ACI is one of the well-known multinational companies in Bangladesh. It produces foods, pharma, consumer products, logistics, chemicals, consumer electronics, automobile services, communication, etc.
But, do you know who the visionary of this multinational brand is? Yes, he is none other than Mr. M Anis Ud Dowla. He established this company as a brand with hard labor, foresight, vision, and outstanding leadership.
He has been offering his leadership to different fields of business from the very beginning of his professional life. This article will explore this 84-year-old legendary’s personality, professional life, leadership, and so many other things. So let’s deep dive into the words.
Table of Contents
Early Life of Mr. Anis Ud Dowla
M Anis Ud Dowla was born on 1st March in 1937 at Faridpur, undivided west Pakistan. He is one of the sons of his parents’ seven children. His father’s name was Khan Bahadur Mohammad Ismail, and he was a lawmaker.
His mother’s name was Kakabun Nessa, and she was a housewife. His mother was very fond of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and regularly read his books.
His father was a very disciplined person, and he was taught to live a disciplined life by his father. He got the book reading habit from his mother. Both of his parents were pious and trained their children’s integrity and religious beliefs. That’s why Mr. Anis is a very righteous person in his life. His father encouraged them to listen to BBC news to develop their English listening skills. So you can realize how brilliant his father was!
He has four sisters and two more brothers. Today’s famous Nazrul Githi singer Firoza Begum was his younger sister.
Sister Feroza Begum-Legendary Singer
Legendary Feroza Begum was born on July 28, 1930. When she was just a student of class 6, a great hype was created surrounding her as she was a very prominent singer on All India Radio. Dur Dipobashini and Momer Putul are the two songs that brought her momentum success as a singer. Her outstanding contributions to Nazrul Geeti brought her “Swadhinata Padak”, “Ekushey Padak” and many more like:
- Netaji Shubhash Chandra Bose Award,
- Nasiruddin Gold Award,
- Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Gold Award and
- D. Litt from Burdwam University.
- Gold Disk from the renowned Japanese audio production company CBS.
- the Nazrul Sammanana Award from the West Bengal government in India in 2012.
- West Bengal’s highest cultural award, the Bangla Bibhushan Samman, in May 2015
- Churulia Gold Medal
- Meril-Prothom Alo Lifetime honorary award (2011)
- Sheltech Award (2000)
In 1956, she was married to Kamal Dasgupta. Kamal converted to Islam before the marriage and took the name Kamal Uddin Ahmed). He was a singer, composer, and lyricist. Kamal died on 20 July 1974 at the age of 62. Two of their three sons, Hamin Ahmed and Shafin Ahmed are musicians. They are members of the rock band Miles.
Feroza breathed her last on September 9, 2014, at the age of 84. She is in the heart of Bengali-speaking people for her evergreen songs.
Educational Background of Mr. Ud Dowla
He started his study life at Faridpur Zilla School. At that time, today’s most renowned poet Golam Mostafa was his headmaster. He was an outstanding student, so every teacher loved him.
Then in 1952, he got admitted into the University of Dhaka and received his certificates in Physics. Later he got a scholarship from the Asia Foundation in Public Administration in Karachi. He got admitted to Karachi University in 1959 for that scholarship. He wanted to be a civil service professional after passing out from the University.
The Beginning of His Career
Mr. Anis joined Pakistan Oxygen Limited as a Regional Branch Manager at the starting period of the company. At that time, the British had ruled the country. So he got the chance to join different world-leading business subsidiaries.
He could learn many skills, got knowledge about many aspects of the business from these business subsidiaries. In 1970 he came to Dhaka after developing his career into different positions over West Pakistan. After the independence of Bangladesh, he got the charge of the newly inaugurated Bangladesh Oxygen Branch as a managing director.
Mr. Dowla and Advanced Chemical Industries (ACI)
1987 was Mr.Dowla’s turning point. He joined another British multinational company called Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). As he had experience playing the managing director role for Pakistan Oxygen Limited, he joined as a Managing Director.
Suddenly, most of the shareholders of the company left their shares. As Mr. Dowla is an intelligent person, he picked the opportunity. He took the leading position and became the Chairman of this Company. After that, in 1992, he changed the name of ICI to ACI.
ACI started its journey with eight cores and 350 employees. That was the revolutionary period of the ACI group. Then it spread its breaches from one company to another under the leadership of Mr. Dowla.
Now, it creates employment opportunities for more than 15 thousand employees. And that eight crores capital reaches 5000 crores. So at present, you can see ACI is playing the crown role in the betterment of Bangladesh’s economy.
Behind the success of the ACI group
Success doesn’t come overnight. It needs persistence, focus, and hard work. Mr. Dowla always focused on the product’s quality, innovation, and customers’ attention. The combination of those three brought the success of the ACI group and also Mr. Dowla’s life.
As the recognition of this company’s product quality, it achieved the globally standard ISP- 14001 Certificate in 2000
Ideology of M Anis Ud Dowla
He believes in fundamental knowledge. He tried to understand his job nature first in terms of the technical aspects wherever he started his work. He tried to be a step ahead of other employees.
This is why, in his first job, he became the most knowledgeable technical person within two years. He was also a cooperative person besides having advanced technical knowledge. His colleagues and other staff took help from him as he could get the technical things very quickly.
He has been elected as the president of BAPLC for the tenure 2022-2023. BAPLC represents the publicly listed companies of Bangladesh in the capital market.
Conclusion
The powerful personality of Mr. M Anis Ud Dowla always pays his attention in honesty. He doesn’t like to go through any shortcut or dishonest way. He thinks that if you want to grow, you have to practice some qualities to be a quality person. And honesty is the first prioritized among them.
However, he is a role model for those people who think nothing is possible in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is the highest potential land to build one’s career success.
Therefore, nobody needs to leave Bangladesh and go abroad to build a career from his thoughts.
Find all about Salman F Rahman and his leadership.