Dream big and beyond

Shehzad Munim

Fresh out of university, every graduate dreams about landing the perfect position in a good organisation. But how many actually aspire to become the acme in an institution, especially in the case of a multinational? The numbers would be few.

Like many others, Shehzad Munim did not dream of reaching the top most position in a multinational company. He completed a Bachelor's in Business Administration from IBA of Dhaka University and started his career as a territory officer at British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB) in 1997.

But all that changed when the company's British head of marketing once asked him on a field visit early on in his career, “Young man, where do you see yourself in the next 10 years?”

“I always thought about the next year, never about the next 10 years. So, that was a first for me. But I replied that I wanted to be the head of brand marketing in the next 10 years,” said Munim, now the managing director of BATB.

Being a visionary leader, Munim always patronised the company's long term sustainability projects. As a result, BATB is still promoting its flagship corporate social responsibility programme, Afforestation, since 1980 and is considered the largest private sector driven afforestation project in the country, acclaimed with national awards five times.

“Precisely, I got the position of head of brand marketing after 10 years,” said Munim, who is the first Bangladeshi to have been appointed as managing director in BATB in its 104 years in Bangladesh.

“I have learned from the company to think big -- think beyond my potential,” he said in an interview with The Daily Star in Dhaka recently.

Prior to becoming the head of brand marketing in 2007, Munim gathered vast experiences in various positions held at home and abroad. He served the company in New Zealand and Australia for three years.

“Those were learning opportunities for me, as I am enriched with new ideas, thinking and innovations,” he said. “Being the head of brand was my first dream; then I started dreaming bigger.”

After serving as head of marketing for the South Asia region, excluding India, for three years in Pakistan since 2010, he had the opportunity to go to other countries or regions in the same area. “But I wanted to be the first Bangladeshi managing director in BATB,” said Munim, who took charge as managing director in 2013.

The courage to think big, curiosity, discipline, teamwork, delegation, self respect, pride, resilience and being humble are the key factors that helped him reach his current position. “There are no shortcuts to these factors,” said the mere 38-year old.

“There will be diverse challenges but one should have the mentality to face the challenges,” he said. “Any problem may arise any time, but the thing is, how to manage it.”

No-one can follow a straight line; everyone will make mistakes in their career path, he said. “Learn from the mistakes and correct them. But never make the same twice, make new mistakes,” he advised the youth who have big dreams for their careers.

As a passionate leader, he is promoting BATB employees to create their own footsteps in the global arena. Currently, BAT worldwide employs 18 employees from Bangladesh in 10 different countries. 

As the chief of a multinational company, Munim pointed out some bottlenecks that are hurting investment in Bangladesh.

Inadequate infrastructure, an absence of undisrupted power, shortage of land, red tape and political uncertainty are the major impediments to investment and economic development, he said.

However, companies like BATB can play a significant role in economic development, as the company is contributing to the national exchequer by paying the highest tax at more than Tk 25,000 crore in the last five years.

“Exponential growth is possible. Six percent growth is not enough and we should have 10 percent growth.”