Ispahani- over 200 years of excellence in Business Ispahani has over 200 years of history in business and today
it is one of the mo st respected business concerns in the sub continent. The company's historical ro ots can be traced way back to 1820 when its founder Haji Mohammed Hashem(1789 1850) moved from Isfahan, Persia to Bombay and started business that soon expanded phe nomenally in both scale and coverage. According to the latest data Ispahanis busine sses stretched from Bombay in the west, to Madras in the south and Burma in the east. After Haji Mohammed Hashem his grandson Haji MirzaMehdyIspahani (1841 1913) st arted to look after the business. In his tenure he moved the corporate headquart ers to Madras. But even he had the knack for expanding his ventures over a wide range of area and industries. He expanded his trade to leather, tea, turmeric; t amarind, peanuts and other produce of India. In the year 1888, MirzaMehdy s quench t o expand his business horizon led him to open an office in Dhaka. His son Mirza Mohamed Ispahani (1871 1925)opened the office of MM Ispahani& Sons in Calcutta in th e 1900. At that time London branch office was also established by [Link] Ahme d Ispahani (1898-1986), along with hisyounger brothers MirzaAbul Hassan Ispahani and Haji MirzaMahmoodIspahani, sons of Mirza Mohamed Ispahani, joined the busin ess in [Link] constituted a private limited company naming M.M. Ispahani limite d in 1934 in Calcutta. In 1947, with separation of India and Pakistan, headquart er of the company was shifted to Chittagong of present Bangladesh. Until 1965, M .[Link] continued his business in Calcutta as a foreign company. With the farsighted leadership of Mirza Ahmed Ispahani the company started to gr ow fast. They exercised business over various products. By 1947, M.M. Ispahani L imited was the foremost exporter of shellac, kapok, hessian, jute bags, tea and chemicals. In 1948 Mirza Ahmed Ispahani left the family business as he was appoi nted for public service although he returned to the family business in 1969. Sin ce then he continued to play an active role as senior director until his demise in Dhaka in 1986. His son MirzaMehedyIspahani (1923-2004) was selected as the ch airman of the company in 1949 when his father left the company and continued til l 2004 when he died. After MirzaMehedyIspahani, his son Mirza Ali Behrouze was elected chairperson of M. M. Ispahani and its sister concerns. The company now has corporate offices in Chittagong, Dhaka andKhulna where it em ploys over 20,000 people in many sectors such as tea, textile, real estate, cris ps, poultry, shipping and internet services MM Ispahani Ltd witnessed tremendous growth in the branded tea business after Sa lman Ispahani was appointed managing director in 1993. Over the years under different leadership Ispahani has made praiseworthy progres s in a number of different industries but tea is the signature product of the gr oup. Ispahani Tea is a household name and is the largest tea trading company in the country. It dominates the domestic tea market by capturing about 50 percent of the national branded tea market and 80 percent of the branded tea-bag segment . Particularly, the Mirzapore brand is a widely popular name distribution partne rs often identify the entire company as the "Mirzapore Tea" company. Pahartali T extile and Hosiery Mills (PTHM), established in 1954 with 18,000 spindles, is on e of the pioneers in local textile manufacturing. The shipping division has been representing many world-renowned shipping lines and non-vessel operating common carriers in Bangladesh for the last 50 years. M.M. Ispahani Ltd. was again a pi oneer in private sector power generation in 1951 at Pahartali. Turnover of the c ore group of companies amounted to more than Tk 200 crore in 2003; its export fi gures are also impressive. Tea and cotton yarns exported in 2003 were worth Tk 8 2.7 crore bringing the cumulative total amount exported in the last five years t o about Tk 263.8 crore. Challenges that this generation of Ispahanis are facing are different from those handled by predecessors. The overall market is now more competitive, quality an d productivity are more critical factors today than ever before. Management, how ever, considers the future to be promising for both tea and textiles -- the prim ary revenue-generating sectors of the group. Tea has increasingly become less vu
lnerable to volatility in international markets since 80 percent of local produc tion is now consumed domestically. Forecasts for textiles are also optimistic si nce competitiveness and short lead times in the future will have to mean local s ourcing. In that scenario, anyone offering quality products at competitive price s -- while managing cost efficiencies, productivity, and up-to-date learning -should be able to survive the post-MFA (multi fibre arrangement) challenges. Fut ure plans of the company include expansion of tea, textiles, ISP and poultry div isions of the group. Up until now, the group's financing strategies have remaine d outside the realm of the public stock market but the owners may consider it as an option for new businesses