim emphasised the importance of talent development, creation of more opportunities and the institutionalisation of the growth of our organisations. "The mindset to work together is very important to me. That is when a large organisation can thrive to grow within their capacity. As I like to say, keeping the window open to bring talents in, like fresh air into a room- that will foster innovation, help create new things," he said.
Another important initiative that, according to Shehzad Munim, must be taken in the upcoming years is designing and implementing a large-scale nation branding campaign for Bangladesh in order to portray that we are indeed a lucrative investment destination for Foreign Direct Investments. In his opinion, people across the globe must be familiarised with the nation's successes and the changes that the country has undergone over the years.
Shehzad Munim's concluding thoughts included that of embracing globalisation. The government of Bangladesh has worked towards supporting the local companies to expand their operations on a global scale. "Our country has a number of unicorns, which need to be given the opportunity to become even more successful. I feel very optimistic because our government is supporting these companies by paving their way into going global. These companies are our flag-bearers, and the more they operate in the global market, the more representation we get," said Shehzad Munim.
The interview was conducted by Dr Melita Mehjabeen. The interviewer is a professor of the Institute of Business Administration under the University of Dhaka as part of "Preronar Kotha", a thought leadership broadcast by Prerona Foundation.
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