Latifur Rahman (businessman)

For other people with the same name, see Latifur Rahman (disambiguation).
Latifur Rahman
লতিফুর রহমান
Rahman in 2017
Born(1945-08-28)28 August 1945
Jalpaiguri, Bengal, British India (now West Bengal, India)
Died1 July 2020(2020-07-01) (aged 74)
Comilla, Chittagong, Bangladesh
NationalityBangladeshi
Occupation(s)Industrialist, chairman of Transcom Group
SpouseShahnaz Rahman
AwardsOslo Business for Peace Award (2012)

Latifur Rahman (28 August 1945 – 1 July 2020)[1] was a Bangladeshi business magnate and media mogul. He served as the founding chairman and CEO of Transcom Group[2] which deals with beverages, electrical and electronics products, pharmaceuticals, fast food, snacks and breakfast cereals, print media, FM radio and tea plantations mostly as the comprador of international brands like Pizza Hut, KFC, Pepsi and Philips.[3] He was the founding director of Mediaworld and Chairman of Mediastar, which owned The Daily Star and Prothom Alo newspapers, respectively. Both are the nation's leading English and Bangla newspapers.[4]

Latifur Rahman received the Oslo Business for Peace Award 2012 in 2012 for business ethics and social responsibility.[5]

Career

Latifur Rahman started his career as a trainee in 1966 in his family-owned jute mills in Chandpur District. He worked as an executive in the mills until 1971.[6] Latifur Rahman established Transcom Group in 1973[7] after W Rahman Jute Mills, the main earning source for his family, was nationalised in 1972.[8] In the 1980s, Latifur Rahman became the sole importer and distributor of Nestlé products in Bangladesh. In the 1990s, he bought Smith, Kline & French, a US-based pharmaceutical which had merged into Beecham Group, a British company, and renamed it Eskayef.[9]

Latifur Rahman was elected a member of the executive board of the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce for a three-year term in July 2014.[10] He served as the president of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), Dhaka.[11]

Latifur Rahman served as the chairman of the following companies.[2]

  • Bangladesh Lamps Ltd
  • Transcom Ltd
  • Transcom Beverages Ltd
  • Transcom Electronics Ltd
  • Eskayef Bangladesh Ltd
  • Transcom Foods Ltd
  • Transcom Distribution Co Ltd
  • Mediastar Ltd
  • Transcraft Ltd
  • Ayna Broadcasting Corp Ltd
  • Tea Holdings Ltd
  • Transcom Mobile Ltd
  • Transcom Cables Ltd
  • Nestlé Bangladesh Ltd
  • Mediaworld Ltd
  • Holcim Cement Bangladesh Ltd

Awards

Personal life

Latifur Rahman was married to Shahnaz Rahman. Together they had three daughters, Simeen Hossain, Shazneen Rahman, and Shahzreh Huq, and a son, Arshad Waliur Rahman.[16] Simeen is a managing director of Eskayef Bangladesh Limited, Transcom Consumer Products Limited and Transcom Distribution Limited. Shazneen was killed at home in Gulshan, Dhaka in 1998 by their household domestic helpers.[17][18] Simeen's younger son, Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain, was killed in the 2016 Gulshan attack.[18][19]

Latifur Rahman died on 1 July 2020 at his residence at Chheora village in Chauddagram Upazila, Comilla aged 75.[4] He was buried at Banani Graveyard in Dhaka.[4]

References

  1. ^ "Transcom Chairman Latifur Rahman passes away". Dhaka Tribune. 1 July 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
  2. ^ a b c "Latifur Rahman". Bloomberg. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  3. ^ "Group of Company Page 4 : Business & Commerce :: bgdportal.com". www.bgdportal.com. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
  4. ^ a b c "Latifur Rahman no more". The Daily Star. 1 July 2020. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
  5. ^ "2012 Honourees". Business for Peace Foundation. Retrieved 2019-08-05.
  6. ^ Hossain, Ahmede (25 May 2012). "Doing Business Ethically". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  7. ^ Latifur Rahman (19 May 2012). "Latifur Rahman, Chairman & CEO of Transcom Group in Bangladesh - 2012 Business for Peace Award Recipient". vimeo.com. 2lead. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  8. ^ "Transcom chief dreams big: Latifur Rahman shares his vision in EBL lecture on leadership". The Daily Star. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  9. ^ "Transcom chief dreams big". The Daily Star. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  10. ^ "New role for Latifur". The Daily Star. 30 June 2014. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  11. ^ "Latifur Rahman re-elected MCCI chief". The Daily Star. 31 December 2007. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
  12. ^ "2012 Honourees". Business for Peace Foundation. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  13. ^ "Latifur wins Business for Peace Award". The Daily Star. 18 April 2012. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  14. ^ "Star, P Alo felicitate Latifur Rahman". The Daily Star. 31 May 2012. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
  15. ^ "DU finance dept alumni honour Latifur Rahman". The Daily Star. 30 June 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  16. ^ "Latifur's banking docs sent to intel agency". Bangladesh News. 11 January 2008. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  17. ^ "Shazneen's 16th anniversary of death today". The Daily Star. 23 April 2014. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  18. ^ a b Anam, Shaheen (5 July 2016). "A nightmare recurs". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  19. ^ "Latifur Rahman's grandson killed". The Daily Star. 3 July 2016. Retrieved 2016-07-13.