Story of country’s first female manager in RMG
Nazma Chowdhury was also the first female quality controller, designer, and production line chief in the garment sector of the country
Around 16,000 women are now employed as mid-level managers in the ready-made garment industry – the principal export earning sector of Bangladesh, and the first female who broke the glass ceiling was Nazma Chowdhury.
She was also the first female quality controller, designer, and production line chief in the garment sector of the country.
Desh Garments, a pioneer in the export-oriented garment industry in Bangladesh, sent 133 workers and mid-level managers to the world-renowned Daewoo's garment manufacturing plant in Busan, South Korea in 1979 to receive training in modern machinery.
Nazma Chowdhury, then a fresh graduate from the then Art College (now the Institute of Fine Arts) in Dhaka, and 14 other women were on the team. All the women except Nazma were workers.
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The team returned home after six months of training in South Korea. Desh Garments set up a new plant with those 133 people. And it marked the beginning of a new journey to turn Bangladesh into an economically self-sufficient nation through apparel exports.
In the early 1980s, Nazma worked as the first female production line chief and quality controller at Desh Garments.
After leaving Desh Garments in 1984, she worked with at least four factories till 2006. She produced a large number of quality controllers, designers, and mid-level managers through first-hand training. She was also directly involved in the establishment of three factories, two of which are still in business.
Today the garment sector is flamboyant and a matter of pride for Bangladesh, but it was not even on its nascent in 1979. But what attracted fresh university graduate Nazma to a job in a garment factory back then? And how was her experience of going to South Korea, leaving her family at home, and working in a garment factory, rebelling against the conservative view of the society of that time?
During an interview with The Business Standard at her Lalmatia residence in the capital, Nazma Chowdhury said the readymade garment sector was yet to develop as an industry in Bangladesh, let alone an export-oriented one. "All the factories that were there were basically sewing stores. It was only Reaz Garments of Old Dhaka that used to export some clothing unofficially," she said.
Asked how she entered the profession, Nazma said, "In 1979, I saw a huge advertisement in the Daily Ittefaq that said some people would be taken to South Korea for training and they would be given jobs in a garment factory after returning to the country following the training.
"I have had an inclination towards visiting foreign countries since childhood. So, I applied for the position of the quality manager and eventually passed the exam." Desh Garments entered into a joint venture with Daewoo to set up an export-oriented garment factory, she said, adding Daewoo was one of the largest industrial plants in Korea at that time. Since Bangladesh did not have the opportunity to receive orders directly from foreign buyers, Daewoo would transfer the order to Desh Garments, in return for which the company would receive a fixed commission.
Nazma said even though her parents did not oppose her decision to go to Korea for training, her uncle did not want to let her go. But she managed to convince him saying that it was a big opportunity and that no money was required for the purpose.
It is worth mentioning that after joining Desh Garments at the end of the training in 1980, she was paid Tk6,000 in monthly salary, which was several times higher compared to the salary of a first-class government official of that time.
Nazma said, "At that time my brother-in-law used to get a monthly salary of Tk700 as a government doctor working with Chittagong Medical College while I got Tk6,000. At the same time, Desh Garments hired new workers with a minimum wage of Tk510, while workers in other sectors were paid between Tk150 and Tk200."
In response to a query as to what kind of training they received in Korea, Nazma Chowdhury said, "It was chiefly a basic training – how to make a shirt and in how many steps. All the steps were taught separately. Sitting with a machine, one would make a part, not a whole shirt."
This is exactly the way of work the present-day garment factories follow in Bangladesh, but the method, called 'chain production', was not in practice at any garment factory in Bangladesh back then, she added.
Sharing an interesting experience of her training time in Korea, she said, "One day when we went for a walk and saw the Koreans eating Cone Ice cream, our friends wanted to know what it was. Since I had experience in eating this ice cream before, I was able to inform them about it. Our workers did not even know how to eat ice cream, how to tear the paper and eat liquid ice cream, and whether to throw away the piece of biscuit or not."
Many of them did not know about shampoo and its use, she added.
"But day by day, our times in Korea became great for us. On holidays, we would go for walks. When Bangladesh went to Korea to take part in an international sports competition, we would go and see their matches."
Once the 133 trainees returned to the country, Desh Garments set up a two-line export-oriented factory at Kalurghat in Chattogram, employing several other workers alongside the Korea returnees. The first consignment of clothes was made for a French buyer. The production size got bigger within two-three months. Nazma Chowdhury was then working as line chief and quality controller. Nazma said the owner of Desh Garments, Noorul Quader, set matriculation (SSC) as the minimum educational requirement for hiring new manpower.
The decision to hire educated workers was a far-sighted move by the entrepreneur, Nazma observed, adding that 5-6 Korean nationals also were employed in the factory.
"Once we had built our capacity within five to six months, we started the process of taking orders directly. We made the samples ourselves and sent them to the buyers. Orders came directly after they were approved. And after that, we did not have to look back."
Nazma, however, said finding workers was a major challenge at that time.
Encouraged by the success of Desh Garments, other entrepreneurs started coming forward to invest in the sector, causing the demand for the Korea-trained workers and managers of Desh Garments to grow significantly. Other factories started to hire Desh Garments employees with higher wages and benefits.
Nazma Chowdhury too left Desh Garments in 1984 and joined a factory named Iqbal Enterprise. She was also given a share in the ownership of that factory. She introduced the quality department at Iqbal Enterprise.
Nazma later worked with Mohammadi Garments of former Dhaka mayor Annisul Huq, Evince Garments of former BGMEA president Anwar-ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez, and Chattogram-based Well Garments.
She was also involved in setting up several factories, establishing quality departments, and even order negotiations. Bangladesh's first garment exports to the Russian market were negotiated by her.
Nazma further said that the number of women workers in garments was scanty at that time as society showed a negative attitude towards the families of female garment workers. It took a long time for society to change this outlook.
Some 80% of workers were male at that time, she said, adding the factory owners used to arrange transport facilities to carry the workers from a distance of 20-25 miles.
Mentioning that cloth designing back was much different compared to present times, she said, "Now everything is done on the computer. Many factories have their own design studios. But at that time, we had to draw on paper. And those papers were not easily available either."
Nazma Chowdhury got married in 1983 while working with Desh Garments. Her work was interrupted for a few months due to her husband's reluctance, but she persuaded her husband and returned to work.
After leaving Evince Garments in 2006, she has been living a retired life, spending most of her time in the United States and the United Kingdom with her two children. She comes to the country occasionally.
Her daughter has graduated from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom and her son has studied at Rutgers University in the United States and both of them are now successful in their career.
After starting off with the export of $12,000 worth of readymade garments, Bangladesh has now become the second-largest exporter of garments in the world, with the export volume reaching $35 billion.
Nazma Chowdhury said, "I cannot express in words how good I feel when I see the 'Made in Bangladesh' label on clothing in foreign countries. It is we who have worked for the growth of the industry."
